|
Cream_Filling posted:Japanese culture has had a lot of influence in the design world and other artistic areas. You just don't notice it because its been for the most part fully integrated and not marketed as outwardly japanese. They also pioneered a large amount of distribution ideas. e: And of course the obvious area of having video games under a stranglehold for 15-ish years. computer parts fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Dec 10, 2013 |
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 00:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 14:34 |
|
|
The era in video game history where Japan was dominant is one where the medium didn't have the capacity to have much cultural influence though. The SNES era was the first time games were able to have a story more complex than what could fit on a single screen for example, and Japanese dominance of the video game medium severely declined when the Xbox was introduced. Nowadays it's Western games that tend to get the most exposure outside of Japan.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 01:04
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:They're actively developing talent in both the technical and artistic areas of media production, allowing promising directors serious artistic autonomy to go with their financing. The first point here is important, and I think the biggest barrier to Chinese media becoming popular outside of China. Creative autonomy just isn't a thing currently, the CCP is very image conscious and a lot of creative options in telling stories are pretty much off the table. An example shamelessly cribbed from a Sinica podcast, China could never do a Godzilla/Kaiju film simply because it would require some sort of failure on the part of the PLA to prevent monsters from damaging. The best you could hope for would be a movie about monsters rampaging through every other country on earth until they reached China and are quickly and efficiently crushed by the PLA. Not compelling viewing. This isn't just due to state censorship but the culture of self-censorship Beijing has worked very hard to create. There are artists and writers who buck that trend and some Chinese art is starting to make an impact outside China (but that's a million miles from any popular impact) but films and music production require money and money will never, ever take risks with that kind of thing. The second point compounds this, people investing can make bank on selling to domestic audiences without risking the wrath of Beiijng by introducing themes that might sell abroad. There's pretty much 0 reason for them to try and make their productions accessible unless you've got a joint production going on.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 02:20
|
|
|
computer parts posted:They also pioneered a large amount of distribution ideas. Well they only dominated the console market and never really had a strong PC gaming presence.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 02:23
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:Japanese culture has had a lot of influence in the design world and other artistic areas. You just don't notice it because its been for the most part fully integrated and those elements are not marked or marketed as outwardly japanese. But is there any culture that's actually kept a presence in the English world without being integrated? Even French is sorta 'exotic' like that; the stuff that screams France at us is comparatively niche, and the stuff that doesn't isn't stuff we think of as French unless we're actually paying attention to it. And yeah, Japan has a significant impact on western design and art and has had since the 18th century; it extends a lot further than anime and video games.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 03:36
|
|
|
You raise an interesting point about any potential for Chinese culture to become influential abroad. Currently Anglo culture dominates the world in part because it seems rather adept at absorbing new ideas, integrating them, and making them its own. This is doubly so for the North American Anglosphere because they have a long history of absorbing immigrants. Even if China did gain the cultural exporting power of, say, Japan what's to stop the meat of it from getting absorbed and converted as well? I'm starting to think that has a lot to do with the resilience of Anglo cultural influence.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 03:46
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:
What exactly is Anglo culture as you define it? Obviously there's speaking English but some cultural attitudes are not uniquely Anglo or aren't from Anglo sources (e.g., Christianity, eating pork) and some others were not even traditionally followed by all Anglo countries (for example, the liberal democracy wasn't necessarily a thing outside of the US for a while and even now in other Anglo countries the Parliamentary system is very unlike the US Congress/President). (I guess if you widen "Anglo" to mean "Western European powers" it's easier to define but that would not be accurate in the minds of some Western European countries I would think)
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:16
