South Park uses a naive boy's character to portray Americans' most politically incorrect views and fears. The rise of China has fueled the "China threat" theory. Eric's nightmare reflects something in the American subconscious: what Americans fear most is not an economically strong China, but a highly uniform and collective China. This is because the development model and values underpinning the rapidly growing Chinese economy is in conflict with the American value system.

In 1979, the year Beijing and Washington established diplomatic relations, Deng Xiaoping wound up his visit to the US with a number of agreements on bilateral cultural exchange. The next year, China Central Television telecast The Man from Atlantis, the first ever American TV series shown in China. Three decades later, Chinese people no longer have to wait for CCTV to telecast an American program, because they can freely choose what and when to watch thanks to the Internet.

American TV shows are produced for the mainstream American audience, not for avid Chinese viewers closely following American shows. But because of the Internet, many of those shows have generated a large audience in China, mainly among university students and white-collar workers, who are usually well educated and have independent views.

Their understanding of American society and values comes largely from what they see in American TV shows and films. But since these viewers are sensitive, they can identify the clash between Eastern and Western cultures and are critical of the prejudice against Chinese people in American shows. Their criticisms are not blind patriotism or narrow nationalism, instead they are the result of the absurd feeling they have after watching Chinese culture being misinterpreted and distorted.

Fictional representation of China is one way of increasing understanding between the Chinese and American people. Yet we should not forget that a TV show is a form of performing arts that relies on fabrication and exaggeration, whereas exchanges, understanding, and trust between the two countries should be based on sincerity, goodwill and inclusiveness.

The author is a researcher at Center for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Studies, Shanghai Institutes of International Studies. www.chinausfocus.com