You will see the coolness of Chinese culture if you just stop judging coolness based on Western standards. A culture that has lasted 5000 years & still evolving IS cool & deserves to be explored & admired.
@@zuriyel5368Do Hoyo games count as one of the examples of modern Chinese culture? Considering that it’s the most popular for many players around the world indulge on their games despite being gacha games
Communist China, who desperately wants you to equate the Party Dynasty with the entire concept and destiny of China. You don't hear so much flak about the other Chinese ethnostate Taiwan.
People usually forget that some of the coolest features of Japanese and Korean culture came from China. Calligraphy, architecture, temples, confucianism, taoism, martial arts, tea, noodles, you name it, they're all from China.
@@taiwanstillisntacountryTao is the ultimate protection. It's what keeps the middle kingdom chugging along while the west keeps attacking all to shoot itself in the foot everytime.
These type of culture developed and preserved well in China，the Main stream media just didn’t portray China in that way, they have been biased for a quiet long time. That is nothing to do with real Chinese .
These type of culture developed and persevered well in China， they just did not portray China in that way, they don’t want people to know other aspects of China， simplely biased
What is the definition of “cool” ? The answer depends on culture as well as personal value. The young people’s obsession with being “cool” declines substantially as they age especially as their age reaches the 30s and beyond. Essentially, whatever is consider “cool” , it is but as ephemeral as youth.
If cool is getting tattooed and into fights and crime, that sh!t needs to stay in the youth. Most those makeup wearing loser have crap jobs and age much faster later in life, marrying another loser and getting a divorce.
the concept of cool was created by the 'rebellious' youth post WW2 ( the boomers as it were LOL) to differentiate themselves from the older generation. it carries the implication of something that is the antithesis of old, traditional and stuffy. the problem with it is, the 'creators of cool' themselves become 'uncool' when they get older. look the boomers. they were the original rebels back in the 60s fighting against the older generation for fkg up the world but have become the very image of those they fought.
It is a life and death issue when youre the least popular in the world though. Being ostracized makes life insanely difficult. You don’t have to go through this so you don’t understand
@@letisriva8581 my comment was a general observation for the sake of discourse, not a direct criticism of the video. Do you have an actual opinion on the matter?
@@bigheadrhino Chinese people generally don't care that much about it, Indians on the other hand are obsessed with it always spamming under the comments to seek validation
Chinese culture is cool because it’s a mix of ancient traditions and modern trends that have shaped the world. With over 5,000 years of history, you get everything from delicious food like dim sum and Peking duck to amazing martial arts like Kung Fu. Festivals like Lunar New Year are full of color and fun, with fireworks and family gatherings. China also gave us game-changing inventions like paper and the compass. Plus, traditional medicine with acupuncture and herbal remedies is still popular today. On top of all that, modern Chinese movies, fashion, and apps like TikTok are making waves globally.
frankly every culture is a mix of ancient and modern, so every culture is cool. i think China is cool because it follows its own tunes and is unwilling to play jester to the crowds. dats the coolest part about it and wat rlly differentiates the country from others, that it walks its own path and has ability to do so.
Its not just Chinese culture... For westerns, only Korean and Japanese cultures are cool. No one think Chinese, Thai or other asian cultures are cool...
I would say Thailand is moving up the charts and is starting to develop soft power via tourism, cuisine, Muay Thai, the recent spike of Thai content on Netflix etc. China will always be hamstrung by its regime and its desire to control narratives and that just isn't cool to anyone, including Chinese people themselves.
It's because of the music, anime, and other media both countries release. Hollywood also played a major role in English becoming so popular. China and Taiwan still severely lacks this
Pls be specific- you guys are talking about Chinese American culture but not Chinese culture- very different and nobody gives a f. Also do you really think the western media will picture China in a cool way?
I lived for a few years in mainland China and I would say that the major reason chinese pop culture is not widely known in the west is because China is not foreign tourism friendly as Japan, Korea, Thailand, HK. Its very hard to walk around without a basic knowledge of mandarin. Also its kinda hard to get a tourism visa depending on your country. In the other hand, you dont even need a visa to stay up to 3 month in many asian countries. Also the fact that all the cultural products (movies, music, tv shows etc) must be approved by the government censorship destroys the freedom of expression, and only things that please the "old uncles" and the party rules get approved.
I have a friend has started learning Mandarin last to prepare his trip to Canada next year. And he’s been doing research about different provinces to choose his destinations. I believe he will have a different experience than you.
Censorship can sometime promote a lot of creativity. No censorship means a lot of garbage. At the end of the day, cultural influence comes only after economic rise, everything else is just excuses.
Japan wasn't tourist friendly until the Olympics and that was just Tokyo. Go anywhere else, and it's basically Japanese only except for like airports and train stations.
I think the Chinese and Chinese American need to do a better job in marketing their modern popular culture like Korean/Korean Americans and Japan/Japanese Americans do. Because even though all those countries have unique ancient culture, you can’t just rely on that alone in this modern climate! The Japanese do an excellent job in marketing the old and the new! Look at all the tourists visiting Kyoto! It can be done!
I agree somewhat w this sentiment. As much as ABC blame motherland for Chinese culture not being cool, it’s also the Chinese diasporas in the West that are not contributing too! Little do people know K-pop industry all started w Korean Americans or Koreans who studied in US.
I'm Singaporean born Chinese. Interested in ancient Chinese history and culture but no interest in modern Chinese culture whatsoever cos it's so much propaganda. And the paid Chinese online trolls only make things worse
This is the coolest people and their culture: 1. Refuse to succumb to bullies: When people have to bow down to the biggest bully on the block and his minions, the coolest ones dare to confront the bullies. For example, he beat the 17-nation army led by the big bully back to South Korea, and he pointed at the nose of the Secretary of State of the big bully who launched the trade war and the technology war and said "you are not qualified to claim power advantage over me"... 2. Able to influence the world: Despite the strong opposition of the bullies who were busy bombing and confronting, he was able to call on 150+ countries to join a building and cooperation initiative (BRI). 3. The spirit of self-reliance: When he was excluded from the cooperation of the International Space Station by the bully, he was able to rely on his own technology and economic strength to independently build his own space station. And open it to others. 4. A long and unique culture that remains vibrant: He created ancient languages and characters like the ancient Egyptians; he once thought about philosophy and recited poetry at the same time as the ancient Greeks; he once created a vast empire and corresponding system at the same time as the ancient Romans. Today, when other players in The major four river valley civilizations (or The Six Cradles of Civilization) have disappeared/declined/mutated, he is still an important player in this world, continuing the ancient writing system. 5. Beliefs beyond God: When people were still superstitious about various man-made gods, he already believed that "people can defeat nature or God through unity/wisdom/perseverance". 6. Rebirth from setbacks: After a brief period of backwardness and suffering, today he has restarted some cool things, such as: the exploration on Mars and Far side of the Moon, quantum communication satellites; actively promoting high-speed rail , 5G and satellite smartphones, clean energy, EV, flying EV, drones around the world; cashless society, unmanned docks, unmanned supermarkets and restaurants, robot services ... ...... --The above are still not as cool as animation? OK, the most successful animations and games in the world are being born in large numbers in a new place (with long history). Still not as cool as imitating black music/dance? Maybe someone thinks Italian opera is cooler? Maybe we need to first figure out who and how to define cool.
Google “2024 soft power rankings” -“2024, Global Soft Power Index by BF: 1.USA; 2. United Kingdom; 3.China; 4.Japan; 5.Germany; 6.France; 7.Canada; 8.Switzerland; 9.Italy; 10.United Arab Emirates; ... 15.South Korea; ... "
Korean pop culture started to raise when they became rich. Korean is a rich & developed country now. You don't see much of kpop in US before 2010, because they were not rich before 2010.
No, SK was rich then, it was just overshadowed. I remember this because I was an earlier foreign follower of K-Pop (like BoA and Super Junior early) and was already familiar with Korea well before Gangnam Style hit the scene.
Kpop is Pop. Industrialized entertainment. Nothing real about it. All put together like a puzzle. It's one of the only things they can export so they spend on that.
Modern KPOP is also made to be exported (the opposite of JPOP which is made for Japanese domestic consumption but accidentally became popular globally) and the SK government embraces it as a mean to project SK's soft power.
The Chinese Communist Party limits the growth of Chinese pop culture. The Chinese culture in Hong Kong is being tapped down by the Communist in the last 20 years. Hong Kong film and canto pop culture was free to grow until about 2000. What survives is Singapore and Taiwan Chinese pop culture... I agree (1)(2) Exporting culture work when there is an affluent culture to sell. @10:00 Traditionally China is an empire with many ethnic groups (4) @12:00 Chairman Mao was trying to bring the PRC society to be militarily economically and politically competitive with the Western World - and Mao was questioning what basic parts of Chinese culture was holding back the modernization of China. The CCP picked Mandarin because it was easier to pronounce with only 4 tones so it was easier to teach nationally. Japanese Language has a phonic alphabet aka Hiragana and borrows from the Chinese language with Japanese Kanji.
People often confuse being popular with being cool. For young people, being cool means BTS, Blackpink, K-dramas, and Japanese anime-not kung fu and Chinese food. Having a long history doesn't necessarily make something cool. However, Chinese people in the comments seem to be confused about what coolness actually is.
