The celebrations that took place last week on the sixty fifth anniversary of the establishment of Pakistan-Chinese relationship were again marked by lack of events that signified Chinese soft power.

There was an exhibition of sorts and a dance performance and the rest were speeches and reiteration of the relationship of "iron brothers" that runs deeper than the oceans and higher than the mountains, followed by much to eat and drink. One had hoped that the level of cultural exchange between the two countries would edge upward to match the size and volume of Chinese hard power.

And one had also hoped that there would be many Chinese exhibitions of visual arts travelling all over the country, festivals of Chinese films, book fares where Chinese literature would be available at affordable prices, theatre, music and dance performances to acquaint us with the present face of China. But it was the usual staid performance by a group representing an ethnic minority and some handicrafts again not fully representative of the crafts in present day China.

Singing an anthem like a patriotic song in standard compositions of one country but in the language of the other too has become a high point of friendship between the two countries.

For the last decade or so the Chinese have been intent on displaying their soft power but mostly in the Americas and Europe. The huge exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors, the exquisite displays of glassware, china and pottery, the screening of some Chinese films that have made a name for themselves in the international circuits freeing itself from the stigma of mere propaganda have all been for them and not for us.

But where Pakistan is concerned we have yet to see the best of Chinese culture. All the time, there is the drumbeat of sharing military hardware, nuclear know-how and economic progress, recently dramatised by the announcement of massive inflows on the Chinese Pakistan Economic Corridor project under the overarching "One Belt One Road" initiative that transcends national boundaries.

Since many a decade there has been an exchange of writers between the two countries. Many of our writers have been to China but those have been conducted visits where the exposure to life in China in general is restricted.

There have been no worthwhile translations of Chinese poetry and fiction; and even if good English translations have been published, these have not reached the literature loving readers here. The names of Chinese poets and writers are not generally known and the information has not gone beyond the few names that were brandied in the decades of the 90s, 60s and 70s.

Those were the days of the Chinese Revolutionary aftermath, the fervour of the Chinese Cultural Revolution that many of us failed to place in the proper perspective. Towing the official line, it was sufficient to condemn the counterrevolutionary elements within the Communist Party of China and the Chinese establishment which Mao derogatorily labelled as the "Headquarters".

But the current leadership of China consists mostly of those who were condemned as renegades, revisionists and comprador. Either they themselves faced persecution or their fathers and mothers did. They were made to clean toilets, work in the fields as peasant/ labourers or sent to far away places to make roads and infrastructure projects. Many died but the next generation saw the turnaround of China, going beyond the brimstone of revolutionary fervour to cold calculating pragmatism. The second largest economy of the world is favourably poised to take over the leadership in future.

China is home to one of the oldest civilisations and during the Middle Ages in Europe and the early Muslim rule in the Middle East there were ample references made to the advancement of the Chinese civilisation. We know that the art of calligraphy and miniature was highly evolved in China and it travelled from there to the West, to Persia and Turkic Central Asia to India to develop its own style.

The Chinese must have their traditional music but in the course of the 20th century, they developed their own version of the opera. And in Shanghai, an operatic tradition took hold and probably still exists despite the razing of much during the Cultural Revolution.

With the emergence of China the need to defocus history from Greco/ European-centric vision can only be met if the fruits of the Chinese civilisations are shared by many more than only themselves. When the Chinese hosted the Olympics about eight years ago, the entire effort was to portray China as a society that encouraged creativity and invention. The achievements of the Chinese cultural past, the invention of dynamite, the making of ink, brush and then the pen were particularly placed under the spotlight.

When the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre, a huge facility, was built by the Chinese in Islamabad it was hoped that more cultural exchanges between the two countries and societies will take place but it has not happened to any marked degree to make any difference. Similarly, the opening of the consulate in Lahore too has not generated any cultural activity. The only significant increase has been in the centres or institutions that have opened for the teaching of Chinese language. Businessmen frequent China, many more students also are studying in Chinese institutions, especially in engineering and medicine and some go to China as medical tourists to be treated there since it is far cheaper than Europe or America.

But the level of exchange has to be upgraded and diversified to include culture as well. That side of China which is a modern face to an ancient tradition is what could be fascinating for us, helping to break the stranglehold of the superiority of western cultural traditions. The very best that shows the face of contemporary China should be unveiled to Pakistani audiences who view China as a friend and a producer of cheap manufactured goods.

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor should be renamed as CPECC (China Pakistan Economic and Culture Corridor).