Image Courtesy: Foreign Policy

C3S Issue Map- IX Globalization and : A

Cultural Dimension

Aishwarya S. Menon

Research Intern

Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S)

November 07 2019

Hewlett-Packard About the Author

Aishwarya S. Menon is presently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Relations and is an intern at Chennai Centre for China Studies. Her research areas include culture, globalization, soft power, women’s rights, human rights, media, environment and climate change.

About C3S

The Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S), registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act 1975 (83/2008 dated 4th April 2008), is a non-profit public policy think tank. We carry out in depth studies of developments relating to China with priority to issues of interest to India such as geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics of India-China relations, Chinas internal dynamics, border issues, Chinas relations with South Asian countries, prospects of trade, the evolution of Chinese politics and its impact on India and the world, ASEAN and SAARC relations, cultural links, etc. C3S attempts to provide a forum for dialogue with China scholars in India and abroad and give space for the expression of alternate opinions on China related topics.. Additionally, events, lecture discussions and seminars are organised on topics of current interest.

What is an Issue Map? C3S launches its Issue Map initiative. The reports under this series analyse the status and developments of current scenarios in detail. They attempt to aid the reader to get a more comprehensive idea of the issue being addressed through a detailed illustration in the form of images, data and facts.

Issue Maps are available for download as PDFs.

Introduction

The process of globalization in China is rather unique, especially when it comes to the country's culture. Chinese culture has always been dynamic historically and today, it is gradually becoming an amalgamation of two sets of contrasting principles that is, localism versus globalism and traditionalism versus modernism. With the international system moving towards multi-polarity and greater interdependence, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has assessed that possessing a robust economy alone will not suffice in accomplishing her national interest and goals. This realization by the PRC prompted the former Chinese President Hu Jintao, to emphasize the need to augment Chinese culture and strengthen the country's "soft power" in his keynote address to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) back in 2007.1 Following his monumental speech, global initiatives towards Chinese cultural promotion gained more momentum and continues to be a matter of great importance to the Chinese State even to this day.

The PRC has been one of the more politically stable and economically strong countries in the world and has garnered much success in terms of its economic and military strategy which constitutes hard power. However, the People’s Republic of China’s drive to become a frontrunner in the international system has made achievement of soft power in the form of "its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home as well as abroad), and its foreign policies (when others see them as legitimate and having moral authority)”(Nye 2011;183),2is one of the major goals that need to be fulfilled with much perseverance.

This article seeks to describe how China defines its own culture and explains China's view on globalization as well as how they plan to provide an alternative to the existing Western notions of globalization. The aim is to examine relevant policies, plans, and initiatives of the Hu and Xi governments, both domestic and international, to understand how the global reputation or “Chinese Image” and soft power hold is being created by attempting to answer the following questions:

● How has the Chinese culture been viewed by the world in the past? ● How has the Chinese State carried out the “Easternization” of global culture, with Chinese culture at the forefront while aiming for soft power augmentation? ● Will China see as much success in cultural dominance as in the case of its economic dominance in the international system? ● What are some of the bottlenecks that China has to overcome to achieve its goal towards cultural globalization and soft power maximization?

An Overview of Chinese Culture and the Chinese View on Globalization

Image Courtesy: Global Times

The Chinese culture as we know it today is one that has endured a tumultuous history at times. The Chinese government is now relentlessly working towards reviving the cultural nuances of the ancient past, all while simultaneously evolving into the postmodern era. In order to fully understand the modern-day Chinese culture, it is important to explore deeply into Chinese history, the minds of the Chinese people as well as the Chinese state itself to understand how the Chinese view themselves in relation to other cultures apart from their own, and see how the Chinese culture has taken shape in the more recent years.

