China has 35 distinct minorities, and 120 spoken languages. Mandarin and Cantonese are the best known by westerners, but few westerners realize these are distinct languages and these speakers cannot understand each other.

Singapore has demonstrated the benefits of multi-culturalism so well the Chinese are following their lead. Singapore has four official languages, and most Singaporeans speak two or more languages. A multi-lingual population was a key to Singapore’s success and China took note.

Today, the Chinese are learning English, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, etc. via telecom. Moreover, they are integrating regional variances as well. For example, here in my state, the Chinese are paying people in Appalachian Kentucky $25.00 an hour to teach English to Chinese students via telecom. “We joke that there are going to be all these kids in China with Southern accents.” said one Kentucky teacher. In addition to Kentucky accents, the China benefits from citizens who also speak English with British accents, New York accents, Spanish accents, mid-western accents, Boston accents, etc.

Unless Americans stop looking to Europeans for leadership, multi-culturalism will continue to drag us down, while multi-culturalism lifts countries like Singapore and China, up, up, up.