Its very underrated. There is a token asian heirarchy in the west. Japan first korea then they look at us chinese, then the southeast asians. Other than that, westerners go HERP DERP THEY ALL CHINESE CUZ THEY LOOK SLANTED EYES
Cool Chinese cultural icons: Chinese philosophy Sun Tzu's Art of War and the 36 Stratagems. Chinese Traditional Medicine/Acupuncture. Chinese Kites. Chinese cuisine. Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration. Giant Pandas. Chinese ceramic. Chinese Tea. Chinese silk.... cool stuff is what is fun sellable and shareable.... Chinese mainland censorship can be bypassed in Taiwan, Singapore, and overseas.
@@hayabusa1329 this from someone who names himself after a Japanese plane that invaded China. Think what you want, colonialist. The law on both the province and the mainland says it is China. That carries more weight than your petty opinion. Enjoy your sinking country.
Coolness is a intrinsic quality an individual/culture/nation emanates and what others perceive as cool/stylish and want to follow and/or be a part of. Two key factors of this are that it emanates, not shouting at top of their lungs about how great they are. The other is that other people are the ones who deem you "cool", not yourself. When Chinese try so hard to be cool when they are not, people get turned off. The world has no time for uncool attitude/behaviors that emanates.
For us Indonesian (Fellow Asian here) Chinese culture is very important since antiquity. Chinese people, especially Hokkianese and Hakkanese have made contact with south east asia people through trading since Tang dynasty...They influenced our culture too Hokkianese and Hakkanese are living in Indonesia until today and making significant important contribution to our economy We also enjoy Hongkong movies since 90s and it is the part of our childhood, and we love their actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Andy Lau and Donny Yen When Black Myth Wukong was launched and later hyped globally, we are not surprised with it because we already know the story Journey to The West since our childhood
Many argued that whtat is really Chineses culture the truth is Chinese people don't really hold on to traditions. We chinese are actually good at creating cultures and we adapt quickly so our race is able to keep on going to be one day the top of the world. Survive is always the priority.
@@raymonddon8875 China is where it is today not without Western investment, trade, technology. Mocking is distasteful regardless of what person or country does it. China arcing and behaving little different than the US did last century.
as a chinese i disagree with you. chinese people hold on to traditions. the fact that our tradition and culture stretches back more than 5000 years proves that we have been holding on our culture and traditions for a long long long time compared to most. how much has europe held on to from the roman empire? i agree that the chinese are good at 'creating culture'. for most of chinese history, the chinese have exported their knowledge and culture they created more than they imported. THIS actually became a problem because of the middle kingdom mentality when the chinese refused to acknowledge and ignored the cultures and civilizations from outside china when the european civilization developed faster and came to china with their guns and weapon which the chinese had no answer for. it is only in the last couple of centuries that the chinese diaspora started to spread around the world and these 'overseas' chinese learned to adapt and learn from other cultures. as for china, mao's cultural revolution again shut off china from the rest of the world for a long long. it was only after his death that china opened up again. by that time, china had fallen far behind many of the major powers in the world. credit however must be given to the chinese for adapting quickly to the changes, because more than one billion people had to change.
I grew up in America watching a lot of films out of Hong Kong. So I always felt Kung Fu and other martial arts were very cool. Many famous films showcasing Chinese themes (ie. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) showed off how wire work could make martial artist appear to have ancient mystical powers. Films like Curse of the Golden Flower put focus cultural beauty that really impressed me.
The Chinese and Japanese calligraphy are just 2 styles of Chinese calligraphy, the Japanese one is in the "grass script" which originated in China. Its not a "Japanese style calligraphy" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive_script_(East_Asia)
@@Drownedinblood yeah actually both of them sound very ignorant about a lotta things, not just chinese related. They especially have a very shallow understanding of their own culture and tend to oversimplify everything. I think the problem is most ABCs cannot read Chinese so its very hard for them to have a deep understanding of Chinese culture so they're really not that much better than an average American when it comes to understanding Chinese culture.
There are lots of things I disagree with in this video. Listing everything would be too time consuming so I"ll just point some things: China isn't cool because here in the west, we are constantly bombarded with anti-communist propaganda. Also the 1900s was once of the most devastating times in Chinese history and was marked by over 50 years of war that sent the entire country to poverty. China is the size of a continent and had the largest population at that time, so it was always going to be a challenge to lift a country out of poverty. 3:30 ABCs don't care about analyzing why China isn't cool and only mainlanders think of this. I disagree. Asian Americans spend a lot of time thinking about Asian American identity and why we aren't cool. Just take an Asian American studies class and you can have whole lectures on Asian American identity. Asian American media, such as this channel talks about this topic a lot. Its just a lot of Asian Americans and ABCs don't have the historical knowledge and context to properly analyze this topic outside of the American liberal framework. 5:40 South Korea was very poor but has a crazy come up in the past 30, 40, 50 years. That is incorrect. South Korea was poor up until the 1980 when they began to modernize. Reason being was that the US halted Japans economic development and sent electronics R&D and manufacturing to South Korea. Kpop culture was popular in Asia in the early 2000s and it only became popular in the US and the rest of the world in the past 10+ years. It took nearly 2 decades after fully industrializing before S. Korea was able to export its pop culture. 5:48 I don't know if being poor is enough to explain why China isn't cool. You are wrong here. Culture and influence is tied to economics. Historically was very popular to the point that European traders were always trying to find a way to get to China (aka Columbus). When there is a strong middle class, it means there are people who can spend their money on cultural goods and experience. 6:09 But China was always China. With or without the west. That is also incorrect. Historically, China has always been open to outside influences. Moreso than Japan and Korea. Because China is landlocked, China had access to the silk road and was always trading with the west. Even during the Ming and Qing dynasty, China had an entire diplomatic system with countries in East and South East Asia. An the last empress of the Qing dynasty even had fascinations about Europeans. During the Republican era, Chinese artists were going to Japan and France to study art, etc. 15:40 You guys know the word for hanzi in Japanese (Kanji) and but then you never use the Chinese pronunciation for this word and instead call it Chinese characters. Just call it hanzi. This is why Chinese things isn't cool, cuz Chinese people and ABCs suck at branding things. Instead of a Chinese dragon, it should be called a Loong. Fermented bean curd should be called dofu and not tofu. At least in 2024, the Chinese have figured out that you should call Son Wukong by his Chinese name and not just the Monkey King or Monty the Magic Monkey.
I am Korean, and in the case of Korea it was less about economics and more about censorship. Up until the 1980s music and movies where heavily censored to cater the needs/wants of the government. We had the first "real" presidential election in 1993, putting an end to the dictatorship.
I think one of the problems with Chinese is that from the perspective of foreigner, it sounds too harsh and unpleasant to listen to. In contrast, Korean and Japanese sound sophisticated and cute when heard. Chinese comes off as aggressive and kind of irritating. There are likely many reasons why Chinese music cannot become as famous as K-pop, but I think one of them is the language.
Chinese language sounds very irritating and funny. That's why people everywhere makes fun of the Chinese language. The language itself will not be suitable for pop, rock or rap music like Korean or Japanese
CPOP is completely identical to KPOP...Chinese singers have plastic surgery to look exactly like Korean singers...CPOP copied everything from KPOP. The only thing it couldn't copy is the language.
I think Chinese culture and their stuffs are cool, yep sometimes the uncool could be cool as well. Looking back a long history of theirs, they are just going through another booming era.
I see this issue from a different perspective. (I am 100% Chinese) The Chinese culture itself was never ever about coolness, or being cool. The culture is focused on prestige passing through generations. Chinese culture has a purpose of its own, that is, Through the filtering of time and history, to keep the essence and discard the dregs, 取其精华去其糟粕。That's why we have the Art of War, Taoism, Confucius, 4 great inventions, Journey to the West, the Romance of Three Kingdom, so on and so on, our ancestors left for us. So at any given time, the Chinese culture is still keeping that spirit, even today, 取其精华去其糟粕, we observe the western culture, Japanese culture, Korean culture, or even Indian culture maybe, and take their essence, learn the best part of them, then keep evolving. That is the TRUE Chinese culture. It's never meant to be cool, but to best ourselves.
"Through the filtering of time and history, to keep the essence and discard the dregs, 取其精华去其糟粕" Good aspiration, but like Google's motto "don't be evil" during Startup period, it is now part of the Wall Street machine. This is all parts of the rise and fall of empires. Nothing last forever.
@@MonaGee98 you are absolutely right, all empires rise and fall, even the US empire today, will fall at some stage. However, unlike the Romans and/or other ancient empires, China lived, and inherited its civilisation continuity. That's the purpose of Chinese culture. China maybe will fall in another 150 year or so, but the civilisation will live.
IMO one "cool" modern thing about China is that it is one of the few countries that were formerly invaded/imperialized that is thriving and dominating. It has regained its own identity and confidence and is bold about its culture whether you like it or not, and it's pretty impressive if you think about it. I personally love how philosophical Chinese culture is and I enjoy having it enrich my worldview growing up here in the states.
my (probably problematic) opinion is....China is hand's down definitively cool...But, it is not coming from the West and so there are just vast cultural differences where the two spheres just don't get each other. Like politeness in how you act is considered different, for one, and so when people from the two cultures interact, it's as likely to go as wrong as right....leading to problems. I think the same could be said at the nation state level too. I think, of all the eastern cultures...in someways the new china is the most like the West...I think just give it some time...we'll all blend into a big global cultural mix....Pour Over coffee and Boba shops everywhere!!
