I've found that overwhelmingly that when people speak of soft power in the last few decades, what they are really talking about is television and movies.
With the exception of basically just Jia Zhangke, China sucks at this. It's hard to make a quality product when the world's dullest autocrat has the final say in what gets published.
But what is interesting is that I think there is far less a monoculture around movies and television today than there was even five years ago. What universally watched films or television is the US exporting nowadays? Americans don't even watch the same things in any numbers anymore.
I am curious how that is going to change *every* nation's soft power in the coming decades.
How much soft-power can you project with short-form video in your native language?
Wait until a charismatic Dem like Obama wins the Oval in '28, and ushers in--or reinstates--a raft of popular programs. Which will boost US soft power. But maybe not much, considering how much damage has been done by recent GOP stupidity.
When I lived abroad for eight years, every time a Dem was in the WH, the locals were friendly and pro-American. When it was a Republican, all I'd get were sullen stares...
I understand dreaming of places you've never been or things you don't have. But I'm genuinely surprised by the amount of Chinamaxxing I've seen too. China does an incredible job curating an image of utopia. But grass isn't always greener on the other side, folks.
It probably helps that much of what the creative class in America produces today is meant to convince you how horrible / racist / imperialist etc. the United States is.
Much of "authentic" living Chinese culture was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution--but survived intact among the Chinese Diaspora in Taiwan, SE Asia, etc. Gong Fu, Ba Gua, Xing Yi, and many forms of Qigong...simply went extinct, or nearly extinct. In addition to applied Buddhism and Taoism. The only monks and nuns you now find in China are Potemkinesque play-actors.
All because eighty years ago, China's new religion--Dialectical Materialism--ensured there would be only one true faith; and snuffed out cultural forms that had existed in some cases for millenia.
This is why roughly thirty years ago the moving meditation Qigong system of Falun Gong became so insanely popular. Because for two generations, Chinese had been denied access by the CCP to pre-Communist cultural expression; and Falun Gong scratched a deep itch. At least until Falun Gong formally protested against the government, and were crushed.
Thanks for the great post! This is one of those myths that my international friends living in the U.S. especially have been suckered into. For them I think China just represents this pseudo utopian communist alternative to what they see as aggressive capitalism in the states. It almost feels like the way American kids became enamored with Hindu religion and culture in the 60s. They didn’t want to live in India once they went there at the time but they wanted an alternative to evil Christianity and there it was!
Chinese report feeling safer walking the streets at night than do Americans, despite having fewer police per capita. But during my time in Hangzhou, there were police at literally every single major intersection.
But distinctly Chinese cultural forms like T'Ai Chi and Qigong are indeed phenomenal. And while they require a lifetime to master, benefits can be experienced immediately. But if you're really serious about going deep, finding elite teachers of said forms are more easily found in Taiwan or Kuala Lumpur.
I actually feel like Texas is having more of a soft power moment than China. Maybe it’s my X feed bias or something but I see so much content related to Buccees, and that giant grocery store chain they have and how Austin is a cool place. Even Netflix has more content down to things like “Watch these Korean guys wander around Texas and show you how great it is.” Korea and Texas the real soft power couple!
I’m definitely Texas pilled at this point. It feels like one of the places in the U.S. that has real “culture” in that broader sense of a unique identity. Even my friends who are the most progressively anti American love Buccees and HEB. Maybe do a post on what makes Texas the place right now?
Downtown Houston was semi-walkable; but the state seems as into exurban sprawl as, well....California. Far as I can tell. But Chicano culture is considerably stronger in TX; and they've got more rodeos per capita.
Are you serious about the boba chain comment? Aren't there tons of Taiwanese boba chains in the US? Chicha Sanchen, Happy Lemon, Gonga Cha, etc are pretty widespread.
I do not know much about the meaning of soft power. A detailed definition would help. Despite many economic achievements, China is a political hell on Earth. The US is a very unequal society and a now a very flawed democracy. Many other countries are far better choices to live, work, and visit.