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:You raise an interesting point about any potential for Chinese culture to become influential abroad. Currently Anglo culture dominates the world in part because it seems rather adept at absorbing new ideas, integrating them, and making them its own. This is doubly so for the North American Anglosphere because they have a long history of absorbing immigrants. Even if China did gain the cultural exporting power of, say, Japan what's to stop the meat of it from getting absorbed and converted as well? Is this really true, though? Is the US really better at absorbing new ideas? Especially in a way that impacts its media products? I'm not particularly convinced that this is true. I'd argue that mostly what the US does is package existing bits of its own culture in a safe-yet-novel and ethnic-looking wrapper without really retaining much of its origins or core at all, just like every other country. Ethnicity in US media arguably still exists mostly as a thing to be mocked and overcome, as a blank spot to project your fears and fantasies, or as an exotic treat for the upper classes to show how broad-minded they are (because facing evidence that your way of life isn't really normal or natural at all is really stressful and hard). Ideologically, I'd say US culture is exceedingly hostile and corrosive to any sort of traditional culture or outside values. Consider the bagel, or any other ethnic bread. Within a generation, it turns from weird, hard, perishable ethnic foodstuff to fluffy white bread with a hole in it that you can get filled with ham, egg, and cheese at McDonalds. I'd say that Anglo cultural influence is big because England was a wealthy world power and then the US was a wealthy world power with lots of money to spend on leisure and culture. In terms of absorbing new ideas, what of modern China isn't new? Modern China is made up mostly of various western-inspired elements (to the extent that the Soviets, etc. are also lumped in as "western") combined and interacting with their own inventions/accidents, most of which are relatively modern developments anyway. Culturally speaking, it's all about inertia. And the inertia of China's population is so big that no matter how sophisticated your media machine, they're going to be charting their own course. They're not like those tiny nations or minority groups that have to worry about being wiped out or massively altered culturally and ethnically. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:17
|
|
|
Funny that you'd say that China's inertia prevents it from being changed in the same breath as saying that almost all of its culture is recent.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:25
|
|
|
'Charting one's own course' is not an expression I would associate at all with a Confucian society. Likewise, with China's enormous pressure against expression, I would not associate it with cultural or medial impetus.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:26
|
|
|
Isn't this already happening with Hollywood movies that pander to the International (Chinese) Market? Movies like Star Trek Into Darkness and Transformers 3 are big effects extravaganzas because the studios have numbers on 1 billion potential viewers that associate American movies with cutting edge effects. The simple dialogue and paper-thin stories facilitate translation.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:28
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:Funny that you'd say that China's inertia prevents it from being changed in the same breath as saying that almost all of its culture is recent. Well arguably it certainly makes it difficult for outside forces to affect it unilaterally, in the context of my response being to someone who talks about China being "absorbed and converted." And on top of that, stuff like the cultural revolution was able to push changes only after massive trauma and some seriously drastic use of force. WarpedNaba posted:'Charting one's own course' is not an expression I would associate at all with a Confucian society. Likewise, with China's enormous pressure against expression, I would not associate it with cultural or medial impetus. China isn't a confucian society. Also perhaps a better phrasing would be "going their own way". I'm also puzzled by how you interpret "their" as anythign other than a collective term referrign to the amorphous entity that is "Chinese culture." If you believed China was a Confucian society, why wouldn't you consider it amenable to top-down control and steering of culture? OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:29
|
|
|
McDowell posted:Isn't this already happening with Hollywood movies that pander to the International (Chinese) Market? Chinese film market is actually not that big. It's big for an international one, but the biggest earners in China only pull around US$200M. A bigger deal is that there is a huge amount of development cash in China, and even more waiting in America if you get approved as an official Co-Production. So what that means is that there is a niche market for films that can cross cultures and feature both western and Chinese faces and western (English) and Chinese (Mandarin) dialogue and at the same time conform to Chinese censorship requirements.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:34
|
|
|
If anything I think it is less amount China than the international market altogether becoming much more potent, and Hollywood is catering to an international audience which includes China but also yeah the rest of the world.Elysium for example made over double overseas than it did in the States, it would have been a bomb if it had to rely on mostly US revenue.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:42
|
|
|