You're trying too hard. Even outside the West, people don't look up to China for culture. They say "China is becoming rich", yes. They don't say "China is the center of pop culture".
Chinese are viewed upon as sort of the "default Asian," so we aren't really super cool, but not thought of too badly either (prior to all the recent hate). It’s kind of like that viral video where the girl was talking about dating Chinese guys. We are just neutral. Not too high, not too low. On the commerce side, most of the "East Asian” businesses in the States are run by Chinese diaspora, or partially involve Chinese. When you think of the “Asian” strip mall, chances are, it's mostly Chinese, with a smattering of other ethnicities. The mall itself is likely anchored by a 99 Ranch or a local Chinese supermarket, with a variety of different Chinese regional cuisines, and of course, boba shops. Of course, there is K-town, Japantown, etc., but those are quite miniscule in number compared to the amount of Chinese malls. There is basically at least one if not more Chinese restaurant in every small yokel town in America, if not the world, and if there is a sushi shop or KBBQ, it's likely owned by Chinese.
China will be cool very very soon, I guarantee it! Visa free entries and WuKong is probably the first cool step. And when they start building that moon base??!!
Yep, China plans and builds cool stuff. While abcs can't leave the house without makeup, and when they do they spend the night smelling like beer burp.
Chiense goods from Chinese brands: 1. DJI - the best drone company in the world. 2. Roborock - the best robotic vacuum company in the world 3. BYD - the biggest ev manufacturer 4. Hisense - considered one of the best TV makers in the world 5. Huawei - the biggest telecoms provider - leader in 5G 6. ICBC - worlds largest bank is a Chinese bank 7. Tencent - worlds largest video game company Just cause you're not invited doesn't mean there isn't a party happening.
people just not giving Chinese stuff a chance. Chinese music, drama, games, history, culture, clothes, stories etc the list goes on and on are all awesome! I love Chinese stuff.
Japanese tradition and popculture is always interesting. Every era japan have something new. Chinese meh it just mediocre compare to japan and korea. China only focus on ancient traditions.
@男99999 yeah, they should sing in English if they want to go globally they need to face the reality that English is world domination language when it comes to pop culture
Chinese music is imitating KPOP. Except for the language, it is completely the same as KPOP. For Chinese music to be successful, it will have to sing in English or Korean.
Hello from Singapore! My 2 cents on this- i think Japan and Korea are more easily accepted by the west because their countries were 'colonised' by the US post WW2 /post Korean war and American culture was actively exported there. They then assimilated and came up with their own versions of Japanese and Korean pop cultures, which became successful internally before being exported worldwide. I think these 2 countries were more easily able to export their soft culture but interestingly, their economic growth was often cut short at crucial times whenever the US felt threatened. I think there's something to that idea of China being poor. but i think it's also China was not "colonised" in the same way after a major war. , and even post 2000's when America began to actively 'invest' in China (maybe in the hope of colonising their economy?), I felt there is a strong sense of China's always asserting its own identity. Even in Sg, when I was growing up, there was and still is a strong effort to de-link the "China identity" but preserve the "Chinese identity". Growing up, there was always a big admiration and consumption of American culture amongst my peers - it's like everyone wanted to go to America. Now, maybe, not so much. anyway. 2 cents worth. thanks for sharing your thots on the struggles of Chinese diaspora!
Is China considered “cool” among fellow Singaporeans? How about Southeast Asia in general? Are the young ones there clamoring to visit Shanghai like they do w Tokyo/Seoul?
@@kimckawatbh feelings are kinda mixed. Singers like Jackson Wang are v popular, and lots of ppl watch C drama. Food like mala is also v popular. But local students in schools see Chinese foreign students as competition and you can also hear a lot of unkind comments /generalizations about the mainland Chinese. I think the showboatng types are generally resented
"Cool" is a framework established to cater to a specific ppl. As China get more powerful, it will become top G cool rather than a street fashion cool (ie japan, korea)
Y’all make the best traditional music and y’all make the best food. Y’all’s traditional drip is something else. Architecture on point. I just love Chinese culture
I appreciate you guys trying to tackle the subjects that you do. However, your perspectives are very US - centered. Please continue to travel and listen to person from Asian, African, Latin American countries to gain a broader perspective.
Just like now most Asians don't consider US cool. We consider US to be a bandit nation (and this is very uncool since criminals are considered the lowest class in human hierarchy). Americans may deny and try to consold themselves by giving themselves 'cooler' titles like exceptionalism but still it is self-bestowed title.
I know Go not from China, but from Japan to where it has spread to. I really liked the anime+manga of Hikaru no Go as a kid. Additionally it got back on my radar when AlphaGo by DeepMind beat Lee Sedol, because before that point people didn’t think it was possible for computers to beat humans at Go.
@@Drownedinblood All of these brands are backed by the CCP to get them off the ground at first. But these companies are never traded on the international stock market.
I think chinese culture was always very cool, what are people talking about. Maybe its not cool specifically in the USA because of sinophobism, but the hanfu culture, the douyin tiktok memes and dances, chinese culture depicted is modern games like genshin impact, popular products like commercial drones like DJI or smartphones where it is not banned like Huawei, Xiaomi or OnePlus, you name it. China was always cool, but people in the US not actively searching for it, is their loss.
Chinese calligraphy is super cool IMO. Their culture/history is also rich and complex. Lots of eastern and southeast cultures are heavily influenced by it.
Singapore have very cool Chinese lion and dragon dance troupes that often showcase their award winning skills at the malls during Chinese New Year period. One of our local troupe (YiWei Athletic) even won the 14th Genting world lion dance championship in 2023, outperforming 36 teams from around the world!
Y’all didn’t know how down China was prior to the Cultural Revolution. They got colonized(albeit never 100%) by the British for 200 years. And in that time the British started the Opium Wars in which they pushed drugs/Opium onto the Chinese to destabilize the country. It got so bad that China for a long time became the statistical drug death capital in the world and it wasn’t even close. Even the Empress of China during this time was a full blown addict. This lead to mass poverty and mass famine in China as well as overall dysfunction due to the drug epidemic(maybe the worst in human history). Second, the Japanese colonized China. Japan was going so hard on China through mass genocide, mass rape, human experimentation(of live babies even), that Nazi Germany who was Allie’s of Imperial Japan told Japan to chill out that they were doing too much in China. Nazis thought Japanese Imperialism was too extreme. The Cultural Revolution came after as all the different groups in China needed to unify to become stronger TO defend against future colonizers. That was the top priority of the Cultural Revolution but you never see it highlighted especially in Western education because even the US tried to colonize China at one point in time. Yes, there were flaws with the Cultural Revolution as there are in any large social change. But what did it accomplish in 1-2 generations? Lifted 800 million out of extreme poverty. Went from #1 in drug related death statistics IN THE WORLD(by a long shot too) to now not even making the list. Eliminating most violent crime and creating a safe environment for civilians. Not only eliminated famine/hunger but became one of the largest suppliers of agriculture/produce for the world. People like you need to learn to take the good with the bad when it comes to China.
The Communist destruction of culture was a big reason why Imperial Japan opted to surrender to the Americans while the Home Islands were still whole, rather than fight to the bitter end and give the Soviets a chance to start erasing core Japanese culture wherever they eventually establish their occupation. Considering how North/South Korea and Taiwan/Mainland China ultimately ended up, this was a most wise decision.
Over estimate of the cultural revolutions damage. It’s bad, but not as bad as people make it out to be. It did traumatize a lot of people, but the culture and political damages it caused except people died (unfortunately) were mostly able to be corrected since. The most prestigious and valuable culture inheritance has never been lost during that event. For one, the museums, libraries and important culture sites have never been touched during culture revolution. 5000 years old culture is so deep rooted that it’s not that fragile. 😅
Some of the most important archeological excavations and preservations in modern China actually happened during the culture revolutions. The biggest damage to Chinese culture in the past two hundred years is the imperialistic exploitation done to China from the imperialistic powers, and the poverty and the non-stoping wars followed that robbed Chinese the mental and materialistic resource to preserve and develop Chinese culture.
What do you expect with the total mudslinging of China by Western media? China is different from Japan & Korea who were America's vassals. No matter how popular Japanese & Korean's cultural export is, they can never be politically independent from America. Japan & Korea knew who is their boss. But, China is different, a country that America can't bend the knees of China like how the heavenly court can't bend the knees of Wukong of the game Black Myth Wukong. America will never allow the world to like the Chinese culture.
People don't care about unattractive things. There is no other reason. If China keeps making attractive things like Black Myth Wukong, people will love it.
1.Chinese culture is based on Chinese characters, which most foreigners do not understand. 2. The Chinese government's control of speech, ideological control and other measures make cultural products less attractive.
