International Popularization of Beijing Culture: A Cross-cultural Perspective Based on an Investigation of Beijing-based International Students' Identity with Beijing Culture

International Popularization of Beijing Culture: A Cross-cultural Perspective Based on an Investigation of Beijing-based International Students' Identity with Beijing Culture

Lu Xiaopeng＊

To more vigorously promote Beijing culture internationally is bothan essential link in the strategy to turn Beijing into a cultural center and an international exchange center. This promotion would also serve as a critical step to advance the cultural development and internationalization of Beijing. As an important group of foreigners living in Beijing, foreign students can play a unique part in upgrading Beijing culture' s international influence.These students look at Beijing culture from a cross-cultural standpoint and thus can offer a vital reference for the international promotion effort. Using a combination of questionnaires and interviews, the author surveyed international students in seven Beijing universities that have a relatively high number of foreign students. Based on this firsthand data, this paper analyzes the Beijing-based international students' identity with Beijing culture, reflects on the experiences and inadequacies in the current promotion of Beijing culture, and makes relevant suggestions regarding the inadequacies.

Beijing; culture; international students; culture identity; international popularization

Against the background of China' s ascending international influence and the international promotion of Chinese culture, Beijing is offered new opportunities in its urban development. The Beijing City Master Plan(2004-2020) presented the following goal, "(Beijing) will promote history and culture, preserve the features of a historical and cultural city, progress into a highly inclusive, diversified world cultural city where traditional culture and modern civilization add radiance to each other.[1]The 2013 Report on the Work of Beijing Municipal People' s Government reiterated that the city would strive for, "Paying more attention to developing the capital city' s culture," to improve its cultural soft power.[2]In February 2014, when Xi Jinping inspected Beijing, he explicitly requested Beijing, "To uphold and strengthen its core functions as the national political and cultural center, an international exchange center, and an innovation center."[3]As such, it has become Beijing' s strategy for future development to turn itself into a cultural center with international influence.

In recent years, the academic community has given a great deal of attention to the urban cultural development of Beijing by conducting research from various perspectives, such as strengthening historical and cultural protections, upgrading cultural and creative industries, and enhancing Beijing' s cultural soft power. Some scholars in particular, have begun to explore the strategies for improving Beijing culture' s international impact from the viewpoint of internationalization. "Beijing Culture and International Promotion of the Chinese Language" (Journal of Beijing Normal University (Social Science Edition), No.6, 2007) by Li Chunyu, proposes that against the context of rapidly growing international promotion of the Chinese language, Beijing' s educational and cultural resources should be fully exploited and the city' s cultural development should interact with the international promotion of the language. Chen Shaofeng, in his "Efforts to be Made to Build a Powerful Engine Driving Beijing Culture' s Going Global" (Qian Xian, No.5, 2014), held that Beijing should leverage its advantage deriving from the concentration of educational institutions, research institutes, cultural talent and creative businesses to build a powerful engine that drives the international promotion of its culture. The Beijing Academy of Social Sciences annually publishes the Beijing Bluebook: Beijing Cultural Development Report, which not only contains rich and detailed data, but also constitutes a dynamic research of Beijing' s urban cultural development through the series. The 2012-2013 Bluebook dwelled on the meaning and implications of Beijing' s effort to develop into a culture-center city with international influence from different dimensions such as the inheriting of history and culture, the cultural needs of people, and the building of national cultural soft power. Analyses of Beijing culture' s strength and competitiveness both domestically and internationally through the annual editions of the Bluebook presented a new approach, "Increase comparative studies on the constructive power of Beijing culture and other cities at home and abroad."[4]Inspired by this approach, I attempted to probe into the international popularization of Beijing culture from a cross-cultural perspective.

