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How China’s soft power is rewriting Asian culture (www.japantimes.co.jp)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Soft power is increasingly central to China’s global dominance, no longer limited to economic prowess or military ambitions. This subtle yet key asset is reshaping Asian culture through the likes of food, film and online content.

China's cultural exports are changing its image abroad, wielding a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they have the potential to foster unity and commonality across the vast Asian continent. On the other, they threaten regional uniqueness and act as a vehicle for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (4 children)

You don't need to be from hexbear to appreciate the irony of a Japanese publisher warning of Chinese culture when Japan has been Americanized such that KFC is a Christmas tradition in Japan.

[–] parpol 0 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Is KFC for Christmas even a thing in the US? As far as I know that's a unique thing in Japan and the result of a marketing campaing, not cultural exchange, and the rest of the world was just as much affected by the coca cola campaign that made santa's clothes go from green or brown to red.

And it makes sense. Japan doesn't even really celebrate Christmas and it is still today vastly overshadowed by the japaneae new year celebration following it.

I live in Japan and don't see much resemblance to the US anywhere. Maybe that they are the only other country than the US where people care about baseball, and that people like Disney. Japan is very conservative in its own culture.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (2 children)

As far as I know that’s a unique thing in Japan and the result of a marketing campaing, not cultural exchange

KFC for Christmas isn't American. KFC is American. Christmas is American. Japanese do both showing the extent of American cultural contamination. So a Japanese writer warning about Chinese culture is kind of hypocritical. Japanese love their American culture of KFC and baseball but are warning others about Chinese cultural contamination.

[–] parpol 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Uh, Christmas is not American, and the concept of Santa is originally Scandinavian. KFC is a corporation and its Japanese branch is Japanese. China has way more cultural influence on Japan than the US to the point where they aren't comparable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Christmas is Western. Santa is Western. KFC stands for KENTUCKY fried chicken.

I love my Toyota. I'm not going to claim it's an American company.

"China has way more cultural influence on Japan"

The article is in English. It's warning the West, not Japanese.

The article would be no different than if a Chinese journalist wrote about the dangers of Japanese culture to Americans. "Kids are going to watch Dragonball and play Pokemon if you don't stop the Japanese!"