As a Southeast Asian, Chinese culture was once a huge influence in our culture as we were greatly influenced by ancient China (take note of this) and a lot of Chinese culture has trickled down to our own especially on cuisine, technology and even some of our words. Chinese diaspora helped the influence seep in our general culture. I think most of these Chinese influence from its old days are cool. The current Chinese government, makes modern Chinese culture uncool to support our country's stance in terms of our geopolitical tensions.
Noodles came from China and I think having noodles are really cool. Everyone in the world are enjoying their version of noodles (pasta). Chinese food in China is super cool !!! In the west most the westerners heard Chinese people speaking Cantonese. I like the Cantonese people but the language is not at all appealing and they make fun of it and they think all Chinese speakers are speaking Cantonese. On the other hand Mandarin is so beautiful and it’s one of the most pleasing languages in the world !!!
South Korea's coolness is a relatively recent thing with the internationalization of Kpop coinciding with their advancement to 'first world' status. There was a time in the not too distant past that Korean products were viewed even more unfavourably than unfavourably viewed Japanese products in the west.
Chinese calligraphy of traditional Chinese character is cool, not simplified Chinese, even non-Chinese / ABCs / CBCs should know the difference, there is a lot of history in TRADITIONAL Chinese character, not so with SIMPLIFIED Chinese In response to JJ Mcculough's comment: - A poor past like JJ says is definitely one factor, but what he miss is: not having creative freedom (being persecuted to have any "non-approved" opinions) is two big factor. - Doing things on behalf of the West, i.e. not exporting anything genuinely Chinese is spot on. Incorporating Chinese elements with Minions is at least cute and funny, highlighting Chinese elements that have the potential to become cool-er. Here are other factors that negatively impact coolness: 1) The conservatism, mostly from Confucius thoughts is a big part of eliminating any "coolness". (Chinese philosophy is not just Confucianism, but they all have been downplayed for thousands of years) Case in point, I remember there is so many Western made videos using image of old men / women when talking about China, this literally destroyed any coolness - which is usually associated with youth and vitality 2) The lack of cultural identity - Other cultures that's considered cool often have a very deep sense of their own culture, .. this is the very thing that's missing with many Chinese today in the West or in the East. 3) Negative impact of the cultural revolution: It did so much damage, it literally cut present Chinese off from their own past and cultural identities, which destroyed any potential to be cool.... we need a sense of cultural identity before becoming cool 4) Kung Fu - is one of the things that preserves a lot of traditional Chinese culture, and successfully appeal to Western audience now, so a coherent cultural identity + money + creative freedom is definitely the sources of coolness. In response to wat you say in the video: I feel the only "bragable" things about Chinese culture now is Kung Fu So Kung - Fu Panda, Kung - Fu Hammer Phil is at least cute, going towards "coolness".
Culture, including Chinese culture, is not a static thing. Even 2,200 years ago, much of Chinese culture was censored and banned and burned and executed to make way for the Qin Dynasty. This is the norm, not the exception. We pick and choose the culture to keep and the culture to replace.
I don't know what or how people define cool. What I see in San Francisco Bay area are the Chinese culture things are in beded to their daily life. Kung Fu, taichi, accuputure, Chinese medicine. Chinese word for tattoo, dragon boat racing. The video game base on the Three kingdoms started from the 90s. The none Chinese are using those. Just not talking about them, it could be the political with CCP. Also China is big, with lots of different ways of celebrating. And we don't care if other people want to use them. Like preserve vegetables, noodles
I wouldn't use the word cool but instead mainstream. Japanese culture wasn't mainstream until Nintendo made it over to North American shores. Then came the toys and anime. This was a time when Japan became richer as Japanese cars became more popular in the late 70s and especially the 80s. Then came the food and music in the 80s when artists started incorporate western tunes like funk, rare groove and hip hop like City Pop genre and Japanese street culture. K-Pop and K-Drama only became popular 2003 in Asia and mainstream in 2012 spreading worldwide. Mainly because population became richer thanks to tech and semiconductors (Samsung, LG, Hynix, Navar etc.) R&D and manufacturing. Music started to incorporate some western tunes like rap and hip-hop while K-Drama started to incorporate more risque, sex, violence, conflicts in their stories that the West are accustomed to. I agree with much of what was said from this video and the guy from Canada. Both Japanese and Korean culture became “cool” or mainstream was mainly due to the country getting richer and in "tune" with the West. As for China, they have been poor and closed for much of last century. But you will see more of Chinese culture becoming more popular, first if more people travel to China and see it with their own eyes what China is really like. There are tones of new YT videos this past year of travel vlogs and how they have been lied to by the West. Very funny actually. Pop culture wise, maybe will be something new and different and not in the “tune” of the West. Maybe something that isn’t woke/dei like the recent Black Myth: Wukong video game. Looks like people now are starting to get tired of woke/die agendas being forced down people’s throat trough media, movies and video games. For now, I only see China’s different types of food from different regions being first to be popular in the West. Maybe?
China has over 5000 years of history. Of which, China has always gotten back to being the Superpower from ruined. The Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty around 130 BCE, was the beginning of East/Asia/Orient and West trade; and remained in use until 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. Christopher Columbus voyages (1492-93, 1493-96, 1498-1500, and 1502-04) in search of a route to Cathay(China) and India to bring back gold and spices that were highly sought in Europe. My ancestors - Hoisanese台山人, /Toisanese/Taishanese Chinese, who have been in America since at least the 1800s, called ourselves Tang people唐人, not Chinese 中國人. That is to say, my ancestors have been travelling the world since at least the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). Tang people唐人 is still being use in all Chinatowns唐人街 in America today.
Yes, most Chinese who leave China before CCP even exist (before 1912) all address themselves The 'Tang' ppl. It is all the same for Chinese in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore. That's why we refuse to call our ‘’Tang Town‘’(唐人街）as 'China Town'(華人街）in Mandarin. Mandarin only gained its popularity 30 years ago.
I think all roads lead to Chinese civilization, they are the original soft power but they have such a long, complicated history and such a big population and geographical size, people have had to survive above all else that the focus was not on how to communicate their culture to the world. It’s been overshadowed by geopolitical issues. It’s such a rich culture that is so varied that most people don’t know how or where to even begin to approach it. But go to China, see how people live and how much they value and preserve the culture and you will see they aren’t interested in you thinking they are cool, they already know it’s cool and that’s good enough for them.
The geopolitical tensions between China, the West, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and Korea makes them look uncool. Even though Chinese Culture is actually cool.
its been cool for too long without doing something new. Chinese and Kung Fu were "anime" before anime. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Bolo Yeung, Rush Hour, the 5 venoms, Kung Fu soccer, etc. So, similar to how anime will be lame when our children are in their 20s/30s, similar to how Reggae Music is nowhere as big as it was in the 60s/70s, so is Chinese culture.
I think JJ's opinion that people don't care about poor people is completely on point. Sure, Korea used to be poor just a few decades ago, but that's precisely the point. The explosion in appreciation of Korean culture only started recently, less than 20 or so years ago. South Korea had already been relatively rich at that time for quite soem time. I think Chinese culture is considered cool, but there's this sense that the CCP counter acts any good that China could do culturally, which is a shame. The PRC is not a perfect country but it's not this evil entity people tend to act like it is either.
As much as I appreciate and enjoy Japanese and Koean history, Chinese history is so much more interesting and expansive due to Chinese civilization having developed a writing system early on to be able to have a written recorded history.
What are the core values of Chinese tradition or any traditions aside from superficial stuff. In my opinion is being "rebellious/defiance" despite what thousand years of sanctified Confucianism and contemporary RED have attempted to suppress. Mao even stated, "rebellion is sound/logical" unless you are against his ruling. Most classic novels and literature are filled w this theme. The monkey king sets up a banner "carry out justice on behave of god/heaven" in defiance of "heavenly jade emperor". Haha.
1:17 Domestic production of Chinese manufactured products is increasing *exponentially* [which for China is WARP SPEED] particularly due to the US sanctioning and even prohibiting Chinese products like those from Huawei. Many countries like Germany and other Eastern countries have happily adopted 100% Chinese made products like cars and appliances because they find the quality higher than their own products and the cost is less expensive. People like JJ is not living in the countries in the Eastern hemisphere that are enjoying ad respecting the quality of products coming out of China. Americans, Westerners and Europeans are brainwashed and inundated with lesser quality products from China that are literally being ordered from white men in power to make the products in the first place. Chinese brand electric cars are blowing it out of the water as some of the best in the world with even heated back seats and features the rest of us have never heard of, with prices that cost less than buying an old used car in the United States. Go China.They are winning world awards left and right in engineering bridges (look it up), ad innovation. Look up the basic train station in the megacities like Shenzen, Chongqing, Beijing. Their train-stations look like futuristic airports. The United States is shooting themselves in the foot by putting tariffs and banning true Chinese products or China's access to resources. It's encouraging China to do it themselves resulting in them being resourceful and independent of the US-making them stronger than ever.
I think there is so much Lack of exposure on chinese culture. Even as a chinese american i can say i have not been back for a decade and have my own judgments that are probably super inaccurate. Its grown And modernized so fast i cant wait to learn more when i schedule a visit !
the reason most in america do not find chinese culture(not ccp culture, but actually chinese culture). is due to chinatowns, etcetera. in a sense you wanna share culture you have to spread out.
it definitely is... ive had xhs(aka rednote) for a while before the tiktok refugees and have always been confused as to why people think chinese have no modern culture..but now that they have xhs they finally see all of the amazing creativity and they are very surprised.
