China wakes in the Queen City

On a crisp evening in early 2009, the Year of the Ox, the first performers of the Chinese New Year Concert, put on by the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Music Society, take to the stage at the renowned University of Cincinnati (UC) College Conservatory of Music (CCM).  

A man and a woman, both donning vivid traditional costumes, gracefully enter bearing large bouquets of red fabric.  

A striking blend of traditional Chinese music fills the air.

As the performers begin to dance and spin across the stage, they suddenly unfurl what seem to be flowers, transforming them into long flowing ribbons.  

The intensity builds as the dancers whirl and whip the banners around in beautiful fluid patterns in sync to the music.

This dance, though traditional, is a fitting metaphor for the energy and momentum now propelling China’s hyper speed development.

In the wake of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China is working to spread its influence. And it’s working.

Flip on the TV and see Michael Phelps plugging Rosetta Stone’s Mandarin learning CDs.  Or change the channel and hear how China has surpassed Germany in the race towards the top of the global economic pyramid, officially making it the world’s third largest economy.

China exports over one trillion dollars in goods annually and will soon make up almost 50 percent of world trade. Everyone has heard of Shanghai and Beijing, but few realize there are over ninety cities with populations above one million in China, compared to nine in the US.

So what does China’s growth mean for Cincinnati?

Closer to home, China is P&G‘s second biggest market, after the US, and GBBN, a Cincinnati-based architectural firm, generated 25-30% of its 2008 revenue from projects in China.  This figure is projected to increase by 50% in 2009.

The number of local adults studying Mandarin “have increased dramatically in recent years,” says Amy Zhao, a scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency who teaches Mandarin for UC Continuing Education.  “I would say 80% are studying for business reasons.”

Zhao’s observation is seconded by others in Cincinnati’s Chinese community.

“In my eight years in Cincinnati, I can see significant changes in terms of an increase in diversity and international culture,” says Sun Li, who works for P&G in China and acts as Chairman of the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce (GCCCC).  The GCCCC, a non-profit organization founded in 2005, is completely volunteer-based.    

“Everybody is very passionate about the Chamber,” Li says.  “Our mission is to promote and educate, and to be the connector between China and the US.”

The GCCCC’s sixteen member board – two-thirds of which are Chinese – dedicates their after-hours time to this mission. The GCCCC regularly collaborates with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Ohio Department of Development, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and frequently receives calls from City Hall.

The GCCCC “evolved over the years,” says GCCCC President, Xiaojie Zavon.  

In addition to playing a leading role in the GCCCC, Zavon also works as Vice President/Relocation Specialist for OwnerLand Realty, Inc. in Cincinnati.

“In the beginning we were more focused on how to unite the local Chinese professionals and connect them more with the mainstream business society.  We found out that a lot of companies who do or want to do business in China are interested in our organization.”

At present, two wholly Mainland Chinese-owned companies are doing business in Cincinnati, alongside several joint-ventures and a smattering of small locally owned Chinese businesses.

The GCCCC is working to change this by increasing Cincinnati’s profile in China. In a country where the majority of people cannot find Chicago on a map, “not many businesses or people in China know where Cincinnati is,” Li says.

Together with identifying business opportunities with China, members of the GCCCC also share a keen interest in sharing their Chinese culture with Cincinnatians.  

“Our Lunar New Year is the perfect combination of business and culture,” Zavon says.   

The 2009 Lunar New Year Gala, open to the public, will be held on Friday, February 6,  downtown at the Hilton Netherland Plaza‘s Hall of Mirrors.  This year’s high profile gala will attract multiple government and business leaders including the new Commercial Consul of the New York Consulate General and his vice consul.  

In addition to the GCCCC’s efforts, The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is doing their part to deepen cultural understanding of China.

The Ni Hao! program, lead by Lisa Hamrick, Manager of the Children’s Learning Center, brings English teachers from China to Cincinnati every other year. 

These teachers study English, live with host families and produce China-related presentations throughout the library system and Cincinnati’s public elementary schools.

“The kids are so excited (about the program),” Hamrick says.  “It used to be that we would have to send out all kinds of advertising and promotional stuff to the schools,” she adds.  But now when the time for the programs approaches, “they’re looking for us.”

Previous presentations have covered an exposition of the abacus, Chinese games, calligraphy, chop stick races (complete with chop sticks tutorial), folk tales and other cultural miscellany.

The Ni Hao! program, designed to meet the goals of the Sister Cities: White House Millennium Project, gained national recognition after winning the 2007 Bridge to Understanding Award sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People, for its innovative approach to intercultural education. 

In 2006 the Ni Hao! Program reached over 1,300 children in Hamilton County with hundreds attending the Chinese New Year celebration at Cincinnati’s Main Library.

But it’s not only the children of Cincinnati who benefit.

The visiting teachers are “used to teaching lecture style,” Hamrick says.  “So it’s interesting for them to learn these presentation techniques that help them when they teach in China.”

This unique program grew out of Cincinnati’s Sister City relationship with Liuzhou (pronounced “Leo-joe”), located in the heart of China’s southern Guangxi Province.

With a relationship stretching back to 1988, Liuzhou is Cincinnati’s oldest sister city, and considered the most active among Cincinnati’s six other sister cities. 

Considered a model relationship, the partnership has resulted in volunteers from Liuzhou providing butterflies for last year’s Silk Road Butterfly show at Krohn Conservatory. Official delegations, including a recent visit by Mayor Mallory have strengthened our connections to China. In fact, the Cincinnati Parks Department is building a friendship park in Liuzhou.

These ties to China are crucial to Cincinnati’s engagement with a dramatically important and rapidly rising star on the world stage.