China has approved the building of 15 overseas cultural centers to promote Chinese culture, and the ones in Mauritius, Benin, Cairo, Paris, Malta and Seoul have been completed. The ones in Berlin and Mongolia will be built soon.

The cultural centers arranged special celebrations during the past Spring Festival, aka the Chinese Lunar New Year. For example, the Mauritius Chinese Cultural Center invited Nanjing Xiaohonghua Art Troupe to give performances there. The Labrador Chinese Cultural Center prepared a kungfu and dance show. The Paris center even organized a traditional Chinese temple fair.

All the cultural centers are based on both traditional and modern lifestyle of the Chinese, especially harmony, which was presented by Chinese philosopher some 2,000 years ago. Today, harmony still represents the spirit of China: to love peace and to appreciate openness.

(China News Service September 14, 2007)