Americans' security fears notwithstanding, the U.S. still embodies the ideals toward which the Chinese aspire. Current film showings here include, for example, the recent hit "Pearl Harbor."  TV stations, besides local programming, offer CNN, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, as well as BBC and German productions.  There are "computer bars" throughout major cities, small stores with one or two dozen computers where patrons can go online and communicate with the whole world (although some sites are blacked-out, apparently by government restrictions).

Further evidence of America's cultural invasion are the blouses, T-shirts, and dresses sporting commercial appeals by Nike, Reebok, and Mickey Mouse.  (Rarely you'll see a dissent, like the image of the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevara.)

I am cordially received here and am the beneficiary, not only of traditional Chinese hospitality, but of the fact that my U.S. dollar goes farther here than almost anywhere else. Just footsteps from the four-star hotels, a good lunch in one of the many small restaurants costs as little as $1, a two-mile taxi ride $1.50, and a fine dinner $15.