During the process of building an internationally influential cultural center, enhancing the international promotion of Beijing culture must not be overlooked. Beijing is an international metropolis frequented by people from all around the world. Foreign employees, diplomatic staff, foreign teachers, foreign tourists, and international students constitute the majority of foreigners in Beijing. Since they are immersed in Beijing culture, their evaluation of Beijing' s culture can reveal the current inadequacies in the promotion of Beijing culture. Although foreign students are not a majority of our foreign visitors, they are nevertheless the most characteristic groupin culture transmission, and an important target of the international popularization of Beijing culture.[5]First, the number of Beijing-based international students has grown rapidly and is poised to increase. Beijing has always been the top destination for international students to study in China and according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Education of China, with the development of teaching Chinese as a foreign language; the number of Beijing-based international students has increased substantially during the last decade, from 37,041 in 2004,[6]to 46,529 in 2006,[7]66,316 in 2008,[8]and 77,706 in 2012.[9]Understandably, the quickening of the international promotion of the Chinese culture means that the number of Beijing-based international students will continue to grow. Second, foreign students reside in Beijing for a relatively longtime and have usually gained a certain language communicative ability, which indicates that they will have contacts with various aspects of Beijing' s society and life. As they learn the Chinese language and engage in cross-cultural communication activities in Beijing, they are in a position to evaluate Beijing culture comprehensively and objectively. Third, international students represent one of the most active groups in spreading and promoting cultural. They are often highly motivated to submerge themselves in another culture, and they can also carry out secondary transmissions that often cover a long time-span and more regions. During this investigation, Yosurla, a Malaysian student at Beijing Foreign Studies University said, "When I return to Malaysia and teach Chinese, I will take the work most seriously, and introduce to students the Chinese culture." Thus, in the process of strengthening international development of Beijing culture, the foreign students studying in Beijing have their unique value and advantage, which means they should be given special attention to and studied as a specific group. In light of this, this paper investigates the Beijing-based international students' identity with Beijing culture, with a view to analyzing their impressions and evaluations of Beijing culture from their cross-cultural perspectives, and based on this, summarizes the successful experiences and reflects on the inadequacies in the effort.

1. Survey Design and Respondents

The study used a combination of survey questionnaires and interviews to investigate the Beijing-based foreign students' identity with Beijing culture. The questionnaire consists of three parts: Personal information completed by the subject, including gender, nationality, age, education level, learning type, time in Beijing, purpose for the stay in Beijing, and Chinese proficiency; the second part uses a 5-point Likert Scale (totally inconsistent, not quite consistent, neither consistent nor inconsistent, basically consistent, and totally consistent), and the subjects answered a series of questions by choosing one of the five choices based on their own evaluation; the third was a series of multiple-choice questions to further investigate the specific performance of the subjects, thereby complementing the fivepoint scale. Considering some subjects only had elementary Chinese proficiency, the questionnaire was printed in four languages; Chinese, English, Japanese and South Korean, in order to enhance the reliability and validity of the survey results.

The questionnaire survey was conducted from January to June 2014 at seven Beijing universities; Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing Normal University, Renmin University of China, Tsinghua University, Minzu University of Chinaand Capital Normal University. A total of 766 students completed the questionnaires, 764 of which were valid: Validity rate was 99.7%. Of the 764 subjects, 305 are male, and 459 are female. Specific statistics with regard to subjects can be found in Table 1.

At the same time, in order to make up for the inherent shortcomings of the questionnaire survey, and gain more detailed first-hand data, the investigation also adopted a written essay and an oral interview. The 333 international students at Beijing Foreign Studies University completed a Beijing-themed topic composition, subject selected from one of the following; "My Life of Studying in Beijing", "Beijing: Both a Worry and a Pleasure", "Some Remarks on Beijing Culture", "Some Remarks about Beijing Cuisine", "Beijingers I Know of", and "Something about the Upsides and Downsides of Beijing". The recovered compositions comprised 113 completed by Malaysian students, 104 by South Korean students, 72 by Japanese students, and 7 by Russian students. The remaining 37 papers were submitted by a variety of other students; respectively Polish, Pakistani, American, German, Thailand, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic, Cameroon, Hungary, Indonesia, Armenia, Laos, Uzbekistan, Belgium, Sweden, Tajikistan, Austria, Cambodia, Belarus, the Netherlands, Spain, and Denmark. In addition, 24 foreign students at Beijing Foreign Studies University were randomly interviewed.

2. International Promotion of Beijing Culture from the Perspective of Beijing-based Foreign Students' Identity with Beijing Culture

The second part of the questionnaire contained eight questions, intended to examine the subjects' identity with Beijing culture. The statistical results can be found in Table 2.

The survey results show that the foreign students' identity with Beijing culture is overall favorable. The questions under which the average value approaches 4 (basically consistent) are, in descending order, "I am quite interested in Beijing' s scenic spots and historic sites," "I am willing to bring Beijing specialty products back home," "I am quite interested in Hutong, quadrangle courtyards and other Beijing traditional residential buildings," "I am quite interested in Beijing' s traditional folk customs," and "I like to see Beijingers singing and dancing in parks or on squares." Only one question had an average value lower than 3 (between not quite consistent and neither consistent nor inconsistent), "I am quite interested in Beijing Opera."

In order to further the analyses of the above mentioned items and draw more convincing conclusions, the third part of the questionnairecontained four multiple-choice questions, "The people I primarily associate with," "Culture sites I visited in Beijing," "Beijing specialty foods I have tasted," and "The channels for my learning about Beijing culture." Based on the analysis of the recovered questionnaire data, and combing it with the foreign students' compositions and interview records, the following sections of this paper will analyze the current situation of the international promotion of Beijing culture as reflected from three perspectives; foreign students' integration with Beijing cultural life, their identity with Beijing' s traditional and modern cultures, and their reception of Beijing' s specialty products.

Table 1: Statistics on the Subjects of the Question naire

Table 2: Statistics on Subjects' Identity with Beijing Culture

2.1 International Students' Integration into Beijing' s Cultural Life

As shown in Table 2, the average value for the questionnaire item "I like to see Beijingers singing and dancing in parks or on squares" is 3.66, and that for "I am eager to participate in cultural activities organized by Chinese students at my university" is 3.57, both of which reflect Beijing' s cultural life highly appeals to these students. The majority of international students participating in the essay writing agreed that cultural life in Beijing is relatively rich and diverse, saying that apart from learning the Chinese language, they have also gone to performance shows of Beijing traditional culture, visited famous cultural attractions, and experienced the daily life of an ordinary Beijinger. For example Nastassja, a Russian student said, "I like to see elders playing chess in parks, and to hear the stories in their life; "Shafeit, a Malaysian student said, "Going to parks not only offers the opportunity to enjoy beautiful scenery, but also to feel the human side of this city; "Anmin, another Malaysian student said that by going to an acrobatics show at the Chaoyang Theater he "Learned some things about Chinese culture and got extremely interested in China' s history, culture and traditions."

Beijing Hutong

Meanwhile, however, according to the compositions and interview records, the ways international students integrate with Beijing' s cultural life are quite limited in variety. They would only participate in the activities organizedfor international students by their respective universities, and the places they visited are mostly scenic spots, historical sites, and comprehensive museums. As for the large-scale international exhibitions and cultural exchange activities held in Beijing, like the Fifth Asian Art Fairheld in 2013, the Second Beijing International Film Festival, the Sixth China International Youth Arts Week, international students rarely participated, and rarer still are the times they participate in cultural activities together with Chinese friends. Regarding this, the international students explained that it is mainly due to not knowing what cultural activities were available and, when they did know, how to participate in them. It seems barriers to cultural information access constitute the primary reason why international students are not further integrated into Beijing' s cultural life.

Among the multiple-choice questions, under the item "The channels for my learning about Beijing culture," 63.9% of respondents selected "Introduction by teachers during class sessions," 55.9% and 48.2% respectively selected "Introduction by friends" and "Through newspaper, TV and the Internet," whereas the choices of "Culture lectures at my university" and "Cultural activities for international students by my university" were selected by a relatively small number of respondents. The specifics are shown in Table 3.

As can be seen, the main channels through which international students learn about Beijing culture are teachers' class presentations and friends' introductions. "Culture lectures at universities" and "Cultural activities for international students organized by universities," by contrast, have not become such effective ways. Furthermore, newspapers, TV, the Internet and other mass media have also failed to fully play their roles in spreading culture.

A noteworthy phenomenon is that, despitebeing the major form of cultural activities in which international students participate to experience Beijing culture, "Cultural activities for international students organized by universities" is not among the key channels through which they gain access to information about Beijing culture. This phenomenon is likely to have something to do with the ways Beijing universities manage their respective international students. At a Beijing university, different functional departments are separately responsible for teaching and management of these students. Teachers and the teaching management department are responsible for knowledge teaching and skills practice, while the international student office and other administrative departments manage affairs relating to their lives. Cultural activities for international students are generally organized by the administrative department, with little oreven no participation by teachers and the teaching management department. Besides, before and after such activities, no conscious efforts have been made to provide related cultural knowledge, which means that these activities are still in the sensory stage, or to impress the students, rather than to form a strong penetration force to improve the recipients' degree of cognition and integration of the culture. In addition, although Beijing universities who enroll international students have all set up culture lectures or optional culture courses, most of them focus on the Chinese culture as a whole, such as "Chinese History and Culture," "Chinese Literature and Culture," and "Chinese Tourism and Culture," and there is a lack of lectures or courses specifically addressing Beijing culture. When I consulted the projects launched under the Twelfth Five-year Program for Education Science of Beijing, teaching or research projects relating to the international popularization of Beijing culture were absent. This suggests that, at present, a set of forward-looking, systematic toplevel design and relevant mechanisms concerning Beijing culture' s international development is yet to be set in place, so as to further clarify the strategic goals, targets of execution and specific steps in the effort to spread Beijing culture internationally. In light of the many efficiency factors of culture dissemination activities, like convenience, efficiency, and controllability, efforts should be focused on spreading Beijing culture among foreigners, especially international students, living in Beijing. As this should be the strategic priority, attention should be given to the relevant research in this regard and reforming the management ways of international students.