I don't know about you but Romance of the Three Kingdoms is something that still excites me after decades of playing their games. Traditional Chinese is neat too.
Asiatic black bear, cranes, and Asian dragons are also cool but shared with Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Lion and dragon dancing are cool so is dragon boat racing. Hot pot is cool. Boba and shaved ice are very cool. One last thing instant noodles are Chinese, Ando Momofuku is ethnic Han Chinese from Taiwan.
you guys don't seem to get JJ's point about 'being poor'. It's obvious when the society is poor, they concentrate more on working jobs that put food on the table. they can't afford to spend time and effort on creative stuff like making kpop music or producing kdrama shows or drawing manga and making anime. nor do they have the time and money to spend on entertainment consumption. but when the country develops and the society reaches middle class level, and people have more leisure time, they will start to consume these stuff like buying music, watching movies, reading comics etc. JJ talked about the 'export of... cultural goods' to other countries. it's not about 'poor people' being uncool.
You will see the coolness of Chinese culture if you just stop judging coolness based on Western standards. A culture that has lasted 5000 years & still evolving IS cool & deserves to be explored & admired.
Ancient Chinese culture that is. Modern culture of China needs alot of work...
If you think that you really dk much about modern Chinese culture. How about visit modern China and educate yourself? You’d be pleasantly surprised.
i think china is better. korean & japanese may be cool... but they have to kiss ass to the west.
@@davidkusanagi589 Can you describe modern Chinese culture to us?
@@zuriyel5368Do Hoyo games count as one of the examples of modern Chinese culture? Considering that it’s the most popular for many players around the world indulge on their games despite being gacha games
I am surprised you haven't done a video about Black Myth: Wukong (China's first AAA game) shaking up the global gaming industry and beyond.
It's not China's first, Genshin Impact is also PRC made
Isn't it mostly just shaking up China's gaming industry? It has massive playercounts and is doing well but most of its success is China based.
@cinemapigeon4898 The whole world. It's smashing records across the Global gaming industry.
@CY_Chen Genshin Impact is massively popular but it isn't AAA. Black Myth: Wukong is AAA.
2.5 million on Steam which is the 2nd highest record. Steam is also a Western based game platform. Chinese have their own gaming platform.
Because it's cool to talk bad about China ...
Spot on
Communist China, who desperately wants you to equate the Party Dynasty with the entire concept and destiny of China. You don't hear so much flak about the other Chinese ethnostate Taiwan.
Not anymore...
The sinophobia really sucks
it's "cooler"
People usually forget that some of the coolest features of Japanese and Korean culture came from China. Calligraphy, architecture, temples, confucianism, taoism, martial arts, tea, noodles, you name it, they're all from China.
@@taiwanstillisntacountryTao is the ultimate protection. It's what keeps the middle kingdom chugging along while the west keeps attacking all to shoot itself in the foot everytime.
Sinophobic people will say it's the other way around
These type of culture developed and preserved well in China，the Main stream media just didn’t portray China in that way, they have been biased for a quiet long time. That is nothing to do with real Chinese .
These type of culture developed and persevered well in China， they just did not portray China in that way, they don’t want people to know other aspects of China， simplely biased
Most of the Korean culture that is considered cool is Korean modern culture, which is strongly influenced by American culture.
What is the definition of “cool” ? The answer depends on culture as well as personal value. The young people’s obsession with being “cool” declines substantially as they age especially as their age reaches the 30s and beyond. Essentially, whatever is consider “cool” , it is but as ephemeral as youth.
If cool is getting tattooed and into fights and crime, that sh!t needs to stay in the youth. Most those makeup wearing loser have crap jobs and age much faster later in life, marrying another loser and getting a divorce.
the concept of cool was created by the 'rebellious' youth post WW2 ( the boomers as it were LOL) to differentiate themselves from the older generation. it carries the implication of something that is the antithesis of old, traditional and stuffy. the problem with it is, the 'creators of cool' themselves become 'uncool' when they get older. look the boomers. they were the original rebels back in the 60s fighting against the older generation for fkg up the world but have become the very image of those they fought.
Japanese and Korean towns are hip and trendy places for young people to hang out. Chinatown across the country, not so much.
Anime and K-pop.
While China has.. communism. Defintely NOT cool. 😆
Dont worry even Korean culture is not their own its basically imported western culture. Chinese maintaining its culture is good.
Worrying about whether or not other people think you’re cool is not cool.
It is a life and death issue when youre the least popular in the world though. Being ostracized makes life insanely difficult. You don’t have to go through this so you don’t understand
You’re correct. But I don’t think they’re worrying about it. It’s a channel to analyze these topics. Are you new?
How the US wages economic war on countries all around the world
ua-cam.com/video/qYUq_9XlQs0/v-deo.html
@@letisriva8581 my comment was a general observation for the sake of discourse, not a direct criticism of the video. Do you have an actual opinion on the matter?
@@bigheadrhino Chinese people generally don't care that much about it, Indians on the other hand are obsessed with it always spamming under the comments to seek validation
Chinese culture is cool because it’s a mix of ancient traditions and modern trends that have shaped the world. With over 5,000 years of history, you get everything from delicious food like dim sum and Peking duck to amazing martial arts like Kung Fu. Festivals like Lunar New Year are full of color and fun, with fireworks and family gatherings. China also gave us game-changing inventions like paper and the compass. Plus, traditional medicine with acupuncture and herbal remedies is still popular today. On top of all that, modern Chinese movies, fashion, and apps like TikTok are making waves globally.
Yep, and Japanese and Korean culture give us rape anime and men with cosmetic surgery.
frankly every culture is a mix of ancient and modern, so every culture is cool. i think China is cool because it follows its own tunes and is unwilling to play jester to the crowds. dats the coolest part about it and wat rlly differentiates the country from others, that it walks its own path and has ability to do so.
Its not just Chinese culture...
For westerns, only Korean and Japanese cultures are cool.
No one think Chinese, Thai or other asian cultures are cool...
I would say Thailand is moving up the charts and is starting to develop soft power via tourism, cuisine, Muay Thai, the recent spike of Thai content on Netflix etc. China will always be hamstrung by its regime and its desire to control narratives and that just isn't cool to anyone, including Chinese people themselves.
It's because of the music, anime, and other media both countries release. Hollywood also played a major role in English becoming so popular. China and Taiwan still severely lacks this
Pls be specific- you guys are talking about Chinese American culture but not Chinese culture- very different and nobody gives a f. Also do you really think the western media will picture China in a cool way?
Yup. The Olympics was a good example.
they won't. haha!
even as a chinese american, i admit abc culture is not cool at all- lmao... however, China is cool :D
What's the similarities and differences between the two?
The Western Media? Nowadays, they are the definition of NOT COOL.
I lived for a few years in mainland China and I would say that the major reason chinese pop culture is not widely known in the west is because China is not foreign tourism friendly as Japan, Korea, Thailand, HK. Its very hard to walk around without a basic knowledge of mandarin. Also its kinda hard to get a tourism visa depending on your country. In the other hand, you dont even need a visa to stay up to 3 month in many asian countries.
Also the fact that all the cultural products (movies, music, tv shows etc) must be approved by the government censorship destroys the freedom of expression, and only things that please the "old uncles" and the party rules get approved.
I have a friend has started learning Mandarin last to prepare his trip to Canada next year. And he’s been doing research about different provinces to choose his destinations. I believe he will have a different experience than you.
@fabi, I think you are the one whom have been left behind about China. You need to update your knowledge on China pal.
Censorship can sometime promote a lot of creativity. No censorship means a lot of garbage. At the end of the day, cultural influence comes only after economic rise, everything else is just excuses.
Japan wasn't tourist friendly until the Olympics and that was just Tokyo. Go anywhere else, and it's basically Japanese only except for like airports and train stations.
Not anymore for VISA problems, China now have visa-free for 144 hours of travel for most western countries.
I think the Chinese and Chinese American need to do a better job in marketing their modern popular culture like Korean/Korean Americans and Japan/Japanese Americans do. Because even though all those countries have unique ancient culture, you can’t just rely on that alone in this modern climate! The Japanese do an excellent job in marketing the old and the new! Look at all the tourists visiting Kyoto! It can be done!
They need to create their own music genre to influence the world and promote their culture freely
I agree somewhat w this sentiment. As much as ABC blame motherland for Chinese culture not being cool, it’s also the Chinese diasporas in the West that are not contributing too! Little do people know K-pop industry all started w Korean Americans or Koreans who studied in US.
Will visit China soon.
Good idea, there will be more tourism there that tends to change if not ruin things.
I'm Singaporean born Chinese. Interested in ancient Chinese history and culture but no interest in modern Chinese culture whatsoever cos it's so much propaganda. And the paid Chinese online trolls only make things worse
Chinese characters are the OG
This is the coolest people and their culture:
1. Refuse to succumb to bullies: When people have to bow down to the biggest bully on the block and his minions, the coolest ones dare to confront the bullies. For example, he beat the 17-nation army led by the big bully back to South Korea, and he pointed at the nose of the Secretary of State of the big bully who launched the trade war and the technology war and said "you are not qualified to claim power advantage over me"...
