The movie “The Karate Kid” opens in US theaters tomorrow. The original “Karate Kid” came out in 1984. It was the first of a trilogy of films about a white middle-class teenager on a journey of self discovery through Karate. In the original, the teenager, played by Ralph Macchio, moved from New Jersey to Southern California.

Fast forward to the 2010 version of ‘The Karate Kid’. Now, it’s an African-American boy, played by Jaden Smith, moving from Detroit to Beijing. And his journey of self-discovery involves Kung Fu, thanks to a martial arts expert played by action superstar Jackie Chan.

WERMAN: But there’s another level to this new movie.  It highlights China’s role as an essential American partner and rival, both culturally and economically.  Matthew Polly is the author of the bestseller “American Shaolin” and he screened the movie for us.  Matthew, on the surface it’s the old Charles Atlas story, you know, boy gets sand kicked in his face, boy learns to fight back, boy triumphs.  But it’s not just a boy, he’s an African American kid who has ended up in China because his mom’s Detroit auto factory job got outsourced to Beijing and that’s not such a subtle statement about the U.S. economy is it?

MATTHEW POLLY:  No, I think that’s the most fascinating thing about the movie.  Instead of the first one was set in L.A. with the Okinawan or Japanese soldier who was teaching the boy and here we have the entire family from Detroit moving to Beijing and starting a life all over.  So the sense of ascendency of China is very prevalent in this movie.

WERMAN: There also seems to be a message about Detroit’s main product, automobiles, and how China has taken to automobiles as well.

POLLY: Oh without question.  The idea that this family has to move to Beijing in order to get work is probably the most powerful message of the whole movie which is the funny thing because in the 1980′s when the first Karate Kid was made, Japan was the one taking over the automobile industry.  And now 25 years later, we’re looking at China’s ascendency in automobiles and everything else in manufacturing.  And so in a way this movie tracks what it is we fear about Asia as Americans and who we think of as our rivals.  But the more subtle point I think is that cultural argument, that there’s something profound.  I studied Kung Fu in China for two years at the Shaolin Temple, so I do find Chinese culture, myself, profound.  But I did think that the message was that China is the way to go.

WERMAN: So we should say Matt that this Karate Kid takes place in China, it’s all about Kung Fu, not Karate.  Is that a blatant faux pas on the part of the film producers?

POLLY: I do think it’s funny.  It should be called the Kung Fu Kid.  It’s amusing that they’ve taken Karate, which is a Japanese art form, and just switched it over to Kung Fu in China.

WERMAN: And they make it clear in the movie that Karate is a minor art form.

POLLY: They do actually.  There’s the one line Jackie Chan has where he says it’s China, everyone knows Kung Fu, which is one of the best lines in the movie.  But yeah, in a way Japan is not to be concerned about.  So there’s a very kind of subtle shift towards China is the main source of culture and power in East Asia.

WERMAN: Well I was wondering precisely.  The kid at first uses his rudiments of Karate to fight a bully but he’s quickly made aware that he’ll need to know Kung Fu to be able to really survive.  Is that a message to Americans?

POLLY: I do think that’s kind of subtle because the whole movie, in a way, felt like a kind of tourism board.  They fight on the Great Wall, there are shots of the Forbidden City, all the Beijing Olympic centers were shown, so in many ways it was kind of an advertisement for how wonderful China is.  And I do think there was a kind of subtle message which was that in a way Kung Fu is what you need to learn in order to get by in this new world which China will be a major player in.

WERMAN: How much has Kung fu gone beyond the cultish reputation it had when it was a TV show with David Carradine?

POLLY: I think it has been packaged as part of the greater China.  So Kung Fu not only is kind of a cultish thing as with David Carradine, but it’s also a sense of this entire Chinese culture.  Its medicine, its history, its philosophy, Buddhism and I think that’s part of what’s kind of being packaged and sold is this kind of cultural power.  America has always had not only military power, but its cultural force and I think China wants to rival that as well.  They just don’t want to be the bankers to world; they actually want to be cultural leaders.

WERMAN: I’m wondering if the movie is also a cautionary tale because of the way the American triumphs in the end.  We’re warned all through the film that China is the power; you’ve got to deal with us now.  But the ending turns it around.

POLLY: It does switch it a little bit.  I think that the racial politics are fascinating.  You have this Chinese Jackie Chan, the Chinese guy, teaching a young African American how to beat mainland Chinese at their own game, which is Kung Fu.  And so in many ways there’s a twisty turny to the whole racial politics.  But I do think part of the message in the end is that if you learn the Chinese way well enough, that’s the way you can succeed in the world.

WERMAN: Matthew Polly, the author of American Shaolin, thanks very much.

POLLY: Thank you Marco.