The People’s Republic of China currently holds the tag of the “world's most populated country”, consisting of 1.4 billion3 people, sharing a common national identity while belonging to multiple ethnic groups both within China as well as abroad. Nevertheless, the one tag she proudly claims even to this day is being “the oldest living civilization” on the planet. 4 It is important to note that China has a significant history of isolationism5, and for the most part preferred to be cut off from other countries. The Ming dynasty was the period when it was not in China’s best interest to form long-lasting friendly relations with those beyond her borders as the Confucian scholars became powerful in Chinese society. One of the main principles of Confucianism is ‘ethnocentrism’, (a belief or attitude that one’s own culture is better than all others; William Graham Sumner, 1906)6, which could have possibly led the Confucian scholars to influence the regulations thereby banning foreign trade and penalizing foreign travel.7

This history of isolationism and perpetual change in dynasties may have resulted in the West, who chiefly dominated the twentieth century, to write off China and the Chinese culture as relatively backward in terms of being uncivilized, having ancient customs and traditions, and rudimentary thinking when it came to innovation, “inexcusable hygiene”, proliferating population, and an aversion to interacting with other cultures.8 However, these prejudices, misunderstandings and preconceived notions held by the West were gradually nullified by the Chinese over time, revealing the true extent of influence that the Chinese have on their neighbours and now, the international system at the global front.

Traditionally, China has been known to perceive herself as the “Zhōngguó” meaning “the Central Country” or “Tian Xia” meaning “The Middle Kingdom” (Kingdom between Heaven and Earth), an indication of how significant she viewed herself to be throughout history.9

As far as the ethnic and cultural identity is concerned the Chinese, now at around 1.4 billion in strength, comprising of 56 recognized ethnic groups, that is Han, the majority ethnic group (92%) and the 55 other nationalities classified as minority ethnic groups (8%), occupy different regions. 10 Despite having socio-cultural as well as linguistic variations, these groups coexist with each other as uniformity is relatively established by the Chinese Government in the form of standardizing the Chinese language, Mandarin (into “Putonghua”), in the education system based on the concept of "One State, One People, One Language”. This was implemented to ensure a sense of unity, peace and development were established between the ethnic majority and minority within Mainland China.11 Within the Chinese borders, the Xi government is striving to restore and “strengthen the cultural heritage” and “cultural confidence” among the Chinese people, especially the youth, after realizing that the “Young peoples' values would determine society's future values”.12 With each passing decade, Chinese culture has spread throughout East and Southeast Asia in the form of Chinese philosophy, music, dance, culinary skills, paintings, architecture, religion, social structure, administration, and most importantly the Chinese language and literature. There are not only cultural ties but also human ties between China and these countries.13 It is also important to note that historically, foreigners or “the barbarians”14 in the eyes of the Chinese were mostly viewed as subservient, unethical, treacherous, unpredictable, and uncivilized. Whether this ethnocentric view is held by the people of China even today, is something that is subject to various factors like class, education, exposure, censorship, media portrayals, migration and so on, most of which are regulated or monitored closely by the Chinese Government and those who lead it.

Image Courtesy: Audley Travel

For most of the modern era, the West, especially the United States of America and the United Kingdom with their "Ameri-globalization" and "An-globalization" (Niall Ferguson; 2002)15 respectively, had a huge role to play in how the world regarded any culture; the most important one of them all being the Chinese culture. Everything about China and her rich heritage was reduced to the Great Wall of China, Pandas, Bruce Lee, and red lantern-lit restaurants serving cheap Chinese takeout with fortune cookies. The full essence of the Chinese culture and the vast contributions made by the people of China to the world civilization in the form paper-making, gunpowder, tea, silk, porcelain, the compass; traditional Chinese medicine like cupping, acupuncture and massage; even abstract concepts like standardized examinations, bureaucracy, military strategy as seen in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu; and most prominently, philosophy in the form of the "Three Teachings" (Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism), 16were slowly beginning to be overshadowed by these Western countries who pushed themselves to be leaders in the international system since they were considered to be champions of the industrial revolution and victors of the two World Wars and later the Cold War.

