Common Western prejudices about China are relatively well identified. In The Blue Lotus, the famous comic strip character Tintin saves the life of Zhang Chongren. Zhang was also in real life a good friend of Hergé, Tintin's creator, and he introduced Chinese culture to the Belgian artist. After Zhang's rescue, a short but interesting dialogue takes place between the young European and the young Chinese. Tintin tells Zhang that "many Europeans imagine that Chinese people are deceitful and cruel."

Such a representation of deceitfulness and cruelty explains many biased comments and attitudes toward China. Demonizing by depriving the other of its human characteristics is, unfortunately, not a rare phenomenon, and has been one of the constant features of Western imaginary reconstruction of China. Since contacts and exchanges can easily overcome these absurd prejudices, they have to be encouraged and supported massively by the various governments. Moreover, Western schools' curricula have to introduce the depth, beauty and significance of the Chinese civilization just as the Chinese educational system has to offer a window on Western culture.

Lack of knowledge contributes also to the divide. If the "Bamboo Curtain" came down with De Gaulle's recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1964 and Richard Nixon's trip to Beijing in 1972, many still view the Communist Party of China as a monolithic entity that shows no respect for its own citizens and whose only goal and obsession is to protect the interests of its members. Ideology is a component of the invisible wall. In fact, China's economic reemergence, political transformation and growing social pluralism are deeply interrelated and, with the reinterpretation of China's intellectual tradition, define the Chinese renaissance.

The China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, the new Chinese Communist Party school in Shanghai, helps to offer a more accurate picture of China's political changes. In this 21st century party school under the authority of Li Yuanchao, the head of the party's organization department, there is no more ideology but one reflects upon management, governance and the world's best practices that can be used in the Chinese context to improve the life of the Chinese people. Problem-solving skills and case studies have eclipsed theoretical speculation and doctrinal disputes.

To appreciate the degree of China's openness, one can also observe the dynamics within the China-European Union School of Law at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. In this new institution, inaugurated by Vice Premier Li Keqiang who himself studied law in the prestigious Peking University, are educated those who will contribute to perfect China's judicial system and to consolidate its rule of law.

The effort to de-ideologize, which began under Deng Xiaoping and which is deepening, and the increasing role of the rule of law in a context where the rule of man has been predominant, are two pieces of evidence of China's political modernization. China's elites are receptive to the world's advancements and Western leaders, if unable to recognize how the Chinese civilization can take the world to another level, should, at least, be aware of this unprecedented receptiveness.

China's communication with the rest of the world is also a factor that can bridge the understanding gap. In the long term, transparency and access, including in Tibet or in Xinjiang, will help the Western public to become more familiar with the Chinese world and the real intentions of its leadership. Press conferences, public fora, international events, the participation of Chinese intellectuals in the debates over global policies and the development of sophisticated media coexisting worldwide with Western news networks will expose the myth of an impenetrable and secretive China.

Generally speaking, mutual empathy is essential to prevent the vicious circle of incomprehension and exclusion. While Chinese intellectuals have to accept that the West's opening-up and adjustment to the Chinese renaissance will be a long process, Western elites have to conceive that economic development and socio-political modernization require time.

Fundamentally, both sides, whatever the difficulties, have to cultivate the highest sense of responsibility and approach the issues from a global perspective. Moving beyond the Great Invisible Wall of mistrust, ignorance and fear which stands on the way toward a world civilization, the Chinese leaders could proudly declare today in Paris or in Washington: "I am a citizen of the world," while in Beijing, Western leaders could state the same sentence in Chinese.

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the father of modern China, explained, one year before his death, "Europeans can not yet discern our ancient civilization, but China has thought of a political world civilization, and cosmopolitanism was talked of 2,000 years ago in China."

If adequately understood and combined, Western universalism and Chinese cosmopolitanism are powerful enough to free ourselves from any visible or invisible barrier, to enlarge our political horizon and to take us at another level of awareness.

(The view in this article does not necessarily represent that of Beijing Review.)

The author is director of the Euro-China Center for International and Business Relations at CEIBS, Shanghai, and founder of the Euro-China Forum