Good coverage of "soft power" on the cultural (film, music, TV, games, tourism) front. But I think you're underselling one point which is that China is doing extremely well on the techno-industrial aesthetic channels. Maybe you already covered that in the past (new reader here). To me those BYD, DJI, Unitree, Xiaomi showcase videos are harkening back to the Japanese 80s tech demos with Walkman, Toyota, and Sony that were popular with the demographic that used to default to admiring Japanese tech and ended up defining an entire generation of tastes. Similar with American companies in the 1990-2010s (Apple). All this cutting-edge hardware (and software) is also a big part of the AI push and likely the focus of the world over the next few decades, China being at the forefront of all this will pay a lot of dividends for them.
I also think that gaming will play a bigger role. Wukong was just the start and notable because there hasn't ever been an AAA Chinese game. Tecent now owns a decent chunk of the video game industry and we are already seeing multiple titles that will likely bring Chinese game studios to the forefront.
Final random thought: Soft power is a bit of a zero-sum game. A relative shift away from American soft power because of "Americaminning" is still a shift away from American hegemony and will result in a shift in geopolitical global alignments. Whether or not China can take advantage of that is question that will be answered in the coming years.
Jacobin's take on China is typically blinkered. On inequality, they look at a distribution where the top and middle are closer than in America, but the weaker safety net leaves the bottom worse off. On homelessness, they see clean safe cities but lament that the homeless have been pushed to the margins.
In both cases they miss that this is a very appealing deal for the middle! In both cases, this is a society more oriented toward the attitudes and benefit of the middle, rather than a more American style of a small ruling class dispensing aid to a highly visible and present underclass.
No, I don't think so. As Jacobin correctly points out, the Chinese middle class is burdened by a weak health care system, high education costs, and poor job opportunities. The fact that some rich people in China have recently lost a bunch of their wealth doesn't actually do much to help the middle class.
One additional thing Jacobin doesn't mention is housing costs; even after the recent price decline, a house costs much more relative to income in a Chinese city than in an American one (even San Francisco). Yet despite that high cost, the Chinese middle class have seen their wealth decimated by the housing bust.
I've found that overwhelmingly that when people speak of soft power in the last few decades, what they are really talking about is television and movies.
With the exception of basically just Jia Zhangke, China sucks at this. It's hard to make a quality product when the world's dullest autocrat has the final say in what gets published.
But what is interesting is that I think there is far less a monoculture around movies and television today than there was even five years ago. What universally watched films or television is the US exporting nowadays? Americans don't even watch the same things in any numbers anymore.
I am curious how that is going to change *every* nation's soft power in the coming decades.
How much soft-power can you project with short-form video in your native language?
Wait until a charismatic Dem like Obama wins the Oval in '28, and ushers in--or reinstates--a raft of popular programs. Which will boost US soft power. But maybe not much, considering how much damage has been done by recent GOP stupidity.
When I lived abroad for eight years, every time a Dem was in the WH, the locals were friendly and pro-American. When it was a Republican, all I'd get were sullen stares...
I understand dreaming of places you've never been or things you don't have. But I'm genuinely surprised by the amount of Chinamaxxing I've seen too. China does an incredible job curating an image of utopia. But grass isn't always greener on the other side, folks.
It probably helps that much of what the creative class in America produces today is meant to convince you how horrible / racist / imperialist etc. the United States is.
here we go....lack of patriotic, flag-waving, good 'ol muricans seem to be the cause of all your country's problems these days
Much of "authentic" living Chinese culture was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution--but survived intact among the Chinese Diaspora in Taiwan, SE Asia, etc. Gong Fu, Ba Gua, Xing Yi, and many forms of Qigong...simply went extinct, or nearly extinct. In addition to applied Buddhism and Taoism. The only monks and nuns you now find in China are Potemkinesque play-actors.
All because eighty years ago, China's new religion--Dialectical Materialism--ensured there would be only one true faith; and snuffed out cultural forms that had existed in some cases for millenia.
This is why roughly thirty years ago the moving meditation Qigong system of Falun Gong became so insanely popular. Because for two generations, Chinese had been denied access by the CCP to pre-Communist cultural expression; and Falun Gong scratched a deep itch. At least until Falun Gong formally protested against the government, and were crushed.
Thanks for the great post! This is one of those myths that my international friends living in the U.S. especially have been suckered into. For them I think China just represents this pseudo utopian communist alternative to what they see as aggressive capitalism in the states. It almost feels like the way American kids became enamored with Hindu religion and culture in the 60s. They didn’t want to live in India once they went there at the time but they wanted an alternative to evil Christianity and there it was!
