Recently, Chinese businesses have invested in the United States. Reasons include the strength of the U.S. economy, recent actions of the Chinese government concerning their currency, and a possible U.S. trade agreement with Asian nations that excludes China.

One area of Chinese investment is the American textile industry. Textile jobs migrated decades ago from New England to the South to find cheaper labor and then to Asia for the same reason. Many U.S. workers lost their jobs when mills closed.

Now workers are finding jobs as the Chinese invest in the textile industry in places like North Carolina. Chinese supervisors mention, politely, that American workers sometimes work differently from Chinese workers. For example, Americans don’t always arrive at work on time.

An economic mixing of cultures occurred earlier when Japanese and Germans invested in factories for their cars to be made in the United States.

Such diversity happens because most communities accept foreign investment when it encourages jobs and economic growth, regardless of differences between nationalities. Even former enemies (i.e., the United States and Vietnam) have found common ground in an economic version of the global village.