computer parts posted:What exactly is Anglo culture as you define it? Obviously there's speaking English but some cultural attitudes are not uniquely Anglo or aren't from Anglo sources (e.g., Christianity, eating pork) and some others were not even traditionally followed by all Anglo countries (for example, the liberal democracy wasn't necessarily a thing outside of the US for a while and even now in other Anglo countries the Parliamentary system is very unlike the US Congress/President). I considered using the term "Western European powers" but in spite of countries like France, Spain, and Portugal having very large powers at their height like the British did it hasn't gained the dominance that Anglo culture has. The biggest difference is obviously that the United States came into being from British colonies, but while the United States is definitely the odd one out its political and cultural legacy is still heavily tied in with the English Enlightenment and subsequently all the history that led to it. Other European imperial powers never left as large a cultural mark on the places they colonized. The Spanish came close but ultimately most of their new world empire was beaten into submission by the economic and military power of the United States. As for what I would consider decisively "anglo culture" in this day and age? I don't know. In large part thanks to the fact that as of 2013 the culture of the anglosphere has absorbed so many different ideas and traditions and facets of other cultures, adapted it, and made it its own that it's far more difficult to pin down. Most of what you could consider English culture takes the form of language, philosophy, and politics at this point (the latter two which again trace their origins to the Enlightenment.) Cream_Filling posted:Is this really true, though? Is the US really better at absorbing new ideas? Especially in a way that impacts its media products? I'm not particularly convinced that this is true. I'd argue that mostly what the US does is package existing bits of its own culture in a safe-yet-novel and ethnic-looking wrapper without really retaining much of its origins or core at all, just like every other country. Ethnicity in US media arguably still exists mostly as a thing to be mocked and overcome, as a blank spot to project your fears and fantasies, or as an exotic treat for the upper classes to show how broad-minded they are (because facing evidence that your way of life isn't really normal or natural at all is really stressful and hard). Ideologically, I'd say US culture is exceedingly hostile and corrosive to any sort of traditional culture or outside values. I disagree and think that most of your criticisms are superficial ones. The melting pot and the concept of a nation of immigrants (which itself ties into the "city on a hill" ideology that frustrates so many D&D posters) are still very much in play even today. There's a great deal of European, Native American, African, Asian, and Latin American influences in American culture that in turn are absorbed and made common-place in the United States. A great example of this is New York. You cannot walk 5 feet in New York City without running into something that is the product of immigrants bringing their culture with them to the United States and their cultural traditions subsequently becoming intertwined with American traditions. It's popular to bring up America's dark history of race relations but that America even has a history of race relations that is absolutely critical to understand if you seek to understand American culture speaks to what I'm talking about. Even people who were brought to the United States in horrible bondage ended up influencing American culture in a major way, and while I won't claim to be an expert in Chinese culture by any means this kind of willingness to absorb and adapt other cultures is something that I just don't see there. There is no Chinese New York or Chinese London. Hong Kong could maybe fill that role, but Hong Kong seems to be far more influenced by its history as a British colony than other cities. Fojar38 fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:44
|
|
|
Ardennes posted:If anything I think it is less amount China than the international market altogether becoming much more potent, and Hollywood is catering to an international audience which includes China but also yeah the rest of the world.Elysium for example made over double overseas than it did in the States, it would have been a bomb if it had to rely on mostly US revenue. Well that and I hear the US market is becoming less profitable, in part due to the economy and the internet, but also due to changes in the distribution/business models of movies and theaters themselves. Though I'm not that knowledgeable about how the whole consumer side of the movie business works outside the US.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:46
