Feature: Same "surprise" for many -- a gift from modern China

"The lifestyle that I see here is much higher than my expectations," said German philosophy professor Frank Zenker at one of the busy sidewalks of Beijing's Haidian District.

Being in Beijing for only four days, the 40-year-old professor is one of thousands of foreign visitors who found a different image than they had in mind about the Chinese culture and people.

"The media push on us certain things that stick to our minds, but they tell the wrong story," said Zenker. "I have now a deeply more positive impression about China."

As for Chizi Kalu from the United States, a young lady who has been working in inbound tourism in Beijing for over three years, all she knew about the Chinese people before she first visited the country was nothing more than "there were a lot of them."

"In school, we studied ancient Chinese history and touched on China in relation with the Opium War, but study of modern China, its people and culture was not at all center of the Eurocentric education in America," Kalu from Columbus, Ohio, told Xinhua.

"After arriving, the modernness of China surprised me," she continued. "There was a variety of social media tools, WeChat being the most prominent. The subways were laid in a way that made them user-friendly even to non-Chinese speakers. People proved to be helpful and generous particularly when I got lost. I also noticed how family-oriented the culture was."

Most visitors and tourists commented in some way or another on how the city looks neat and clean with everything in order -- large and tall buildings, modern shopping malls, food courts, a systemized subway, bicycle parking lots, bedazzling nightlife and all.

A 23-year-old man from the Netherlands who gave his name as Arent noticed that the Chinese people in general and the students in particular are very hardworking.

"I am not sure if they like it but people here do work a lot and study very hard," said Arent, who has been studying in Beijing for a few weeks.

He added that he didn't expect China to be so nice before he really set feet on its soil.

With more than a dozen districts, the huge Chinese capital city is China's political and cultural center with a variety of historical sights and key government and cultural institutions.

Beijing, with almost 22 million inhabitants, hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and is scheduled to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Taking a walk with a friend in one of Xicheng District's main streets, a young Serbian who gave his name as Nikola said that before he first visited Beijing he heard it was so polluted and the people were a bit rude. "My impression completely changed. It's much more positive than I originally expected. The worst part is definitely the smog but everything else is definitely great."

Khaled Abdel-Latif, 30, from Egypt, was surprised by the Chinese people's manners, the way they dress, the brands of cars in the streets, the devices people hold, the buildings, among others. He said they show how much China has developed over the past decades.

"I visited many Asian countries like Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand and these are my first few days in China. I did not imagine the country to look as advanced as Japan. What I liked most here is the cleanliness and order as well as the people's friendliness and respect," he told Xinhua.

Nabi Ihsan, a 30-year-old Ph.D. student from Pakistan, said: "The Chinese culture is completely different from mine. I like it here in Beijing because it's more developed than my hometown. This city is really exciting."

Analyzing the various impressions, expectations and perceptions, Guan Juanjuan, a Chinese media expert and an official with China Radio International, referred to how China is depicted in the outside media outlets, particularly Western ones, in what she called "negative reporting."

She explained that for some media, bad news is news but good news is not news, while the perceptions of people about a country they have never been to are mainly formed by media platforms. "The bad news and sensational stories sell."

"We cannot say we are getting the truth but we're approaching the truth. To approach the truth you have to give a more complete picture, not just part of the picture," she said. Endi