EFFORTS TO PROMOTE IMAGE

Just before Hu's arrival in Washington, a video show debuted in New York City Monday, as part of China's newest efforts to promote its image in the world.

With China's traditional red as the theme color, the 60-second video was shown on six screens simultaneously at Times Square with a billboard written "Experience China" on top of the screens.

The show highlights ordinary Chinese as well as some famous Chinese figures like pianist Lang Lang, basketball player Yao Ming and astronaut Yang Liwei, attracting passersby of different nationalities at one of the world's busiest squares.

"The layout of the video is quite smart. I like it," Charlotte Mcguckin, 18, a high school student in New York, told Xinhua.

"Everyone (in the video) looks happy," she said.

"Great commercial! I think it could (make people curious). Some of the people there look certainly very interesting and you wonder what they've done and what makes them so famous in China," said John Rhodes, an Australian tourist visiting the square.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the video show has created "a bigger splash than anticipated."

Also, China's efforts to improve its image abroad in recent years have been productive in the eyes of some U.S. scholars like Clayton Dube, associate director of the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California.

According to Dube, events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo have impressed the United States, and through them, Americans saw a modern China.