Table 3: Statistics on the Channels of Subjects' Learning about Beijing Culture

Table 3 shows that 48.2% of respondents learn about Beijing culture through "newspapers, TV, and the Internet", but in written and oral interviews, over 60% of the interviewees said they rarely watched news programs on Beijing TV stations, over 80% of those interviewed rarely or never browsed the websites of the Beijing municipal government even though some of the interviewed students who have studied in Beijing for more than 3 years, are fluent in Chinese and currently pursuing a master or doctorate degree. Such a phenomenon indicates that international students' awareness of, and contacts with, the mainstream media in Beijing are few and far between. Capital Window (http://www.beijing. gov.cn) is the portal for the Beijing government' s affairs, which is both available in English and rich in content. In addition to the important information released by the municipal government including information regarding services provided for handling affairs, a special column on Beijing culture is also available, which sticks strictly to language norms and contains detailed introductions, qualifying some of the column' s contents for reading materials in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

The Beijing tourism website (http://www. visitbeijing.com.cn) is the official website of the Beijing Tourism Development Committee, available in eight languages, including English, French, Japanese, and Korean. It not only features vivid illustrations of tourist attractions in Beijing, but also provides free ticket issuing and other user experience activities. These two sites are enough to meet most of the needs of international students in terms of life, study and cultural activities, and are supposed to appeal greatly to Beijing-based foreign students, thus promoting the spread of Beijing culture. Unfortunately, the interviewed students rarely said they knew about or browsed these two websites. Some scholars have suggested that the "Efforts to creatively develop Beijing culture' s Internet transmission are insufficient, and a multidimensional and efficient integratednetwork of culture transmission is yet to be established,"[10]a point that the author highly agreed with.

According to this investigation, the author feels the need to add that during the promotion of a culture among a specific target group, efforts must be made to better suit the needs of the group. If both the teaching and administrative departments involved in the education of international students were connected, there would be a boost in power for the awareness and involvement of international students in the cultural teachings and cultural activities in Beijing and the spread and promotion of Beijing culture among these groups of students would be greatly enhanced.

Table 3 also shows that 55.9% of the respondents learned about Beijing culture through friends. However, in the multiple choices part, under the item "My main contacts in Beijing," over half of the students selected "Classmates or friends from my own country" and "Classmates or friends from other countries," while only 19.7% chose "Chinese classmates or friends." The specifics can be seen in Table 4.

This shows that the social intercourse of foreign students in Beijing is largely foreigner community based, whereas their contacts withBeijingers or Chinese students are limited. Reexamining that 55.9% of foreign students learn about Beijing culture through, "Friends' introduction", we can readily infer that such "Friends' introduction" is more likely to mean information exchange of Beijing culture among foreigners. The communication among the communities of cross-culture travelers is certainly one of the effective means to extend their channel of gaining information as it is, but on the other hand, negative emotions induced by biased discourse, culture misreading and cross-culture impact are susceptible to transmission as well. For example, in the written interview Ayane Watanabe, a Japanese student, reflected on the spread of false information regarding Beijing culture saying, "Do not parrot other people' s words, and only seeing and experiencing is believing." This case demonstrates exactly the urgency to establish efficient and smooth channels for Beijing culture' s international promotion.

Table 4: Statistical Results on Groups of People Subjects Socialize with in Beijing