Similar to the Russians and many of the Muslim majority states, China has also expressed her stern criticism of Western societies in recent years. The Chinese oppose the Western notion of a West-centric international system with the United States and the European states alone laying down the rules of globalism and globalization; considering the fact that historically China views herself as a pioneer of “thin globalism,” with the providing an economic and cultural link between ancient Europe and Asia. 17

The Chinese believe that the cultures of the former imperial glory of countries like Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal as well as the dominance of the United States of America after the Cold War, could lead to the impending deterioration, decline and spiritual disintegration of their own culture, if retention and protection of ancient customs, traditions, and values were not made a prime objective.

The Chinese have also often explicitly shunned the Western ideas of globalization, which is outlined in the form of Liberalism, Anglicization, Materialism, Consumerism, Individualism, and so on. China as a nation is known to observe the moves made by other nations very carefully. It is from these observations that she chooses to incorporate, exclude or customize certain ideologies and/or processes like Marxism, Secularism, Modernization and even Globalization based on how they perform in those nations. Hence, despite having adopted economic liberalism back in 1978 under former Chinese leader , China views it as a major threat to allow the West ideologies to distort her culture, one which is rooted in collective conscientiousness in the form of filial piety and patriotism, respect for the social hierarchy in the form of reverence to seniors and superiors, resistance to corruption in the form of loyalty, diligence, and self-sacrifice; and most importantly to learn more towards innovation, adapt better to challenges, and strive hard to establish balance and build a harmonious civilization. 18

According to Yale Global, “China once resisted globalization, but now defies containment.” Hence it is clear that today, almost 2 decades into the 21st century; China is determined to shape her global influence by striving towards “Chiglobalization” (Wenshan Jia;2009).19 Chinese State’s Chinese Cultural Promotion In Relation To Its Soft Power Strategy

Chinese leaders, researchers, and scholars had expressed the significance of China’s culture way back in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, it was only in 2007, at the Seventeenth National Congress of the that the importance of soft power as a key element of the national governmental policy was clearly highlighted for the very first time. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao stated, “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will definitely be accompanied by the thriving of Chinese culture.” “We must enhance culture as part of the soft power of our country.” “We will further publicize the fine traditions of Chinese culture and strengthen international cultural exchanges to enhance the influence of Chinese culture worldwide.”20This interpretation of linking culture to the country’s position in the international system resonated with other core principles from Chinese leadership, such as China’s “peaceful rise” and its vision of a “harmonious society.” These perceptions intended to counter the various narratives from the West that China's emergence is being viewed as a major threat to the existing international order by several observers.

Image Courtesy: teleSur English

Following his predecessor’s steps, President Xi in 2014 stated, “We should increase China’s soft power, give a good Chinese narrative, and better communicate China’s message to the world.” He also expressed, “We need to disseminate contemporary Chinese culture, which not only inherits traditional Chinese culture but also promotes the spirit of the era, and is both grounded in China and embraces the world.”21 This precipitated numerous national efforts by the Chinese State to steadily rejuvenate the traditional Chinese culture among the people which deteriorated during the and create a positive and attractive global Chinese image as part of the “Chinese Dream” spearheaded by President Xi since the 19th National Congress.

Ever since the 2016 US Elections with Donald Trump becoming President of the United States, China appears to have fast-tracked her soft power strategies and cultural promotion possibly by foreknowing the political fallout and demographic divide that the United States would face both domestically as well as internationally resulting to the weakening of America’s soft power. When we look at the funds China directs toward its soft power campaign, experts estimate figures that run into billions. American sinologist David Shambaugh of George Washington University states that China annually disburses roughly $10 billion towards soft power and cultural promotion. However considering China’s limited transparency with their areas of investment, these estimations remain challenging prove.22

Renowned scholars like Joseph S. Nye Jr., Liz Economy, and David Shambaugh have pointed out that China has more of a strategy that would classify as public diplomacy rather than soft power, per se. This essentially means that they have taken their domestic propaganda template and attempted to go global with it. They deduce that China has a three-part strategy. The first part is to develop the content of Chinese soft power which would encompass the political ideology and values that could be attractive and cohesive to other nations. The second is the more traditional ideas of culture in the form of art, music, literature, Chinese traditional medicine, Confucianism and even the promotion of national brands abroad. The third part of the strategy is developing the instruments or the mechanisms by which China can project this soft power. The huge investments made towards setting up of Chinese Confucius Institutes in various countries as well as turning Chinese media like Xinhua, China Daily and CCTV into global media outlets for broadcasting and propagating Chinese soft power and also establishing think tanks to disseminate Chinese culture and views are some of the ways in which China seeks to promote herself globally.