Chinese report feeling safer walking the streets at night than do Americans, despite having fewer police per capita. But during my time in Hangzhou, there were police at literally every single major intersection.
But distinctly Chinese cultural forms like T'Ai Chi and Qigong are indeed phenomenal. And while they require a lifetime to master, benefits can be experienced immediately. But if you're really serious about going deep, finding elite teachers of said forms are more easily found in Taiwan or Kuala Lumpur.
I actually feel like Texas is having more of a soft power moment than China. Maybe it’s my X feed bias or something but I see so much content related to Buccees, and that giant grocery store chain they have and how Austin is a cool place. Even Netflix has more content down to things like “Watch these Korean guys wander around Texas and show you how great it is.” Korea and Texas the real soft power couple!
Texas deserves it!
I’m definitely Texas pilled at this point. It feels like one of the places in the U.S. that has real “culture” in that broader sense of a unique identity. Even my friends who are the most progressively anti American love Buccees and HEB. Maybe do a post on what makes Texas the place right now?
Easy answer: A car.
Downtown Houston was semi-walkable; but the state seems as into exurban sprawl as, well....California. Far as I can tell. But Chicano culture is considerably stronger in TX; and they've got more rodeos per capita.
Are you serious about the boba chain comment? Aren't there tons of Taiwanese boba chains in the US? Chicha Sanchen, Happy Lemon, Gonga Cha, etc are pretty widespread.
They're not super popular...I expected a lot better!
I do not know much about the meaning of soft power. A detailed definition would help. Despite many economic achievements, China is a political hell on Earth. The US is a very unequal society and a now a very flawed democracy. Many other countries are far better choices to live, work, and visit.
It's honestly too multidimensional to have a single definition, which is one reason it's so fun to talk about!
VOA and USAID were considered pillars of American soft power, costing about 1% of our Federal budget.
Good coverage of "soft power" on the cultural (film, music, TV, games, tourism) front. But I think you're underselling one point which is that China is doing extremely well on the techno-industrial aesthetic channels. Maybe you already covered that in the past (new reader here). To me those BYD, DJI, Unitree, Xiaomi showcase videos are harkening back to the Japanese 80s tech demos with Walkman, Toyota, and Sony that were popular with the demographic that used to default to admiring Japanese tech and ended up defining an entire generation of tastes. Similar with American companies in the 1990-2010s (Apple). All this cutting-edge hardware (and software) is also a big part of the AI push and likely the focus of the world over the next few decades, China being at the forefront of all this will pay a lot of dividends for them.
I also think that gaming will play a bigger role. Wukong was just the start and notable because there hasn't ever been an AAA Chinese game. Tecent now owns a decent chunk of the video game industry and we are already seeing multiple titles that will likely bring Chinese game studios to the forefront.
Final random thought: Soft power is a bit of a zero-sum game. A relative shift away from American soft power because of "Americaminning" is still a shift away from American hegemony and will result in a shift in geopolitical global alignments. Whether or not China can take advantage of that is question that will be answered in the coming years.
When a Chinese band can sell out a 75,000 seat stadium for three and four nights consecutively then they will have made it into our culture.
Jacobin's take on China is typically blinkered. On inequality, they look at a distribution where the top and middle are closer than in America, but the weaker safety net leaves the bottom worse off. On homelessness, they see clean safe cities but lament that the homeless have been pushed to the margins.
In both cases they miss that this is a very appealing deal for the middle! In both cases, this is a society more oriented toward the attitudes and benefit of the middle, rather than a more American style of a small ruling class dispensing aid to a highly visible and present underclass.
Nicer for normies, in short.
No, I don't think so. As Jacobin correctly points out, the Chinese middle class is burdened by a weak health care system, high education costs, and poor job opportunities. The fact that some rich people in China have recently lost a bunch of their wealth doesn't actually do much to help the middle class.
One additional thing Jacobin doesn't mention is housing costs; even after the recent price decline, a house costs much more relative to income in a Chinese city than in an American one (even San Francisco). Yet despite that high cost, the Chinese middle class have seen their wealth decimated by the housing bust.