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:I disagree and think that most of your criticisms are superficial ones. The melting pot and the concept of a nation of immigrants (which itself ties into the "city on a hill" ideology that frustrates so many D&D posters) are still very much in play even today. There's a great deal of European, Native American, African, Asian, and Latin American influences in American culture that in turn are absorbed and made common-place in the United States. A great example of this is New York. You cannot walk 5 feet in New York City without running into something that is the product of immigrants bringing their culture with them to the United States and their cultural traditions subsequently becoming intertwined with American traditions. This is true of any country with immigration (or outside conquerors), though. You could say the same about Mexico, which is made up of a mixture of Native and European elements (leaning far more strongly to the native side) with influences from various immigrant groups over time ranging from the Japanese to Germans to Lebanese. Pick any region in China and you'll see a long history of migration, conquest, and cultural mixing too. What makes America so special in essence? That is to say, what of this situation shows the distinct strength of Anglo culture or character and not simply the historical circumstances of large waves of immigration? How is the melting pot, the idea that immigrant cultures and identities should be homogenized, diluted, and destroyed in order to maintain a common national culture and identity, any different from the integration of immigrants in any other country beyond the fact that it's harder because there were a lot more immigrants coming in groups? Especially with the common (if unsaid) corollary that American Values are non-negotiable and not open to change. If our values aren't supposed to change, then isn't the rest of culture all just window-dressing anyway? OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:59
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:This is true of any country with immigration (or outside conquerors), though. You could say the same about Mexico, which is made up of a mixture of Native and European elements (leaning far more strongly to the native side) with influences from various immigrant groups over time ranging from the Japanese to Germans to Lebanese. Pick any region in China and you'll see a long history of migration, conquest, and cultural mixing too. Actually, I think that's something America and China have in common - they're rather large geographically so they can't have the same cultural isolation that is present in small countries like in Europe. This makes it so there's a fairly wide range of cultural markers in the various regions, even if there's an overarching national identity. e: To be specific, it's because China encompasses so many regions that it's harder for them to seem more cosmopolitan because they're "all Chinese". For one example, the food in Sichuan is notoriously spicy (compare with Mexican food in the US) but most people outside of China don't hear about it because China wants to maintain an image of being purely "Chinese" everywhere. computer parts fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:04
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:What makes America so special in essence? That is to say, what of this situation shows the distinct strength of Anglo character and not simply the historical circumstances of large waves of immigration? It's the opposite, though, isn't it? There is no strong anglo culture and there never was. English is a bastard language, England is a bastard country, and the US is to an even greater extent. It's all been very malleable and uh, accommodating, in a way. I don't really agree with Fojar- being a superpower plays a much stronger role (and at various points in history where there was a superpower they would (nearly?) universally dominate culturally), and a couple of generations down the line I think China can absolutely produce a major cultural influence again, but anglo/american culture is pretty specially suited for it in a way that most others aren't, since it was originally an immigrant and mixed culture.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:10
|
|
|
In the case of the US, there are several critical differences. The first is that the US is a very young nation, particularly when compared to China which is one of the oldest nations on the planet. This means that there's fewer long-standing traditions in the United States for any potential immigrant to adapt to aside from what's already in place, and when the US was founded all that was in place was Enlightenment philosophy. The second is the political philosophy behind the foundation of the United States. I'm simplifying here, but long story short the United States was intended to be a new nation in a new world, free from all the traditions and hatreds and baggage that comes from the old country. The idea of an immigrant leaving crowded Europe to come to the New World and get a fresh start is a thing that happened very frequently. The third is geography. Manifest Destiny meant that the Americans had an ambition to create a nation spanning the whole of North America, and to make this a reality they needed to spread from sea to sea. The thing is, the best way to hold territory is to populate it with Americans, and so the Americans were willing to take in basically anyone who wanted to in order to settle the frontier. You can see this exact same thing in Canada, although that was more of a reaction to the Americans doing it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but while you can definitely see the impact of many peoples throughout Chinese history, each of which became a part of the fabric of the Chinese people, isn't there a prevailing attitude in China of not just ethnic homogeneity being a good thing, but also racial homogeneity? Anyone can become an American by going to the US government, getting the papers, and settling somewhere in the US. The Chinese seem to have the same attitude towards foreigners as the Japanese do in that unless you are ethnically and, among the right-wing, racially Chinese, you can never be one of them, yes?
