CAIRO - As I visited China for the first time, one thing I was on the lookout for was the 'Made in Egypt' label. I wondered where, if I did indeed find it, it would be. The answer came to me faster than I expected. The day after I arrived in Beijing, I turned on the TV in my hotel room, only to find the music on one of the official Chinese channels oddly familiar. It was one of those popular Egyptian songs that you never hear on Egyptian State TV, but what was particularly striking was the Chinese girls in Oriental costumes bellydancing to the music. I asked my Chinese friends about what I thought was a coincidence, but they astonished me by admitting that bellydancing is staple, daily fair on their TV channels. They even said that there are many bellydancing centres around the country. Even Chinese men do bellydancing in order to keep fit! So I wasn't surprised to find bellydancers strutting their stuff in several Arab restaurants scattered round Beijing; but what did surprise was that it was almost impossible to get a table in such restaurants. "Although their numbers have increased in recent years, it is still difficult to find an empty table at these restaurants, because Chinese love Arab food and the charming Oriental atmosphere of these places. "The Chinese are really fascinated by Arab culture. Many of them frequent such restaurants, not only for the food and music, but because they want to learn more about Arab culture and history," said Malek Monzer, a Syrian expatriate who runs the One Thousand and One Nights Restaurant in Beijing. Malek has done out his restaurant in Arab style, with pictures of famous historical Arab figures on the walls. "My customers always ask about the designs and the characters," said Malek, who opened his restaurant in 1995. “Now the city is full of restaurants like mine, but there's still a great demand.” Perhaps the name has something to do with his restaurant's popularity, as the famous book One Thousand and One Nights has been translated into Chinese. The Chinese started translating Arab works many centuries ago, because China was connected with the Arab world via the Silk Road. But there have been fewer translations in modern times, with many of them made from a third language. Today, even with the increased number of Chinese students studying Arabic and Arab students studying Chinese, the translation scene is still seriously lacking, as many students go on to work in trade, tourism, diplomacy or the media. The many Chinese friends I made are thirsty to learn more about Arab culture and literature. If they come to Cairo, they like buying souvenirs in the Khan el-Khalili, even though they've been made in China! Although Egypt imports so much from China, it seems that we still have something to sell the Chinese too; something that may help create a balance in our relationship. China has spent much of its history trying to hermetically seal itself from foreign cultures for a reason or another, but today it seems that things are changing. With China opening up, there are good possibilities for the Egyptians to export their cultural products. The two countries are great, ancient Oriental civilisations; many of the older generation will recall the history of co-operation and solidarity. But the younger generation of Chinese and Egyptians still need to appreciate this. On the Egyptian side, something that might help is Egypt's heritage, its culture. It's the only product that we can sell the Chinese, at least for the time being. Meanwhile, China is keen to promote its culture in this part of the world also. Chinese Radio launched its Arabic service more than fifty years ago, while Chinese State television began broadcasting its Arabic-language channel for the Middle East and Africa a few years ago. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation, China will be the leading world travel destination by 2016 or 2018 at the latest. However, little attention is still given to this product on our side. While the number of Chinese travelling outside their country rose by 54 per cent to 47.7 million between 2005 and 2009 and they spent more than French, Japanese or Canadian travellers, only 106,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt in 2010. It's clear that more effort needs to be exerted in this domain.