2.2 International Students' Identity with Beijing' s Traditional and Modern Culture

As a historical and cultural city, Beijing has abundant traditional culture. In terms of either the number of historical and cultural relics, or the number of preserved traditional residences and folkways, or the number of inheritors of statelevel intangible cultural heritage, Beijing ranks among the top places in China. Based on the questionnaire survey, international students have a high degree of identity with Beijing culture. As shown in Table 2, the average value for the item "I know something about Beijing culture" is 3.50, for "I am quite interested in Beijing' s traditional folk custom" the value is 3.66, for "I am quite interested in Hutong, quadrangle courtyards and other Beijing traditional residential buildings", it is 3.74, and for "I am quite interested in Beijing' s scenicspots and historical sites" the value is 3.94. Many of the essays written by the students, and often during the interviews, the international students expressed their love for Beijing' s traditional culture. For instance, South Korean student Liu Xingxun wrote, "I have visited some beautiful scenic spots and historical sites. If I have the opportunity in future, I will visit more such places in Beijing with my family or friends." Malaysian student Yosura wrote, "Aside from learning Chinese, I like hanging about in Beijing, especially the historical sites, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven. As I am particularly interested in these places, I accompany my relatives or friends who are on their first visit to China in their touring these places. In addition, I am capable of introducing to them the history and characteristics of each place." Malaysian student Ferdine wrote, "Although Beijing becomes increasingly developed, the Chinese people still retain much of their historical heritage. Even till this day, we can still see the majestic Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace and so on. These well-known attractions are the No. 1 reason why foreign tourists visit China." German student Yang Kaiwen wrote, "Of cities around the world, only Beijing has Hutong, in which you can see Beijingers go about their daily life. Some sit outside chatting with each other or playing chess, others are hanging out clothes, and still others leisurely stroll to the market to buy fresh vegetables. Little birds are singing on large trees, accompanied by a few little manikins and parrots sitting in cages." Thus, we see that the traditional cultural heritage, such as Beijing' s scenic spots and historical sites, Hutong and quadrangle courtyards, are highly recognized among students, and they become the symbols representing Beijing culture. This also reflects the outstanding achievements Beijing has scored in protecting and promoting its traditional culture.

Peking Opera has long been known as the name card of Beijing' s traditional culture, playing a leading role in the promotion of Beijing culture.

A treasure among China' s traditional arts, the Peking Opera has long been widely recognized as the name card of Beijing' s traditional culture, playing a leading role in the promotion of Beijing culture. Moreover, in a questionnaire survey of Chinese college students, the Peking Opera won the highest number of votes, beating even the Forbidden City and the Great Wall to become, in the view of domestic college students, the most representative of Beijing' s cultural symbols.[11]However, as shown in Table 2, the survey of international students' identity with Beijing culture, the average value for the item "I am quite interested in Beijing Opera" is merely 2.71, the lowest among all items. Besides, the questionnaire has also investigated international students' contact with Beijing' s cultural facilities using a multiplechoice question, the results of which are shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Statistical Results on Subjects' Visiting Cultural Places

Among all kinds of cultural sites, the Lao She Teahouse and the Chang' an Grand Theater received the smallest number of international students. Written and oral interviews also shown that, although some students went to a theater for opera performance, the majority of international students mainly participated in cultural activities organized by their universities, and did not voluntarily go see a performance of the Peking Opera. Some explanations were offered during the interviews as to why international students do not take a liking to Peking Opera, mainly including, "Too much noise," "Music not agreeable to ears," and "I hear but don' t understand performers' lines." For example, Malaysian student Asafu believes that, "Many ancient Peking Opera shows feature a language that is quite different from the contemporary Chinese language, and I have heard the talk that most of the Chinese people do not understand the lines. If that' s the case, how could a foreigner understand them?" Thus, it can be seen that Chinese and foreign students, of similar educational levels, have totally different cultural identities. There is no doubt that the Peking Opera is a highly comprehensive form of traditional stage art. Not only does it combine poetry, music, and dance to reveal the classical beauty of opera arts, but also the plots are rich in the solemn sense of history, carrying with them the philosophical outlook, values and aesthetics of the Chinese traditional culture, which symbolizes the long lasting history and elegant taste of Beijing culture. But for cultural others coming from other countries, the attractiveness of the Peking Opera lies in its bizarre costumes, props and facial masks. The unique sound and melody produced by the playing of Erhu, Suona Horn, Gongs and other Chinese musical instruments are rather strange to foreign ears, and even more difficult for foreigners to comprehend are the quaint, sonorous lyrics and the historical elements in the plots of plays. Put differently, although a mystery feeling surrounding the oriental classical art of Peking Opera is prone to arouse curiosity in foreign students, yet at the same time it generates mysterious, strange, and incomprehensible symbolic culture from other cultural perspectives. Therefore, based on the international students' acceptance of and feedback on the Peking Opera, there is room for further exploration regarding how to play the Peking Opera card well from a cross-cultural perspective in the international promotion of Beijing culture.