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:13
|
|
|
So back to smog, SCMP posted:Smog? It bolsters military defence, says Chinese nationalist newspaper http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1376804/smog-it-bolsters-military-defence-says-chinese-nationalist-newspaper The source link appears to have dissapeared. But do they honestly think that killing its own citizens faster will help with national defense. Considering who is actually a real threat for invasion? Some good/funny weibo comments in the article. SCMP posted:“Are you saying the smog is not air pollution, but a national defence measure?” a blogger said on Sina Weibo microblog. Whats really going on here? Is there a rising tide of resentment to trigger both the ADIZ debacle and stories like this.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:21
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:In the case of the US, there are several critical differences. China is an even younger nation than the US, though. Ethnically speaking, the entire idea of a Han people that makes up 95% or whatever of China is basically made up. Han Chinese is about as descriptive as White American, and arguably serves a similar role socially. And don't forget the many ethnic groups that still maintain some level of identity, even if its as petty as getting to march around at the Olympics. The idea of just grabbing random settlers from a poor region to fill out the borders and crowd out the pesky natives who might become separatists is something China actively engages in right now as well. If anything, I'd say it's way way easier legally to enter, work, and live in China than it is for a foreigner to enter the US, especially if you come from a non-white country with more restrictive numbers. Socially, of course, not so much, but then again, how many first-generation immigrants (who don't pass for white) do you know who live comfortably away from their own ethnic enclaves? If anything, you'll probably not be treated actively badly as a white foreigner in china - after all, white immigration is still small enough that it isn't considered a big threat to the country like non-white immigration is considered in the US, and thus doesn't trigger the same hostility. Of course this isn't to paper over the fact that China is overall an incredibly racist country by any standard, let alone relatively decent US standards. But this is so arguably because the goverment there actively encourages it as a means of social control. Also, I see the ideal of cultural and ethnic homogeneity expressed plenty among Americans, too. "I plan to marry a non-white person so we can all be the same one day and live in harmony" - a thing some American college kids actually say. I don't really have a super strong position on the issue, btw. I'm mostly just spitballing, but then again I've always seen culture more as an accretion of historical accidents interacting with current needs than an issue of inherent or essential characteristics. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:33
|
|
|
It's just that the smog gets worse every year and people are getting quite pissed off about it.Fojar38 posted:The first is that the US is a very young nation, particularly when compared to China which is one of the oldest nations on the planet. This means that there's fewer long-standing traditions in the United States for any potential immigrant to adapt to aside from what's already in place, and when the US was founded all that was in place was Enlightenment philosophy. This is really wrong. Why do you think more time equals more traditions like people just stockpile them? Also, the US had a lot more traditions than just Enlightenment philosophy in 1776. Don't pretend that the American people and culture popped into existence when Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:37
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:This is really wrong. Why do you think more time equals more traditions like people just stockpile them? Also, the US had a lot more traditions than just Enlightenment philosophy in 1776. Don't pretend that the American people and culture popped into existence when Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence. I don't think people "stockpile" traditions, I think they just stop noticing them given enough time. As for why more time equals more traditions, it seems like common sense. A nation that traces its origins back a longer period of time will undergo more cultural growth that they consider to be "theirs" than a nation that only has a couple hundred years of history. And of course they didn't just pop into existence when the Declaration of Independence was signed, but the foundation of the US was still a very concerted effort to wash their hands of the old world and start with a blank slate dictated by Enlightenment philosophies such as liberalism and rationalism. Obviously one can't just say "and now we are not affected at all by our history" and have it be true, but it still has an impact. I mean poo poo, the US has historically been very isolationist up until the mid-20th century in large part because it viewed itself as distinct and unaffected by the whims of the old world. Edit: I keep on coming back to the Enlightenment. That period really seems to be one of the major causes of divergence between East and West. Did the Chinese ever undergo a similar period? Fojar38 fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 05:43
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:Culturally speaking, it's all about inertia. And the inertia of China's population is so big that no matter how sophisticated your media machine, they're going to be charting their own course. They're not like those tiny nations or minority groups that have to worry about being wiped out or massively altered culturally and ethnically. This bit confuses me. Do you mean momentum?