Initiatives Made Towards the Internationalization of Chinese Culture The (BRI) proposed by the Chinese in 2013 has greatly contributed to furthering cultural interaction and exchange as well as mutual understanding and respect of differences among participants, a Chinese scholar told Xinhua in an interview.23 He emphasised that cultural exchange has become "a global trend." The BRI denotes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa through the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road. Rong Yueming, director of Literature Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) also co-editor of the 500-page book entitled "Cultural Industries in Shanghai," stated that “the cultural dimension of the BRI seeks to emphasize respect for the histories, cultures, and civilizations of all countries in the world, particularly those taking part in the initiative.” “Cooperation among BRI participants is based on the principle of respect of all cultural differences in implementation of the concepts of shared destiny for humanity and cultural exchange," he added.

Rong also said that the Chinese-Egyptian cultural exchange is very important because of Egypt's influential position in both Africa and the Arab world. "China attaches great importance to cultural exchange with Egypt, which helps in deepening mutual understanding between the two countries and promoting cooperation of China, Africa, and the Arab world," he said. A total of 108 documents have been signed between China and the BRI participants from 2013 to 2018, implicating bilateral cooperation in culture and tourism, according to a report by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.24The Silk Road International League of Theatres, Silk Road International Museum Alliance, Network of Silk Road Arts Festivals, Silk Road International Library Alliance, and Silk Road International Alliance of Art Museums and Galleries have also been established.

China, CEE countries, ASEAN countries, Russia, Nepal, Greece, Egypt, and South Africa have all hosted various activities to celebrate the cultures of the Belt and Road countries in different years, and have developed about a dozen cultural exchange brands such as the "Silk Road Tour" and "Chinese/African Cultures in Focus". Major cultural festivals and expos have been launched such as the Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, Silk Road International Arts Festival, and Maritime Silk Road International Arts Festival, and 17 Chinese culture centres have been set up in Belt and Road countries in such a short span of time.25 A key point to consider here is the unifying role played by China as an emerging Eastern power, to be the main facilitator of cultural exchanges between these nations.

Image Courtesy: caixinglobal.com

The Chinese tools for increasing soft power and cultural promotion are done both officially and unofficially. Some of the official tools involve promoting the Chinese language, educational exchanges, media expansion, and pop culture icons. China launched the first back in 2004 in Seoul, South Korea.26 As of June 2019, approximately five hundred institutes have been established all around the world. The institute is affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education, and provide courses on the Chinese language, cooking and calligraphy classes, and celebrations for Chinese national holidays. The institutes encourage cultural associations. 27 The Confucius Institutes have been collaborating with universities, usually with a minimum of $100,000 in annual funding for programming, while Confucius Classrooms are established in association with primary and secondary institutions on a contractual basis.28 When one looks at educational exchange, China has gradually worked its way up to become a top destination for international students. According to the Institute of International Education, China ranked among one of the world's most popular study destinations. 29 A large number of international students pursue self-funded courses of study in leading universities; however, the China Scholarship Council provides student financial assistance to not only Chinese students going abroad, but also to encourage foreigners coming to China.30 This has given the student population an alternative opportunity to pursue their higher studies in Chinese colleges when colleges in the US or UK seem rather expensive driving a low enrolment rate or high dropout rate due to the inability to pay for student loans. The students primarily come from Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa based on recent studies conducted.31 One point is that China still has a long way to go as far as the quality of education and curriculum is concerned. Another challenge is that only two of the country’s esteemed schools namely and Tsinghua University are ranked among the world’s top fifty higher educational institutions.32