Endowed with rich cultural deposits by its long history of serving as the capital of ancient dynasties, Beijing has also developed into a modern metropolis since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy. Thereby, the city combines traditional and modern cultural elements in its development, giving rise to the spatialtemporal continuity and integrity of culture and demonstrating the modern charm of an ancient capital characterized by culture. For international students, it is extraordinarily interesting andenchanting to wander in and out of the history of Beijing. As a result, they did not hesitate to praise Beijing in this regard in their essay writing interviews. For instance, South Korean student Pu Fanzhu wrote, "I visited those historical sites, like the Forbidden City, Yonghe Lamasery, and I also went to Houhai, Beijing Botanical Gardens, Sanlitun and Happy Valley. Beijing is indeed both a modern metropolis and an ancient city with rich history." Malaysian student Fatiha wrote, "Such an ancient city with abundant cultural deposits as Beijing is, it is a city characterized by so much modernity." A perfect and harmonious combination of modern and ancient cultures Beijing embodies, yet it nourishes Beijingers, a kind of people unique to this city." Russian student Nastassja, "I like to see the shadows of old Beijing buildings out of the windows of the city' s skyscrapers windows." Swedish student Janet likes,"…mostly this combination of ancient and modern. Here, one can not only live a modern life, but also visit places of ancient buildings." One Belgian student was amazed to find that, "Beijing is so big, so modern, and so authentic." Belarusian student Lisa thought, "Beijing has this integration of ancient and modern cultures. For example, in a Beijing hutong, you can see the skyscrapers, fine jewelry stores on the avenues next to a hutong, and when you are out of it, it will be a different picture. Modernity, history and all those things can be found here, making it an extraordinary city." Polish student Fu Lili (her Chinese name) likes,"…especially wandering in Beijing' s hutongs to enjoy the traditional atmosphere of quadrangle courtyards...Emerging from a hutong, you will see the skyscrapers shining with neon lights, get reconnected to the rhythm of life in a modern city. For me, this is kind of like encountering a very interesting twist of plot while reading a book."

As shown by the investigation of international students' going to cultural sites in Table 5, Beijing' s modern culture holds a great appeal to these students. The questionnaire selects three categories of cultural sites; the modern cultural and entertainment sites represented by Sanlitun bars and the 798 Art District, modern public cultural facilities like the National Library and the Capital Museum, and the cultural sites for traditional opera culture represented by the Chang' an Grand Theater and the Lao She Teahouse. Of these three categories, international students are most interested in Beijing' s modern cultural and entertainment sites, with 72.6% and 58.4% of international students respectively having been to Sanlitun bars and the 798 Art District. Next ranks the modern public cultural facilities, as 39.7% and 35.3% of international students respectively have been to the Capital Museum and the National Library. By contrast, students' acceptance of the cultural sites for traditional opera is lukewarm, with 27.2% of them having been to the Lao She Teahouse and 14.0% the Chang' an Grand Theater. During the interviews, students mostly expressed satisfaction with Beijing' s modern culture and entertainment facilities and modern public culture facilities, saying that they reflect the efficiency, convenience and fashion of a modern city. Even the square dance is regarded by international students as a symbol of Beijing' s modern urban culture. As shown in Table 2, the average value for the item "I like to see Beijingers singing, dancing in parks or on squares" is 3.66, far more than the 2.71 average value for "I am quite interested in Peking Opera." Indonesian student Li Wanxuan (her Chinese name) wrote, "Many elders go there for activities, such as dancing, singing, and playing games, which is quite interesting for foreigners, because such activities can only be seen in China. I think this kind of activities is also very good for the elderly. They engage in activities that theylike, being care-free and only enjoying life." South Korean student Liang Dongyou wrote, "There are many people in parks. They are very active, and the activities are diverse; shadowboxing, singing, shuttlecock kicking and dancing, etc. What is amazing is that they are mostly elders. I think it is pleasant to see, and they appear very healthy." Thus, in addition to the traditional culture of Beijing, the city' s multi-component modern urban culture is becoming increasingly one of the new representative elements of Beijing culture by virtue of its vibrant, healthy and progressive cultural symbolic significance, and is playing an active role in building the image of Beijing urban culture and improving the city' s international influence.