2. Able to influence the world: Despite the strong opposition of the bullies who were busy bombing and confronting, he was able to call on 150+ countries to join a building and cooperation initiative (BRI).
3. The spirit of self-reliance: When he was excluded from the cooperation of the International Space Station by the bully, he was able to rely on his own technology and economic strength to independently build his own space station. And open it to others.
4. A long and unique culture that remains vibrant: He created ancient languages and characters like the ancient Egyptians; he once thought about philosophy and recited poetry at the same time as the ancient Greeks; he once created a vast empire and corresponding system at the same time as the ancient Romans. Today, when other players in The major four river valley civilizations (or The Six Cradles of Civilization) have disappeared/declined/mutated, he is still an important player in this world, continuing the ancient writing system.
5. Beliefs beyond God: When people were still superstitious about various man-made gods, he already believed that "people can defeat nature or God through unity/wisdom/perseverance".
6. Rebirth from setbacks: After a brief period of backwardness and suffering, today he has restarted some cool things, such as: the exploration on Mars and Far side of the Moon, quantum communication satellites; actively promoting high-speed rail , 5G and satellite smartphones, clean energy, EV, flying EV, drones around the world; cashless society, unmanned docks, unmanned supermarkets and restaurants, robot services ...
......
--The above are still not as cool as animation? OK, the most successful animations and games in the world are being born in large numbers in a new place (with long history). Still not as cool as imitating black music/dance? Maybe someone thinks Italian opera is cooler? Maybe we need to first figure out who and how to define cool.
Google “2024 soft power rankings” -“2024, Global Soft Power Index by BF: 1.USA; 2. United Kingdom; 3.China; 4.Japan; 5.Germany; 6.France; 7.Canada; 8.Switzerland; 9.Italy; 10.United Arab Emirates; ... 15.South Korea; ... "
Korean pop culture started to raise when they became rich. Korean is a rich & developed country now. You don't see much of kpop in US before 2010, because they were not rich before 2010.
No, SK was rich then, it was just overshadowed. I remember this because I was an earlier foreign follower of K-Pop (like BoA and Super Junior early) and was already familiar with Korea well before Gangnam Style hit the scene.
@@doujinflip Gen 1 (HOT, SES etc.) days are still the best! Before it got all watered down.
Kpop is Pop. Industrialized entertainment. Nothing real about it. All put together like a puzzle. It's one of the only things they can export so they spend on that.
We Indonesian enjoy Korean Pop since 2002 after World Cup
Modern KPOP is also made to be exported (the opposite of JPOP which is made for Japanese domestic consumption but accidentally became popular globally) and the SK government embraces it as a mean to project SK's soft power.
The Chinese Communist Party limits the growth of Chinese pop culture. The Chinese culture in Hong Kong is being tapped down by the Communist in the last 20 years. Hong Kong film and canto pop culture was free to grow until about 2000. What survives is Singapore and Taiwan Chinese pop culture... I agree (1)(2) Exporting culture work when there is an affluent culture to sell. @10:00 Traditionally China is an empire with many ethnic groups (4) @12:00 Chairman Mao was trying to bring the PRC society to be militarily economically and politically competitive with the Western World - and Mao was questioning what basic parts of Chinese culture was holding back the modernization of China. The CCP picked Mandarin because it was easier to pronounce with only 4 tones so it was easier to teach nationally. Japanese Language has a phonic alphabet aka Hiragana and borrows from the Chinese language with Japanese Kanji.
It's all political. If you bring up anything Chinese and just say it's Taiwanese or Japanese and the western people will fawn over it.
Chinese is super cool
It’s mostly because of geopolitics. When I actually started consuming Chinese culture more I actually thought it was pretty cool.
People often confuse being popular with being cool. For young people, being cool means BTS, Blackpink, K-dramas, and Japanese anime-not kung fu and Chinese food. Having a long history doesn't necessarily make something cool. However, Chinese people in the comments seem to be confused about what coolness actually is.
Tech way they use tech in china is cool, makes me in Europe feel like we been stuck in the 2000
Chinese culture is the coolest
maybe for weaboos
Its very underrated. There is a token asian heirarchy in the west. Japan first korea then they look at us chinese, then the southeast asians. Other than that, westerners go HERP DERP THEY ALL CHINESE CUZ THEY LOOK SLANTED EYES
Geopolitics bruh. It’s all about the Geo
Finally. It's not about culture at all. Purely geopolitics and propaganda.
I think *Black Myth: Wukong* is a major first step to opening up Chinese culture to the West.
Are the Chinese likable?
Thats the question.
so so likeable
Cos each time you think Chinese, you think of the CCP. This is especially so in Hongkong and Taiwan circles.
America just dont let china look cool
Still can’t believe FUNG BROS said Hanfu is a FOB style. Most people don’t even know what Hanfu is. I wouldn’t say Kimono is a FOB style lol
Cool Chinese cultural icons: Chinese philosophy Sun Tzu's Art of War and the 36 Stratagems. Chinese Traditional Medicine/Acupuncture. Chinese Kites. Chinese cuisine. Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration. Giant Pandas. Chinese ceramic. Chinese Tea. Chinese silk.... cool stuff is what is fun sellable and shareable.... Chinese mainland censorship can be bypassed in Taiwan, Singapore, and overseas.
but hey , taiwanese is not chinese race
@@hink0027wtf, it's a province
@@nomoreyt00As a Chinese I can say that Taiwan is its own country. China is already huge enough, western China should be its own country as well.
@@hayabusa1329 this from someone who names himself after a Japanese plane that invaded China. Think what you want, colonialist. The law on both the province and the mainland says it is China. That carries more weight than your petty opinion. Enjoy your sinking country.
@@hink0027 Singapore and Taiwan is connected by language and culture but isn't censored like China.
Coolness is a intrinsic quality an individual/culture/nation emanates and what others perceive as cool/stylish and want to follow and/or be a part of. Two key factors of this are that it emanates, not shouting at top of their lungs about how great they are. The other is that other people are the ones who deem you "cool", not yourself. When Chinese try so hard to be cool when they are not, people get turned off. The world has no time for uncool attitude/behaviors that emanates.
For us Indonesian (Fellow Asian here) Chinese culture is very important since antiquity. Chinese people, especially Hokkianese and Hakkanese have made contact with south east asia people through trading since Tang dynasty...They influenced our culture too
Hokkianese and Hakkanese are living in Indonesia until today and making significant important contribution to our economy
We also enjoy Hongkong movies since 90s and it is the part of our childhood, and we love their actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Andy Lau and Donny Yen
When Black Myth Wukong was launched and later hyped globally, we are not surprised with it because we already know the story Journey to The West since our childhood
Many argued that whtat is really Chineses culture the truth is Chinese people don't really hold on to traditions. We chinese are actually good at creating cultures and we adapt quickly so our race is able to keep on going to be one day the top of the world. Survive is always the priority.
china was poor for a long time... also, the west mocks china. the west helps japan & korea but they must submit to the west.
@@raymonddon8875 China is where it is today not without Western investment, trade, technology. Mocking is distasteful regardless of what person or country does it. China arcing and behaving little different than the US did last century.
@@Elephant_King_Gj the west (UK & russia USA, germany, etc) did alot of harm to china. land grab, opium wars, boxer rebellion, etc.
as a chinese i disagree with you. chinese people hold on to traditions. the fact that our tradition and culture stretches back more than 5000 years proves that we have been holding on our culture and traditions for a long long long time compared to most. how much has europe held on to from the roman empire? i agree that the chinese are good at 'creating culture'. for most of chinese history, the chinese have exported their knowledge and culture they created more than they imported. THIS actually became a problem because of the middle kingdom mentality when the chinese refused to acknowledge and ignored the cultures and civilizations from outside china when the european civilization developed faster and came to china with their guns and weapon which the chinese had no answer for. it is only in the last couple of centuries that the chinese diaspora started to spread around the world and these 'overseas' chinese learned to adapt and learn from other cultures. as for china, mao's cultural revolution again shut off china from the rest of the world for a long long. it was only after his death that china opened up again. by that time, china had fallen far behind many of the major powers in the world. credit however must be given to the chinese for adapting quickly to the changes, because more than one billion people had to change.
I grew up in America watching a lot of films out of Hong Kong. So I always felt Kung Fu and other martial arts were very cool.
Many famous films showcasing Chinese themes (ie. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) showed off how wire work could make martial artist appear to have ancient mystical powers.
Films like Curse of the Golden Flower put focus cultural beauty that really impressed me.
The Chinese and Japanese calligraphy are just 2 styles of Chinese calligraphy, the Japanese one is in the "grass script" which originated in China. Its not a "Japanese style calligraphy"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive_script_(East_Asia)
Tbh David is no expert on Chinese anything, and the dude regularly somehow finds a way to hype up the west and talk shit on Asia.
@@Drownedinblood yeah actually both of them sound very ignorant about a lotta things, not just chinese related. They especially have a very shallow understanding of their own culture and tend to oversimplify everything. I think the problem is most ABCs cannot read Chinese so its very hard for them to have a deep understanding of Chinese culture so they're really not that much better than an average American when it comes to understanding Chinese culture.
