Fifth century Chinese philosopher Confucius once said, "Is it not wonderful to have friends coming from far away."
It was in that spirit that the University of Akron along with state education big wigs welcomed a coterie of visitors from the Chinese Ministry of Education. Last month's bi-cultural lunch featured marinated jellyfish salad, turkey cranberry/apple chutney, stuffing and live traditional music.
President Guan Aihe: Speaking Chinese.
That's President Guan of Henan University. He's talking about his college's decade-long student exchange relationship with Akron U. The relationship between the two colleges will get stronger when the Confucius Institute opens at Akron University in January.
The Chinese came bearing gifts -- One hundred thousand dollars in seed money, three thousand textbooks and a plan to teach an Asian cultural and language curriculum to local students and businesses at the Akron Confucius institute. Cleveland State and Miami University of Ohio already have institutes of their own.
The Akron program will expand the university's existing programs in Mandarin Chinese and Chinese history, which are in increasing demand. Executives doing business with China say when Americans know even a little Chinese it helps build relationships and shows them that we appreciate their culture.
Youngfang Zhang has been teaching Chinese at the university for the last year. She says she's seen the spike in demand firsthand.
Youngfang Zhang: "That really motivates me as an instructor. For this semester we have 40 students. It's growing. For next year, we hope we can expect double."
Chinese communists once reviled Confucius, but the philosopher's message of harmony is now a convenient marketing tool for a country still damaged by its record on human rights, environmental pollution and tainted consumer products.
Confucius institutes are vehicles to improve China's image…It's what what some call a 'soft power' initiative…but others worry about the Chinese government funded institute's potential to compromise a university's academic independence.
Akron University officials say, not to worry, that the university has the final say in whatever is taught at the institute, Holly Harris Bane, an institute board member and the university's vice president for strategic initiatives says.
At a time when the state faces a deepening recession and a looming budget deficit the likes of which Ohio has never seen, it's a win-win alliance.
Holly Harris Bane: "Critical language development is an important priority for the United States and the state of Ohio. Mandarin Chinese is a strategic language, an important language. There are not enough resources to go around for universities to build the depth of capacity for what one needs to have in a culture programming offering."
Plus, Bane says, the eventual goal of the institute is to go far beyond teaching language and into the realm of sharing ideas about entrepreneurship and business development.
Cities, including Akron, are hoping that having a CHINESE institute will better their chances of luring investment and businesses from China. Bob Bowman has been part of Asian trade missions for years as Akron's deputy mayor.
Bob Bowman: " When we're dealing with companies. They need to have a support system. The more of this that you have, to where you can connect dots to help them, the better you are able to attract that type of investment."
U.S. exports to China have been growing rapidly the last few years, including goods from Ohio. The state sold China 1.5 billion dollars in goods in 2007.
It's one of the few bright spots in the state's economy. So, it only makes sense that more Ohioans to lean to speak China's language - no matter who's paying for it.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3