2.3 International Students' Reception of Beijing' s Specialty Products

The varied featured products include material goods and spiritual goods which are an overall reflection of a region' s industrial development, and an important indicator that the region' s culture is disseminated internationally and exerts an impact. In the 1980s, many Chinese people came into contact with Japanese culture through Panasonic and Toshiba TVs, whereas nowadays great numbers of young people pay attention to South Korean culture because they watch South Korean TV programs. The international students' reception of Beijing' s featured products provides a unique perspective for assessing the international promotion of Beijing culture. As shown in Table 2, in the questionnaire survey, the average value for "I am willing to bring home with me Beijing' s featured products" is 3.82, second only to the average value of 3.94 for "I am quite interested in Beijing' s scenic spots and historical sites." This indicates that Beijing' s featured products are quite appealing to international students, and that Beijing culture is being spread overseas alongside these material and cultural products, which contribute to Beijing' s constantly increasing international influence. During written and oral interviews, the featured products brought home by the students have a great variety, ranging from such life products as silk clothing, ceramics, cigarettes and liquor, tea, and candies to electronic and audiovisual products like mobile phones, USB flash disks, DVD discs, and traditional handicrafts such as kites, folding fans, and embroidered handkerchiefs.

The varied Chinese food culture also has a long history. Beijing food, for its part, is inclusive of the essence of food throughout China, and also possesses the distinctive character of traditional Beijing tastes, thereby enjoying great popularity with international students. During the essay writing interviews, many students cited a variety of their favorite Beijing food, including roast duck, instant-boiled mutton, noodles, dumplings, handpulled noodles with beef, Kung Pao Chicken, sugar-coated haws on a stick, mutton shashlik, fried butter cake, soybean milk, and Aiwowo (Steamed Rice Cakes with Sweet Stuffing). Malaysian student Rui Han (Chinese name) likes the sugar-coated haws on a stick, "I have even thought that if I open a sugar-coated haws store in my country, it will be a huge hit." Japanese student YuShuyuuis is also"…especially fond of Beijingflavor snacks, tortillas, and Fried Chop Rice Cake…including soybean milk and fermented bean curd. If you want to savor Beijing culture, you must taste these two dishes. As for me, I have eaten them." South Korean student Song Jingmei believes that, "The flavor of Beijing lamb hot pot is very unique, and so is the taste of the sesame paste, a taste that couldn' t be savored in South Korea." Japanese student Ayano Maruyama,"…fell in love with all sorts of strange snacks situated at all the streets and corners of Beijing, and love betterthe history and stories behind them." Malaysian student Nabisa thinks, "Beijing specialty foods are cheap and tasty. Since I super-like Beijing cuisine, I have signed up for the cooking class that features Chinese food." The questionnaire of this survey selects seven common kinds of food that are most characteristic of old Beijing, and investigates the international students' reception of Beijing specialty food using a multi-choice question, the statistical results of which are shown in Table 6.

It can be seen from the table that Quanjude Roast Duck enjoys the highest degree of acceptance, followed by sugar-coated haws on a stick, Bean Paste Noodles and Peking Eastern House (Hot Pot). The interviewed students generally agreed that Peking Roast Duck is the most representative of the Beijing food culture. For instance, Malaysian student Nusha said in her eyes, old Beijing' s symbols are,"…quadrangle courtyard, Hutong, Peking Roast Duck, and I like roast duck best." Malaysian student Fatiha thought that the symbols include,"…quadrangle courtyard, Confucius, Bean Paste Noodles, and Peking Roast Duck." Malaysian student Yi Ke' er believes, "Beijing' s specialty is Peking Roast Duck."

Meanwhile, some Beijing specialties well known to people domestically are not well received by international students. Students who ate Daoxiang Village Light Refreshments, Beijing Preserved Fruits and Liubiju Pickles accounted for only 16.6%, 24.7% and 6.4% respectively in the total. Through the oral interviews we have found that some students have no interest in snack foods because they are high in sugar, salt and fat. Also, these three kinds of specialty foods and the well-established brands that produce them are completely unknown to most foreign students. Such phenomenon proves that Beijing brands have a relatively great potential to expand the international influence of some specialty foods.This also shows that Beijing specialty products do not produce a group effect, meaning the individual brands have yet to be turned into a group of symbols representing Beijing. Thus, concerning Beijing specialty brands whose market visibility is yet to be expanded, should look to product innovation and intensifying brand promotion to expand into international markets while preserving their traditional characteristics.

Table 6: Statistics of Subjects' Reception of Beijing Specialty Food

Regarding the international promotion of Beijing culture, it is a systematic undertaking of great complexity to deepen cultural implications of Beijing specialty products, to add more emphasis to spreading Beijing culture in the promotion of such products in order to achieve positive interactions between industry influence and the power of cultural communication.