China has long understood the power of sports and tournaments to unify people by way of entertainment and healthy competition. According to Professor Donna Lee, Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Bradford, “From the time of ping-pong diplomacy to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China has used sports to express its merits to the world. At its Olympics, China was able to say we share your values," says Lee, who also co-authored a paper on sports mega-events and emerging states for the Global Society journal. “We want to show you how we can be part of a global community, rather than China being an outlying player, which most people prior to the Olympics would have considered it, a country they didn't know much about." After hosting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and bagging 70 medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Chinese athletic performances also became a strong projection of power and have improved the global perception of China as well. 33

An important phenomenon to be observed with regard to the Chinese media is the "go-global" campaign. While many major western media have faced budget cuts in recent years, Chinese media are actively expanding offices and recruiting more staff. The Xinhua News Agency currently has over 180 news bureaus globally, and is publishing news text, photographs, audio/video programmes around the clock in eight languages. In this digital age, like many of its western counterparts, Chinese media houses are banking heavily on social media. In January 2015, Xinhua News Agency re-launched its global social media platforms, after rebranding its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube account under the unified name "New China", a literal translation of "Xinhua". By this July, it has accumulated 1.5 million, 2.1 million and 58,000 followers respectively. On August 1, Xinhua also launched its Spanish accounts on these three social media platforms. (CCTV) another major media outlet has over 70 foreign bureaus, broadcasting to 171 countries and regions in six UN official languages. The world's second-biggest radio station after the BBC, China Radio International, broadcasts in 64 languages from 32 foreign bureaus, reaching 90 radio stations worldwide. Other official Chinese media including China Daily, People’s Daily, Economic Daily, and Global Times are all maximizing their efforts by way of their hourly updated content featuring not only Chinese stories, but also increasingly global news that appeals to a broader range of social media users.

“Glocalized” versions of Chinese media outlets have paved the way for the reporting field to widen as well as deepen. Chinese media are setting up regional news centres around the world in an attempt to provide diversified perspectives on local stories, voice Chinese viewpoints on international affairs, and foster understanding and cooperation with China. For example, CCTV Africa in Nairobi and CCTV America in Washington D.C. were established in 2012, and there are plans to launch CCTV Europe. China Daily now publishes 6 regional editions in Kong, Asian, USA, African, European and Latin America.

Image Courtesy: World Economic Forum

Smartphone Apps like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT) are a new gateway to China in the sense that they are all content producers, but more importantly, they are "super-platform apps" which give people the opportunity to connect to further content. The globalization of BAT and other rising Chinese apps are increasing non-Chinese users' opportunity to acquire China-related information. Tencent’s WeChat, which has about 1 billion total registered accounts worldwide, is available in more than 20 language versions covering more than 200 countries and regions. Alibaba’s Tmall is focusing on expanding abroad according to its new CEO Daniel Zhang. Baidu's search engine has been adapted to multiple local languages in a number of countries like Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil, serving over 30 million overseas users every month.34According to recent reports, the Chinese government is investing as much as $1.3 billion annually to increase the global presence of Chinese media. With this investment, Chinese state-run television and radio shows have been able to drastically expand their international reach in recent years. China Global Television Network is televised in 140 countries and China Radio International is broadcast in 65 languages.35

