Feature: College library photo exhibition invites Americans to discover real China

"I could get on a plane and fly to China tomorrow," Monika Hoffarth-Zelloe said, as she marveled at dozens of photos that were on display in the library of a local community college in the U.S. state of Virginia.

The photos were part of the "China in my eyes" exhibition Hoffarth-Zelloe had volunteered to put together to promote the Chinese language and culture in local communities. This stop, which began on Feb.1, was the sixth in the tour exhibition.

The 70 photos hanging on the walls of the Northern Virginia Community College Library were an odd collection taken over three decades. Some were the works of National Geographic photographers while others were the casual snapshots of amateurs, but they shared one thing in common: they all reflected what the photographer thought the "real" China looks like.

For example, a vendor who had displayed dozens of pairs of shoes on a car was depicted in one picture, while a grandmother and her grandson playing cards on a busy public square were shown in another.

In South China's Jiangxi Province, a family bearing gifts make a strenuous hike on a mountainous trail to visit their relative was thought to portray the real China, while thousands of miles away in Northeast China's Jilin Province, a barbecued fish stand was also considered to carry the true Chinese flavor.

The exhibition is helping students at the college see what China is really like from various angles.

Matt Todd, associate dean of the college, said the exhibition has received "very positive responses from the students, many of whom studied the photos along with the captions on their sides."

Benefitting from the gallery, Chinese-related books have also seen a bump in check outs, said Paul Chapman, a librarian.

The exhibition was aimed at helping people get rid of their prejudices against China. "The more people are informed, the less fear they will have," Hoffarth-Zelloe, a language specialist at the Goethe Institute, said.

Once a staunch China sceptic, Hoffarth-Zelloe had no interest in visiting China while growing up, but that changed when her son, Alexander, decided to take a Chinese course in high school.

In 2010, Hoffarth-Zelloe accompanied her son on an exchange visit to China, touring the capital city of Beijing and a school in central Henan Province.

"People were really nice to us and made us feel welcomed," Hoffarth-Zelloe said, and at that moment, she realized how her previous impressions of the country were detached from reality.

Hoffarth-Zelloe went back to China in 2011 and again in 2016, and said she now looks at China "mostly in a positive way."

"During a trip last year, I took a bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, it was fast and comfortable," Hoffarth-Zelloe said.

"I now feel it's my duty and mission to teach others, and ask people to see China for themselves, and if they can't make the trip, at least learn about it," Hoffarth-Zelloe said.

Now all four members of Hoffarth-Zelloe's family have started studying Chinese. Alexander and his sister Natascha are both learning Chinese in school, while Hoffarth-Zelloe has signed up for a Chinese course at a local Confucius Institute.

"My son plans to have his own travel consultancy company, while my daughter's studies focus on fashion. Both will include Asia in their future careers," Hoffarth-Zelloe said, confident that their knowledge of Chinese will prepare them well. Endi