While the number of Confucius Institutes (a non-profit public institution aligned with the Chinese Ministry of Education dedicated to promoting Chinese language and culture around the world) totals more than 350 in more than 100 countries and regions, access to Chinese culture like books, TV dramas or films overseas is not distributed widely or evenly enough to meet the spiritual needs of local Chinese to bond with their homeland or to satisfy local natives' demands to learn about Chinese culture.

In fact, in countries like Japan and the US where the economy is highly developed and large groups of Chinese immigrants reside, access to Chinese culture is very convenient and abundant. However, in places where the economy is underdeveloped and Chinese people are less concentrated, simply getting access to an internationally known Chinese film takes much time and effort.

Voices from home

Now every Friday night at 11pm, a Chinese girl named Li Shanshan who graduated from a Japanese college in 2012 and then stayed on to work there will sit herself down in front of her computer in time for the live broadcast of I'm A Singer, a popular entertainment show produced by China's Hunan TV station.

Still remembering her excitement when she watched Super Girl (a weekly singing competition featuring young girls that was broadcast between 2004 and 2006 on Hunan TV) in China, Li is a big fan of entertainment shows. "Now in Japan, I can closely follow my favorite shows like If You Are the One (a dating program by Jiangsu TV) and The Voice of China (a singing contest program by Zhejiang TV), even if I missed the live broadcast, their program videos can be easily found online," Li told the Globe magazine.

Li's convenient access to those Chinese shows in Japan is attributed to the country's highly advanced Internet network. Many foreign programs can be watched online after downloading the proper software. And besides TV shows, some popular Chinese magazines like Duzhe (a semi-monthly magazine, considered the Chinese version of The New Yorker) and Zhiyin (another semi-monthly magazine known for its emotional love stories) can be also seen in Japan, only its price is much higher than in China.

The ease of getting access to Chinese culture in the US is similar to that in Japan, with the US offering even more ways. Each year, dozens of Chinese singing, dancing or other performing troupes visit the country. Since last year, famous performers like singer Jam Hsiao, music group Mayday, cross talk celebrity Guo Degang and folk singer Song Zuying have all performed for local Chinese population in the US.

As for Chinese TV dramas and films, their availability in the US is even greater. Besides general theaters that have presented some of the Chinese blockbusters like the Sacrifice (2010), The Flowers of War (2011), and Return to 1942 (2012), the diversity of online video websites such as netflix.com and hulu.com offer audiences who are yearning for or interested in Chinese culture a variety of choices, covering collections of films from the past or present day.

Meanwhile, there are also different Chinese network TV stations in the US like kylintv.com and iTalkTV.com that provide live broadcasts of programs and TV dramas presented on TV stations in China. In this way, for TV soap opera fans, following their daily favorites like The Legend of Zhenhuan would be really handy.

Hard-won access

While in countries like Japan and the US there is essentially no barrier to the accessibility of Chinese programs and films, in countries like Afghanistan there is almost no way to reach them. At the few bookstores or video shops that do exist in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, there is only slim chance of finding Chinese books and videos. Sitting in a theater to watch a Chinese film is impossible. The only viable way to get access to Chinese TV shows is to set up a satellite dish on the roof of one's house.

That's what Li Xiaofeng did. Li originates from China's southeastern Zhejiang Province and now runs a Chinese restaurant in Kabul. To enable his family and customers to watch Chinese programs, he set up a satellite dish on the roof of his restaurant.

"We can get most of the CCTV channels except for its movie and TV drama channels," said Li. "We can also watch many provincial TV stations, and so my wife doesn't miss her favorite program If You Are the One."

In fact, the difficulty of getting access to Chinese books, TV shows and films does not just exist in countries like Afghanistan. Even in countries like Russia, which is geographically near and has a relatively developed economy, things related to Chinese culture are not actually abundant.

Despite its many bookstores and book fairs each year, the appearance of Chinese books is very sparse, especially compared to that of the Japanese books.

"Most original Chinese books get to Russia through an intermediary like the Confucius Institute, but due to ineffective operation, most of those books end up staying in the Institute without entering local bookstores," said Qu Yuansheng, chief representative of China National Publications Import & Export Corporation in Moscow.

TV shows connect people

Without much access to Chinese books, surfing online to watch Chinese TV shows and films in Russia is a better option to quench the thirst for Chinese culture. In fact, thanks to the wide coverage of the Internet and the availability of televisions in most countries, Chinese TV operas are beginning to become one of the most widely disseminated ways of keeping in touch with or learning about Chinese culture.

In the early 1990s, Chinese TV dramas were only exported to a limited number of countries concentrated in Southeast Asia. But now, it is not just countries in this area, but others in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America that are broadcasting Chinese TV programs.

The types of popular TV dramas in those areas cover a wide range from costume dramas to modern love stories, like the popular Huo Yuanjia in Germany, The Beautiful Daughter-in-Law Era in Tanzania, and My Ugly Mother that is broadcast in Mongolia.

"The popularity of those Chinese modern life TV dramas in different countries reflects people's common emotions despite their diverse ways of living in various places," said Liu Dehong, general manager of Beijing Hualu Baina Film & TV Company.