China has also tried to wield her soft power unofficially through other societal and cultural channels, including literature, art, motion picture, comedy, music, dance, cuisine, scholarly writings, animals, sports figures and so on. World-renowned Chinese celebrities like film directors Zhang Yimou, Stephen Chow; actors like Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh; pianists like Lang; professional athletes like Yao Ming,GuoJingjing, Li Na; professional chefs like Kylie Kwong, singers and songwriters like Kris Wu, Han Hong and even the “Chinese First Lady” Peng Liyuan is considered to be some of the cultural ambassadors furthering Chinese cultural promotion in their respective fields; augmenting Chinese soft power and Chinese attractiveness across the globe.36 It is a common misconception that China only favours those of Chinese origin to be her cultural ambassadors. China-based Canadian stand-up comedian and television personality host, Mark Henry Rowswell, better known by his Chinese stage name “Dashan”, who remains relatively unknown in the West, is one of the most prominent Western personalities in China's media industry, wherein he fills the unique position of a foreign national who has become a domestic celebrity, mainly through his repeated appearances on China Central Television since 1988. Over the years, Dashan has transcended the role of celebrity performer to become a cultural ambassador between China and the West, both officially as well as unofficially. In December 2006, Mr.Rowswell became a Member of the Order of Canada for his extensive work done towards uniting the Canadian and Chinese people through laughter, understanding, and goodwill. In the year 2012, Canadian Prime Minister pronounced “Dashan”, as Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China. “For many years Mark Rowswell has used his extraordinary talents to build bridges of understanding between Canada and China,” said Prime Minister Harper. 37

China has even used “panda diplomacy” with other countries like Thailand, USA, Japan, Malaysia, Finland, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Russia as pandas have gained much importance as being a major cultural icon for China, but also paving way for zoo exchanges as well as maintaining diplomatic and friendly relations in a symbolic manner. 38

The Economic Aspects of China's Cultural Globalization Culture and economy are not mutually exclusive as trade does not only mean the export and import of goods and services but also facilitates cross-cultural relations. China has made huge economic investments in almost all regions of the world and this has sparked an interest among people of various nationalities to understand China better culturally. In a viral video released by the CGTV in 2018 titled, “A side to Xi Jinping you probably haven’t seen before”, we see President Xi interacting with some students at the Lincoln High School, Washington State, where he stated, “If you want to know what China was like 1000 years ago, visit Xi’an. For 500 years of China’s history, visit Beijing. And for 100 years of its history, visit Shanghai”. This was his response to the American students after they expressed their desire to explore both the old and new parts of China. 39 Such positive and informal interactions have persuaded youngsters to travel to China, buy Chinese products and services, boosting China’s economic growth and global image.

It’s interesting to see how even brands that are not based in China are recognizing Chinese culture in their own way. Earlier in 2019, fashion brand Gucci debuted its “Year of the Pig” collection in celebration of . The 35-piece range included women’s apparel and accessories that are accented with pig graphics inspired by Disney’s Three Little Pigs film.40 Western social media elites and influencers like the members of the Kardashian-Jenner family have admitted to using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and therapies like guasha, acupuncture, cupping, and many other ancient medical procedures for relief or cure with minimum side effects, unlike Western medication.41

These forms of international recognition of Chinese culture has prompted the present Chinese government to organize global projects and events including China Tourism and Culture Week, which was sponsored by the Chinese Culture and Tourism Ministry’s international exchanges and co-operation bureau, and organised by the Network of International Cultural link Entities (NICE), with the tagline “China Beyond Your Imagination” in 2019. Through various exhibitions, shows, lectures, and forums, such projects aim to showcase the real China and its modern development, as well as promote tourism, traditional culture, strengthen the Chinese economy and build co-operation between China and the rest of the world. Under the theme of ‘Beautiful China’, the project subthemes included the China Suzhou International Tourism Festival which was held in Tokyo, Singapore, and Budapest, showcasing the cultural heritage and tourism products of Suzhou, which is a popular destination in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. In Madrid and Seoul, artworks of Longquan celadon were displayed to present the beauty of Longquan city, Zhejiang province, a place that is famous for its ancient grey-green porcelain art. In Copenhagen and Wellington, programmes featuring traditional Chinese medicine were held to enhance understanding of TCM and its integration with culture and tourism.42