@@dsong2006 I can't really read it either. I just read up on it anyway I can and was exposed to chinese shows early on, especially historical ones.
There are lots of things I disagree with in this video. Listing everything would be too time consuming so I"ll just point some things:
China isn't cool because here in the west, we are constantly bombarded with anti-communist propaganda. Also the 1900s was once of the most devastating times in Chinese history and was marked by over 50 years of war that sent the entire country to poverty. China is the size of a continent and had the largest population at that time, so it was always going to be a challenge to lift a country out of poverty.
3:30 ABCs don't care about analyzing why China isn't cool and only mainlanders think of this. I disagree. Asian Americans spend a lot of time thinking about Asian American identity and why we aren't cool. Just take an Asian American studies class and you can have whole lectures on Asian American identity. Asian American media, such as this channel talks about this topic a lot. Its just a lot of Asian Americans and ABCs don't have the historical knowledge and context to properly analyze this topic outside of the American liberal framework.
5:40 South Korea was very poor but has a crazy come up in the past 30, 40, 50 years. That is incorrect. South Korea was poor up until the 1980 when they began to modernize. Reason being was that the US halted Japans economic development and sent electronics R&D and manufacturing to South Korea. Kpop culture was popular in Asia in the early 2000s and it only became popular in the US and the rest of the world in the past 10+ years. It took nearly 2 decades after fully industrializing before S. Korea was able to export its pop culture.
5:48 I don't know if being poor is enough to explain why China isn't cool. You are wrong here. Culture and influence is tied to economics. Historically was very popular to the point that European traders were always trying to find a way to get to China (aka Columbus). When there is a strong middle class, it means there are people who can spend their money on cultural goods and experience.
6:09 But China was always China. With or without the west. That is also incorrect. Historically, China has always been open to outside influences. Moreso than Japan and Korea. Because China is landlocked, China had access to the silk road and was always trading with the west. Even during the Ming and Qing dynasty, China had an entire diplomatic system with countries in East and South East Asia. An the last empress of the Qing dynasty even had fascinations about Europeans. During the Republican era, Chinese artists were going to Japan and France to study art, etc.
15:40 You guys know the word for hanzi in Japanese (Kanji) and but then you never use the Chinese pronunciation for this word and instead call it Chinese characters. Just call it hanzi. This is why Chinese things isn't cool, cuz Chinese people and ABCs suck at branding things. Instead of a Chinese dragon, it should be called a Loong. Fermented bean curd should be called dofu and not tofu. At least in 2024, the Chinese have figured out that you should call Son Wukong by his Chinese name and not just the Monkey King or Monty the Magic Monkey.
I am Korean, and in the case of Korea it was less about economics and more about censorship. Up until the 1980s music and movies where heavily censored to cater the needs/wants of the government. We had the first "real" presidential election in 1993, putting an end to the dictatorship.
I think one of the problems with Chinese is that from the perspective of foreigner, it sounds too harsh and unpleasant to listen to.
In contrast, Korean and Japanese sound sophisticated and cute when heard.
Chinese comes off as aggressive and kind of irritating. There are likely many reasons why Chinese music cannot become as famous as K-pop, but I think one of them is the language.
Dude they were famous before Korean around Asian country only. Most of us know some Chinese song.
Chinese is harsh? You have not heard Arabic. That's a harsh language.
Chinese language sounds very irritating and funny. That's why people everywhere makes fun of the Chinese language. The language itself will not be suitable for pop, rock or rap music like Korean or Japanese
CPOP is completely identical to KPOP...Chinese singers have plastic surgery to look exactly like Korean singers...CPOP copied everything from KPOP. The only thing it couldn't copy is the language.
JPOP is nowhere close to KPOP, the only reason KPOP is famous is because they imitate hip hop from the 90s
I think Chinese culture and their stuffs are cool, yep sometimes the uncool could be cool as well. Looking back a long history of theirs, they are just going through another booming era.
I see this issue from a different perspective. (I am 100% Chinese) The Chinese culture itself was never ever about coolness, or being cool. The culture is focused on prestige passing through generations. Chinese culture has a purpose of its own, that is, Through the filtering of time and history, to keep the essence and discard the dregs, 取其精华去其糟粕。That's why we have the Art of War, Taoism, Confucius, 4 great inventions, Journey to the West, the Romance of Three Kingdom, so on and so on, our ancestors left for us. So at any given time, the Chinese culture is still keeping that spirit, even today, 取其精华去其糟粕, we observe the western culture, Japanese culture, Korean culture, or even Indian culture maybe, and take their essence, learn the best part of them, then keep evolving. That is the TRUE Chinese culture. It's never meant to be cool, but to best ourselves.
"Through the filtering of time and history, to keep the essence and discard the dregs, 取其精华去其糟粕" Good aspiration, but like Google's motto "don't be evil" during Startup period, it is now part of the Wall Street machine. This is all parts of the rise and fall of empires. Nothing last forever.
@@MonaGee98 you are absolutely right, all empires rise and fall, even the US empire today, will fall at some stage. However, unlike the Romans and/or other ancient empires, China lived, and inherited its civilisation continuity. That's the purpose of Chinese culture. China maybe will fall in another 150 year or so, but the civilisation will live.
Exactly, can you eat “ coolness”? Can you become stronger, thrive or feel fulfilled by being “cool”? Not really.
"HEY... CHINA STILL COOL"
IMO one "cool" modern thing about China is that it is one of the few countries that were formerly invaded/imperialized that is thriving and dominating. It has regained its own identity and confidence and is bold about its culture whether you like it or not, and it's pretty impressive if you think about it. I personally love how philosophical Chinese culture is and I enjoy having it enrich my worldview growing up here in the states.
my (probably problematic) opinion is....China is hand's down definitively cool...But, it is not coming from the West and so there are just vast cultural differences where the two spheres just don't get each other. Like politeness in how you act is considered different, for one, and so when people from the two cultures interact, it's as likely to go as wrong as right....leading to problems. I think the same could be said at the nation state level too. I think, of all the eastern cultures...in someways the new china is the most like the West...I think just give it some time...we'll all blend into a big global cultural mix....Pour Over coffee and Boba shops everywhere!!
You're trying too hard.
Even outside the West, people don't look up to China for culture. They say "China is becoming rich", yes. They don't say "China is the center of pop culture".
Chinese are viewed upon as sort of the "default Asian," so we aren't really super cool, but not thought of too badly either (prior to all the recent hate).
It’s kind of like that viral video where the girl was talking about dating Chinese guys. We are just neutral. Not too high, not too low.
On the commerce side, most of the "East Asian” businesses in the States are run by Chinese diaspora, or partially involve Chinese. When you think of the “Asian” strip mall, chances are, it's mostly Chinese, with a smattering of other ethnicities. The mall itself is likely anchored by a 99 Ranch or a local Chinese supermarket, with a variety of different Chinese regional cuisines, and of course, boba shops.
Of course, there is K-town, Japantown, etc., but those are quite miniscule in number compared to the amount of Chinese malls.
There is basically at least one if not more Chinese restaurant in every small yokel town in America, if not the world, and if there is a sushi shop or KBBQ, it's likely owned by Chinese.
lol, "default Asian". (kind of true, though)
CPC not CCP
Correct! CCP is the term used by the Western propaganda machine.
Same
@@刘卫皇-v2j Not the same. CCP is term coined by the Wes*tern* ant1-Ch1na propaganda to invoke correlation to the Soviet (CCCP) red scare. Sinister!
CCP is the standard journalism acronym to avoid ambiguity with a political party in Canada. China uses CPC in its English official documents
China will be cool very very soon, I guarantee it! Visa free entries and WuKong is probably the first cool step. And when they start building that moon base??!!
Yep, China plans and builds cool stuff. While abcs can't leave the house without makeup, and when they do they spend the night smelling like beer burp.
I just can't see them offering visa free access
I also think that Chinese culture may not be as popular in the west is also because and mainly due to the CCP
Well, just watch, CCP is about to bring Chinese culture back to the world stage after all.
All politics. Chinese culture is cool but the spread of their culture is somehow not allowed due to the media blockage and skewed Sinophobia by nato
Chiense goods from Chinese brands:
1. DJI - the best drone company in the world.
2. Roborock - the best robotic vacuum company in the world
3. BYD - the biggest ev manufacturer
4. Hisense - considered one of the best TV makers in the world
5. Huawei - the biggest telecoms provider - leader in 5G
6. ICBC - worlds largest bank is a Chinese bank
7. Tencent - worlds largest video game company
Just cause you're not invited doesn't mean there isn't a party happening.
JJ needs to the drop the "aboot" lol
every culture in the world are all cool , but only the rich nations interest most of people and get their attentions
people just not giving Chinese stuff a chance. Chinese music, drama, games, history, culture, clothes, stories etc the list goes on and on are all awesome! I love Chinese stuff.
Japanese tradition and popculture is always interesting. Every era japan have something new. Chinese meh it just mediocre compare to japan and korea. China only focus on ancient traditions.
