Many Chinese people were excited about the debut of "Chinese elements" at the Academy Awards ceremony. Chinese acrobats and a Chinese movie star Li Bingbing attended the awards on Feb 27 in Los Angeles. However, their attendance was purely for commercial reasons, says an article in people.com.cn. Excerpts:

It is becoming fashionable to show more Chinese elements at many top global events.

It shows that the world is focused on China, and to some extent, that China has more international influence now.

However, we should be aware that the Chinese elements are just used as decorations or supporting players at these events. Li Bingbing, looked gorgeous on the red carpet, but she was merely a vase.

It is actually China's large and growing market that is the real reason Chinese elements decorate such global events.

China, as the world's second largest economy, must be taken seriously if Westeners want to make money.

But Chinese people should not be satisfied with such a role.

China lacks strong global leaders in many fields, like business, technology, art and culture, which shows its weakness in soft power. We should reflect on why China cannot cultivate a Steve Jobs, or an Oscar winner, or create companies like Google and Microsoft.

(China Daily 03/02/2012 page9)