Image Courtesy: News Medical

The commercialisation of Chinese culture and the acceptance of the same by the world is seen mostly in terms of Chinese food and Chinese martial arts. Music, films, TV shows and so on still remain short of massive success due to the existing language barrier. Chinese food and martial arts are the most globalized cultural aspects. When China is mentioned most people will instantly think about its food. The dumplings, wontons, spring rolls, chow Mein, wok tossed noodles are cooked in the 8 Culinary Traditions of China all over the world. Chinese cuisine is as diverse as their culture, where one finds every region writes up a new menu and have a unique twist to age- old recipes. Cooking styles, ingredients, flavours - all differ from region to region. The most prominent regional cuisines in China are Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang, each of which are unique wherein the food may be cooked by steaming or frying, the flavours maybe spicy or sweet, the ingredients may have seafood, meats, herbs, and the list goes on. Chinese food is commonly eaten with chopsticks and this practised in all Chinese households. Historically the use of the fork and knife was believed to stand for violence whereas the chopsticks were believed to represent gentleness and compassion. 43

Perhaps this is why China is viewed to be traditional, exotic and enigmatic to many Westerners. This could be the same reason why German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her recent visit to China learned to cook gongbaojiding (diced chicken cooked with peanuts, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns) from a cook in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Merkel's gesture may have been aimed at using food as a cultural bridge between the West and the East. After all, having dinner together in China facilitates better social and cultural bonding which then establishes stronger relations. It is also important to note that the choice of Chengdu or the Sichuan province was likely to have been chosen as two airlines, KLM and British Airways, now fly directly between European cities and Chengdu, and Merkel was in the city primarily to visit a Volkswagen factory. Another reason could be the eminence of Sichuan cuisine as Chengdu was honoured by UNESCO as a food heritage city a few years ago, a fact that still remains relatively unknown in the West. With the assistance of Chinese cultural institutes and private businesses, it is not at all difficult for China to maintain her soft power with food as a focus, especially because awareness about and uptake of Chinese cuisine is growing in the West and other regions. For example, doujiang (soya milk) has become a popular food item due to the increasing prevalence of veganism around the world.44

From Ip Man to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, Chinese martial arts have seen much success in terms of global absorption of Chinese culture. So much so that China has become synonymous with Kung Fu and its various styles like Hung Ga, Wing Chun, T’ai Chi, and so on. Initially, China did not promote its martial arts as much and this could be the reason for the lack of representation seen in the Olympic tournament. However, China is advertising martial arts a lot more nowadays. The professional side of martial arts in China has taken many years to develop because of the Chinese philosophy of sports, which focuses on training one’s mind and maintain a good balance between body and mind. As its name suggests, martial arts were seen as an art and not as a competitive sport. However, since 2015, China has organized its own martial arts championship called the ONE Championship which is often compared to the UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship. The attention towards martial arts competitions in China is growing, especially among younger targets. According to One Championship statistics, 80% of their audience is millennials, out of which 70% are men.

Image Courtesy: IndieWire

ONE Championship conducts at least one martial arts competition in China every month, and their online content has been seen 4 billion times in 2018, which reveals the immense extent of following for martial arts in China. With the martial arts market in China booming, foreign investors are also attracted to funding such events. Thus in 2017, UFC organized its first martial arts competition in Shanghai. UFC had announced that it wanted to invest more in the market with plans for a $13 million training centre. Today, martial arts and MMA competitions are held very regularly in China and have become popular, especially on television. China also has more and more international champions in all categories. The category with the biggest increase in the number of champions is the MMA, with about 200 MMA professional players in 2018 in China. This is particularly due to the increased salaries in this profession, averaging at around 100,000 RMB per match. 45

Recently, a total of 26,000 students exhibited their excellent martial art skills in a remarkable performance in central China. The young and enthusiastic students in red and black Kung Fu uniforms put on a breath-taking performance of Shaolin Kung Fu, one of the oldest and most famous styles of Chinese martial arts. The massive cadre of students performed difficult acrobatic acts and organised themselves into different formations with their bodies with utmost synchronization and under a single command, all of which were covered by international news channels. The marvellous show was filmed at the foot of the Song Mountain, which is home to the Shaolin Temple, the Buddhist temple founded more than 1,500 years ago. The performance was highlighted in the global media as the formations made by the students were visible even from outer space46.Such an effort having been applauded by other nations could have possibly resulted in people gaining more interest in learning Chinese martial arts, thus boosting training and employment of a large number of instructors and grandmasters of Chinese martial in and outside China. With every culture having its own style of traditional martial arts, preferential contentions do arise among the global audience.