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 07:01
|
|
|
Smeef posted:This bit confuses me. Do you mean momentum? Inertia is resistance to change in motion. Momentum is the direction + energy of movement for a moving thing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 07:10
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:And correct me if I'm wrong, but while you can definitely see the impact of many peoples throughout Chinese history, each of which became a part of the fabric of the Chinese people, isn't there a prevailing attitude in China of not just ethnic homogeneity being a good thing, but also racial homogeneity? Anyone can become an American by going to the US government, getting the papers, and settling somewhere in the US. The Chinese seem to have the same attitude towards foreigners as the Japanese do in that unless you are ethnically and, among the right-wing, racially Chinese, you can never be one of them, yes? You are wrong. China is constitutionally described as a multi-cultural society with 56 individual ethnic groups each with their own language (except the Hui). Official policy is that there is no racial end ethnic homogeneity. It's sort of actually like an American-style "Out of many, One' thing where these 56 groups unite into the Zhonghua Minzu who are one united people. Although that's just officially. In everyday practice "All Uyghurs carry knives" is common knowledge and my Han elite friends try to order in English at the Xinjiang restaurant because the people there don't look like they'll speak Chinese. I guess sorta like how white Americans will lock their car doors when driving through the ghetto, even with e pluribus unum on the table.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 07:31
|
|
|
I stand corrected then, although I will note that official policy doesn't always translate to reality. For example, America used to be a state where slavery was legal despite the declaration of independence saying that all men are created equal. Still, I think that it merits some distinction that in the US you'll see ethnicities and people with racial backgrounds from all corners of the globe living and working alongside each other. I've never lived in China so I don't know if you see the same there. The impression that I've gotten has always been that in practice China is still very homogenous, although I don't know by whose standards that is.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 07:38
|
|
|
It is homogeneous in that the population is overwhelmingly Han. But Cream Filling's comparison of Han to White is pretty good. A Han from Guangdong and a Han even from the next province up in Fujian will be about as homogeneous as a White from Nashville, TN and a White from Montreal, QC. They'll speak different languages at home, have different traditions, worship different gods and eat different foods. It is, however, very very unusual to see Han working next to true ethnic minorities in an office. Factories are different though. Guangdong factories have lots of minority people working alongside migrant Han people.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 07:57
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:Inertia is resistance to change in motion. Momentum is the direction + energy of movement for a moving thing. Yes, I know what the physics definitions of these words are, but outside of physics, and especially in the language of policy/business/admin, the word inertia implies inertness, which just seems odd in this context. e- Anyway that's off-topic. Ignore this. Smeef fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:02
|
|
|
Oooh, actually, on the subject of worship - How's spirituality working in China anyway? We occasionally get a Daoist or two practicing in Auckland, and a band of Buddhists sometimes fly over from China to do something in Milford Sound.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:16
|
|
|
Gettin' pretty Jesusy these days. But no there has definitely been a spiritual revival in China in the last ten years that's been picking up speed since gaige kaifang. Totalitarianism doesn't like religion, but authoritarianism enjoys it as a nice distraction, as long as it stays under control (see: Falun Dafa or Lamaist Buddhism). Christianity has become way more popular in recent years though, especially the evangelical brands with the internationalized class. With the real native Chinese religions, though, you can't draw much of a line between Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism and Chinese Folk Religion. It's all very syncretic and many (most?) temples have idols and shrines to gods from each pantheon with little to no distinction between them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:26
|
|
|
So long as they stay clear of the antifreeze, it should do fine.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:32
|
|
|
