Aside from all the above headlines, there have also been heated discussions over the strength of Chinese mothers and the weakness of American mothers, after Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother became a best-seller in the US.

Chinese mothers now have as many different ideas of how to bring up their children as their American peers. They may not even see eye-to-eye with Amy Chua. Despite that, the book does bring China closer to home, as my friend said. That is to say, the Chinese and Americans have a lot more to share and learn about each other.

The notion of China and the US being adversaries is rooted in the Cold War years, and should have been abandoned a long time ago. We two peoples have more pressing reasons to cooperate with each other, be it global economic development or environment protection and sustainability.

Obama said in his welcoming address on Wednesday morning, "we can learn from our people. Chinese and American students and educators, business people, tourists, researchers and scientists, including Chinese Americans who are here today - they work together and make progress together every single day.

"They know that even as our nations compete in some areas, we can cooperate in so many others, in a spirit of mutual respect, for our mutual benefit."

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily. E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn