About 500 Sinologists from around the globe gathered in Shanghai recently for the second World Conference on China Studies. The scale surprised me because 40 years ago, there were just a few dozen Sinologists scattered across, mostly, the United States, the then West Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries.

In contrast, I found out, nowadays, some 16,000 people are going to 550 institutions spread across 90 countries and regions to major in or specialize in China Studies. In my youth, the few Sinologists were mostly studying the Chinese language, history and Confucius' influence on Chinese culture and society. Nowadays, China Studies scholars are spending more time investigating Chinese modernization, as apparent from speeches and papers presented by participants at the conference in Shanghai.

All these changes showcase China's growing global influence since the launch of reform and opening-up in the late 1970s. The country is now the world's second-largest economy. What's more, its citizens' degree of satisfaction in the country's governance system is among the highest in the world.

The huge China Studies gathering reminded me of my experience while doing an American Studies course, 42 years ago, in the United States. I was attending a two-semester project specially designed for about 10 Chinese mid-career journalists and teachers. Each day, professors and local journalists came to teach us skills in news writing, interviewing, photography and copy editing. The only non-journalism course we were recommended to take was American Studies.

I still remember how I spent an hour or so each day digesting the two-inch thick American Studies textbook that I bought from the university's bookstore at a discount. By reading and going to classes, I learned about American history, its political system and its governance structure. Before leaving for home, the National Committee on United States-China Relations sponsored us a two-week field study tour along both the East and West coasts.

We climbed up to the summit of the Empire State Building, went deep into the vault in the Federal Reserve, visited the Capitol, enjoyed the show in Williamsburg, a settlement for early immigrants. Of course, sightseeing in Hollywood and Disneyland was also a must. As a career journalist engaging in international communication, I must confess I benefited greatly from my American Studies experience. Even when I am critical of some operations undertaken by the United States, I understand where that comes from.

My American Studies experience convinced me that the growing interest in China Studies will greatly benefit communications between China and other countries and regions. Now that more scholars are turning their attention toward China, it is becoming easier for people to understand that China is not a monster as many of them had been led to believe. In fact, China's social-economic progress and the setbacks in many developed countries in the past decades are convincing many people that there are models other than those followed in the West that can provide people with freedom, security and a better life.

At international forums, some foreign scholars no longer hesitate in calling the Chinese approach to development as the "China model", a term even the Chinese are reluctant to use. Unlike some Western countries that are pushing to spread their model globally, sometimes through wars, the Chinese believe that the world should be, and is, diverse. Such a world should tolerate different civilizations, cultures, lifestyles and systems.

According to an ancient saying, "only feet know best if the shoes fit". On official occasions the Chinese are reluctant to call their development the "China model". However, they sometimes use "China's development path" or "Chinese governance model". I think China's cautiousness is rooted in its belief that it is a world of diversity and a development model should not regard others as rivals.

With China Studies gaining popularity among foreign students and scholars, I hope that communications between China and the world will improve further and that more true stories about China will be told.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.