Finally, a key point to note is that China’s cultural globalization and soft power have escalated tremendously over the years chiefly because of her performance in and outside her borders with regard to development. Lifting millions of people out of poverty and China’s ability to quickly deliver on an agreement or project in places like Africa, Latin America, parts of Southeast Asia where authoritarian regimes exist, is likely to be the reason for these countries to exhibit an attraction towards China in recent years.47 The “China Alternative” to Western inducements has become one of the major preferential transitions seen in most of the least developed countries in the world in the last decade or so.48 Today, a majority of news articles will refer to foreign direct investment and aid packages as China’s soft power. Even scholarly articles, often include economic temptation as an integral part of Chinese soft power.49 Hence inferences can be made that it is China’s global economic strategy with other countries that have resulted in the augmentation of her global cultural recognition and not essentially the other way around.

Implications Of and Challenges to “Chi-globalization” And Chinese Soft Power Expansion

Chi-globalization is “the increasing global relevance, global presence, global influence, and global leadership of China in generating a fresh global vision for humanity, in creating a new model for economic development, in forging an alternative model of global and domestic governance, in creating a new model for science and technology development, and in creating a truly cosmopolitan culture characterized by multiculturalism, inter-culturalism and pragmatism”; it “refers to a process of China-led global search for and a global enlightenment by an alternative mode of life for humanity on the basis of, but above and beyond, the Eurocentric model.” (Jia, 2009).50

China’s command in national defence, global as well as a regional power and the cultural industry is tightening the gap with the US (2017). “China-fornia is the flexible ecosystem of entrepreneurs, students, investors, immigrants, and ideas bouncing back and forth between the Golden State and the Middle Kingdom” (Sheehan, 2017). China-fornia illustrates that, like the rest of the world, Ameri-globalization is feeding into Chi-globalization, mostly at the grassroots level.51

With Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign primarily focused on domestic affairs, and his reported handover of leadership in resolving the Northeast Asia security to China may be construed as a pragmatic gesture to cede the baton of globalization to China. President Trump’s abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, shaped by the Obama administration to contain Chi-globalization, may injure America’s soft power in the short term, but will probably help accelerate Chi-globalization. In the meantime, China seems to have learnt a lesson from the negative experience of rejecting both An-globalization and Ameri-globalization and the positive experience of embracing them later on. Founded upon the strengths of its predecessors such as the neoliberal world order, Chi-globalization could outline and sustain a new wave of globalization and global governance with the Chinese accent in the 21st century as one that is more benign, both more equal and equitable, more open and pluralistic, more peaceful and harmonious than its precursors. Unlike America’s individualism, China’s core value of collectiveness allows Chi-globalization to coincide with multilateralism, a kind of co- globalization, and even Chi-glocalization, incorporating re-modernization and re-globalization in the form of infrastructural innovations for developed countries and brand-new modernization in the form of improvements in basic living standards for developing countries.

As far as China’s global soft power maximization efforts are concerned, China must firstly work towards undoing existing feelings of prejudice and suspicion felt among those nations who feel that China’s intentions are solely for power acquisition. The pursuit of soft power follows the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that is, if China continues to pursue soft power within the intent of maximizing global power and influence, the results usually elude.52One recalls when Danny Quah stated in his Ted talk that people will not be seeing a “Marry me for Chinese Citizenship” anytime soon!53

Since the current world has seen and grown along with the American Dream and culture, it will be a matter of preference when it comes to whether the societies in the world wishes to side with the Chinese Dream and culture. With other culturally rich countries like India also having realized their soft power potential and are seen as serious competitors to China, there is an urgent need for China to ensure that Chinese investments abroad are done with benevolent objectives, primarily those that are beneficial to all parties involved and not China alone, both in the short and long run.

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