3. Recommendations on the International Promotion of Beijing Culture

This paper investigates and analyzes international students' identity with Beijing culture. It should be noted that the Chinese proficiency of foreign students apparently affects their acceptance of Beijing culture, which is also the main reason why they participated in cultural activities that fall short on diversity and have limited access to culture information. However, from the perspective of enhancing Beijing' s culture within the international student community, this actually provides a unique reference for assessing and reflecting on the international promotion of Beijing culture. Based on the above, through analyses of survey data and interview cases, this paper presents the following suggestions for the promotion of Beijing culture internationally:

First, develop a city-wide strategy for the international promotion of Beijing culture, and combine the urban development goal of turning Beijing into an internationally influential, worldrenowned cultural city with the national culture development strategic goal of Chinese culture "going global". In the field of international promotion of culture, Beijing should give full play to its advantages in political, cultural and human resources as the nation' s capital, formulate a set of comprehensive, systematic and forward-looking strategies for the international promotion of Beijing culture, highlighting Beijing' s paramount role in the process of Chinese culture going global.

Second, further consolidate the resource base of Beijing urban culture, and give full play to Beijing' s advantages in traditional cultural heritage. While increasing the efforts to protect and promote cultural heritage such as cultural relics and historical sites, traditional architecture, and folklore and folk arts, Beijing should at the same time adhere to the development direction of diversification and inclusiveness by actively exploring and cultivating the elements of modern culture with an international reputation. The goal is to depict a colorful picture in which traditional culture and modern culture are highly integrated, giving more meaning to Beijing culture during its international promotion.

Third, pay more attention to studies on key target groups. Beijing should actively develop specific and appropriate dissemination and promotional strategies according to the characteristics of different target groups including Chinese and foreign public figures with international influence, overseas media, foreign groups in Beijing, and overseas Chinese studies programs.

Fourth, strengthen awareness of cross-cultural spread. In the promotion process, the subject' s consciousness of Beijing culture should be maintained to highlight the culture' s independence and distinct uniqueness. At the same time, efforts should be doubled to conduct cultural feedback studies from the perspective of internationalization, in particular the systematic studies on the crosscultural explanation of Beijing culture' s symbols so as to effectively avoid misreading caused by cultural differences in cross-cultural transmittal.

Fifth, establish and perfect a sound mechanism for the international promotion of Beijing culture and fully mobilize the various foreign-oriented industries and departments to actively promote Beijing culture. The international promotion of Beijing culture should positively interact with the brand effect of Beijing specialty products, the academic effect of universities that enroll international students, the social effect of news media, and the economic effect of the tourism sector, the goal of which is to build a variety of well researched and developed platforms for the spreading of Beijing' s unique culture to the international community.

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[2] 2013 Report on the Work of Beijing Municipal Government [EB/OL] . (2013-1-31). CapitalWindow.http://zhengwu.beijing.gov. cn/jhhzx/szfgzbg/t1298020.htm

[3] President Xi Raises Five Points on the Construction of a Most Benevolent Capital in his Beijing Inspection [EB/OL] .(2014-2-26). Xinhuanet.http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-02/26/c_119519301_3.htm

[4] Li Jiansheng (chief editor). Beijing Blue Book: Beijing Cultural Development Report (2012-2013) [C] . Social Sciences Academic Press, 2013.24.

[5] Composition of foreigners in Beijing, see Huang Rongqing. Study on the Number of Foreigners in Beijing [J] .Beijing Social Science, 2010 (2).

[6] China Education Yearbook 2005 [EB/OL] . (2007-02-15). Website of Ministry of Education of China.http://www.moe.gov.cn/ publicfles/business/htmlfles/moe/moe_1192/200702/16192.html

[7] The 2006 Statistical Yearbook on Foreign Students Studying in China [EB/OL] .(2007-02-06).Website of Ministry of Education of China.http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfles/business/htmlfles/moe/moe_850/201001/xxgk_77799.html

[8] The 2009 Yearbook [EB/OL] . (2010-02-02). Website of Ministry of Education of China. http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfles/ business/htmlfles/moe/s3124/201002/82571.html

[9] The 2012 Concise Statistical Report on Foreign Students Studying in China [EB/OL] .http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/ business/htmlfles/moe/s5987/201303/148379.html

[10] Li Jiansheng (chief editor). Beijing Blue Book: Beijing Cultural Development Report (2013-2014) [C] .Social Sciences Academic Press, 2014, 27.

[11] Wang Yichuan. Beijing Cultural Symbols and the Soft Power Construction of a World City [J] . Beijing Social Sciences, 2011, (2).

*Lu Xiaopeng, associate professor, School of Chinese Language and Literature, Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Fund Project: Phased Achievement of the Joint Project of Beijing City' s Scientific Research and Graduate Students Training," Acculturation Research of Beijing-based International Students" (FFF068121)