Wibbleman posted:So back to smog, The smog is terrible and everybody understands the health and environmental risks involved but shutting down the factories that produce the smog is not even in consideration due to China's need for cheap energy and human capital. Perhaps someone someday will find a solution but it's not like your average worker can do anything about it. People definitely aren't happy about the environment but I wouldn't take one or two comments from Weibo or say Twitter as a representation of the country's mood. Bloodnose posted:It is homogeneous in that the population is overwhelmingly Han. But Cream Filling's comparison of Han to White is pretty good. A Han from Guangdong and a Han even from the next province up in Fujian will be about as homogeneous as a White from Nashville, TN and a White from Montreal, QC. They'll speak different languages at home, have different traditions, worship different gods and eat different foods. Pretty much this except every ethnic/provincial group has a weird love/hate relationship with people from Shanghai.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:34
|
|
|
computer parts posted:They also pioneered a large amount of distribution ideas. The Japanese had a stranglehold on video games because the Americans hosed up. Atari basically blew itself up economically and took most of the industry with it. Then the only people crazy enough to invest in video games were a 200 year old playing card maker.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 08:59
|
|
|
The arcade industry was mostly dominated by the Japanese at that point, including Nintendo. It wasn't exactly crazy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 13:25
|
|
|
Back on topic, baby formula loving sucks regardless of the brand. Little Xiaowai (aka. the Half Blood Prince) prefers Muggle Milk. Actually got into a HUGE fight over this with his granny. Who insisted that mom's milk wasn't enough and demanded we switch to formula (so she could feed him). Then cited some random tv infomercial she decided was as good as reality saying that formula is better and he'll starve on titty milk. Best mentality when dealing with idiot in-laws: we hold all the cards here if they ever want to spend time with their grandson. Therefore, we can get away with anything we want and inside of a year, they'll have to pretend it never happened. The End.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 15:56
|
|
|
Fojar38 posted:If the prevailing elements in your cultural exports are "exoticness" then you aren't really exporting your culture; you're exporting a curiosity that might hold people's attention but won't really influence them. Accessibility and cosmopolitanism are pretty critical in any cultural export that you're hoping will create cultural influence. It's one of the reasons that for all its successes, Japanese cultural exports have struggled to gain influence other than niche influence. Fojar38 posted:Edit: I keep on coming back to the Enlightenment. That period really seems to be one of the major causes of divergence between East and West. Did the Chinese ever undergo a similar period? Koramei posted:It's the opposite, though, isn't it? There is no strong anglo culture and there never was. English is a bastard language, England is a bastard country, and the US is to an even greater extent. It's all been very malleable and uh, accommodating, in a way. I don't really agree with Fojar- being a superpower plays a much stronger role (and at various points in history where there was a superpower they would (nearly?) universally dominate culturally), and a couple of generations down the line I think China can absolutely produce a major cultural influence again, but anglo/american culture is pretty specially suited for it in a way that most others aren't, since it was originally an immigrant and mixed culture. The idea that "anglo" culture isn't distinctive and "strong" is very much a "fish can't see water" thing. For people outside that world it's very easy to point that culture out and its traits, even with the effects of Americanization having spread that influence wide and made it partly invisible. Kegslayer posted:I think this is the biggest problem with Chinese media at the minute. The domestic and Asian market only want Asian themes and settings so successful media is of a limited genre. A modern book like Wolf Totem that really resonated within China would struggle outside of Asia due to it's China-centric themes and lack of marketing/publishing. You have big budget movies but they're either remakes of the four great classical novels or some form of domestic comedy where the jokes may not translate across.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 15:57
|
|
|
.
sincx fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Mar 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 08:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 14:34 |
|
|
sincx posted:Moving from HK expat chat back to Chinese politics... Chinese politicians shifting to the humanizing trend of US politicians eating local food hotspots can only be positive. It's cheap PR publicity but does a great job of connecting with the average citizen and hopefully is a sign that Xi Jinping wants to break down the wall of separation between elites and the average Chinese person. Although him waiting in line and paying for himself must be extremely shocking, given how much they expect the elites to exploit the system and enjoy benefits they'd never see. Something shocking I learned from looking into this story quote:Chinese presidents and other top leaders rarely venture beyond Zhongnanhai, the heavily-protected compound which houses the central government headquarters, to mix with ordinary residents of Beijing. Their politicians basically live in a fortress and are as disconnected from the commoner as a feudal King could be from serfs. pentyne fucked around with this message at 10:56 on Dec 30, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 10:40
|
|