They need to create their own music genre to influence the world and promote their culture freely
@男99999 yeah, they should sing in English if they want to go globally they need to face the reality that English is world domination language when it comes to pop culture
They don't need to do a dang thing to appease white people. @@leroi5342
Chinese music is imitating KPOP. Except for the language, it is completely the same as KPOP. For Chinese music to be successful, it will have to sing in English or Korean.
Hello from Singapore! My 2 cents on this- i think Japan and Korea are more easily accepted by the west because their countries were 'colonised' by the US post WW2 /post Korean war and American culture was actively exported there. They then assimilated and came up with their own versions of Japanese and Korean pop cultures, which became successful internally before being exported worldwide. I think these 2 countries were more easily able to export their soft culture but interestingly, their economic growth was often cut short at crucial times whenever the US felt threatened. I think there's something to that idea of China being poor. but i think it's also China was not "colonised" in the same way after a major war. , and even post 2000's when America began to actively 'invest' in China (maybe in the hope of colonising their economy?), I felt there is a strong sense of China's always asserting its own identity. Even in Sg, when I was growing up, there was and still is a strong effort to de-link the "China identity" but preserve the "Chinese identity". Growing up, there was always a big admiration and consumption of American culture amongst my peers - it's like everyone wanted to go to America. Now, maybe, not so much. anyway. 2 cents worth. thanks for sharing your thots on the struggles of Chinese diaspora!
Is China considered “cool” among fellow Singaporeans? How about Southeast Asia in general? Are the young ones there clamoring to visit Shanghai like they do w Tokyo/Seoul?
@@kimckawatbh feelings are kinda mixed. Singers like Jackson Wang are v popular, and lots of ppl watch C drama. Food like mala is also v popular. But local students in schools see Chinese foreign students as competition and you can also hear a lot of unkind comments /generalizations about the mainland Chinese. I think the showboatng types are generally resented
"Cool" is a framework established to cater to a specific ppl. As China get more powerful, it will become top G cool rather than a street fashion cool (ie japan, korea)
Y’all make the best traditional music and y’all make the best food. Y’all’s traditional drip is something else. Architecture on point. I just love Chinese culture
I appreciate you guys trying to tackle the subjects that you do. However, your perspectives are very US - centered. Please continue to travel and listen to person from Asian, African, Latin American countries to gain a broader perspective.
Just like now most Asians don't consider US cool. We consider US to be a bandit nation (and this is very uncool since criminals are considered the lowest class in human hierarchy). Americans may deny and try to consold themselves by giving themselves 'cooler' titles like exceptionalism but still it is self-bestowed title.
They cater to their audience, which is likely mostly Asian Americans.
@@letsgowalknot really, it's a video in English language so it's to appeal to Asians born or residing in Anglophone countries.
I know Go not from China, but from Japan to where it has spread to. I really liked the anime+manga of Hikaru no Go as a kid. Additionally it got back on my radar when AlphaGo by DeepMind beat Lee Sedol, because before that point people didn’t think it was possible for computers to beat humans at Go.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)
But Japan is not that good in Go. Korea is probably the best. 2nd is China and Japan is a distant 3rd.
from China
Basically, JJ McCullough is saying China is not cool because it is communist and does not have its own personal, private brands.
BYD, DJI, Huawei disagree..
@@Drownedinblood All of these brands are backed by the CCP to get them off the ground at first. But these companies are never traded on the international stock market.
Someone robbed you, then they say u r poor. Well said
@@Drownedinblood all banned in USA lol
I think chinese culture was always very cool, what are people talking about. Maybe its not cool specifically in the USA because of sinophobism, but the hanfu culture, the douyin tiktok memes and dances, chinese culture depicted is modern games like genshin impact, popular products like commercial drones like DJI or smartphones where it is not banned like Huawei, Xiaomi or OnePlus, you name it. China was always cool, but people in the US not actively searching for it, is their loss.
Chinese calligraphy is super cool IMO. Their culture/history is also rich and complex. Lots of eastern and southeast cultures are heavily influenced by it.
Singapore have very cool Chinese lion and dragon dance troupes that often showcase their award winning skills at the malls during Chinese New Year period. One of our local troupe (YiWei Athletic) even won the 14th Genting world lion dance championship in 2023, outperforming 36 teams from around the world!
The cultural revolution did more damage than the A bombs did in Japan. Two tragedies that shaped the current culture of Asia.
Y’all didn’t know how down China was prior to the Cultural Revolution. They got colonized(albeit never 100%) by the British for 200 years. And in that time the British started the Opium Wars in which they pushed drugs/Opium onto the Chinese to destabilize the country. It got so bad that China for a long time became the statistical drug death capital in the world and it wasn’t even close. Even the Empress of China during this time was a full blown addict. This lead to mass poverty and mass famine in China as well as overall dysfunction due to the drug epidemic(maybe the worst in human history).
Second, the Japanese colonized China. Japan was going so hard on China through mass genocide, mass rape, human experimentation(of live babies even), that Nazi Germany who was Allie’s of Imperial Japan told Japan to chill out that they were doing too much in China. Nazis thought Japanese Imperialism was too extreme.
The Cultural Revolution came after as all the different groups in China needed to unify to become stronger TO defend against future colonizers. That was the top priority of the Cultural Revolution but you never see it highlighted especially in Western education because even the US tried to colonize China at one point in time. Yes, there were flaws with the Cultural Revolution as there are in any large social change. But what did it accomplish in 1-2 generations? Lifted 800 million out of extreme poverty. Went from #1 in drug related death statistics IN THE WORLD(by a long shot too) to now not even making the list. Eliminating most violent crime and creating a safe environment for civilians. Not only eliminated famine/hunger but became one of the largest suppliers of agriculture/produce for the world.
People like you need to learn to take the good with the bad when it comes to China.
Yeah, the Communist Party has destroyed so much of its tradition.
The Communist destruction of culture was a big reason why Imperial Japan opted to surrender to the Americans while the Home Islands were still whole, rather than fight to the bitter end and give the Soviets a chance to start erasing core Japanese culture wherever they eventually establish their occupation.
Considering how North/South Korea and Taiwan/Mainland China ultimately ended up, this was a most wise decision.
Over estimate of the cultural revolutions damage. It’s bad, but not as bad as people make it out to be. It did traumatize a lot of people, but the culture and political damages it caused except people died (unfortunately) were mostly able to be corrected since. The most prestigious and valuable culture inheritance has never been lost during that event. For one, the museums, libraries and important culture sites have never been touched during culture revolution.
5000 years old culture is so deep rooted that it’s not that fragile. 😅
Some of the most important archeological excavations and preservations in modern China actually happened during the culture revolutions. The biggest damage to Chinese culture in the past two hundred years is the imperialistic exploitation done to China from the imperialistic powers, and the poverty and the non-stoping wars followed that robbed Chinese the mental and materialistic resource to preserve and develop Chinese culture.
What do you expect with the total mudslinging of China by Western media? China is different from Japan & Korea who were America's vassals. No matter how popular Japanese & Korean's cultural export is, they can never be politically independent from America. Japan & Korea knew who is their boss. But, China is different, a country that America can't bend the knees of China like how the heavenly court can't bend the knees of Wukong of the game Black Myth Wukong. America will never allow the world to like the Chinese culture.
true , SK and japan are US slave . nothing more
Yes. Countries accepting US military bases will be portrayed 'popular' or 'cool' by Western media and business industry.
People don't care about unattractive things. There is no other reason. If China keeps making attractive things like Black Myth Wukong, people will love it.
China is poppet of western countries. Cant even assemble your huawai smartphones without them😂
1.Chinese culture is based on Chinese characters, which most foreigners do not understand.
2. The Chinese government's control of speech, ideological control and other measures make cultural products less attractive.
As a Southeast Asian, Chinese culture was once a huge influence in our culture as we were greatly influenced by ancient China (take note of this) and a lot of Chinese culture has trickled down to our own especially on cuisine, technology and even some of our words. Chinese diaspora helped the influence seep in our general culture. I think most of these Chinese influence from its old days are cool. The current Chinese government, makes modern Chinese culture uncool to support our country's stance in terms of our geopolitical tensions.
China is very diverse. I’m from northwest part of the country and can hardly relate to the Chinatown culture in western countries at all.
chinatown in US mostly build by hongkong immigrant
Chinese classics /drama series are so beautiful and cool. I feel like many ABCs without such experience have missed out a lot.
Noodles came from China and I think having noodles are really cool. Everyone in the world are enjoying their version of noodles (pasta). Chinese food in China is super cool !!!
In the west most the westerners heard Chinese people speaking Cantonese. I like the Cantonese people but the language is not at all appealing and they make fun of it and they think all Chinese speakers are speaking Cantonese.
On the other hand Mandarin is so beautiful and it’s one of the most pleasing languages in the world !!!
South Korea's coolness is a relatively recent thing with the internationalization of Kpop coinciding with their advancement to 'first world' status. There was a time in the not too distant past that Korean products were viewed even more unfavourably than unfavourably viewed Japanese products in the west.
Chinese calligraphy of traditional Chinese character is cool, not simplified Chinese, even non-Chinese / ABCs / CBCs should know the difference, there is a lot of history in TRADITIONAL Chinese character, not so with SIMPLIFIED Chinese
In response to JJ Mcculough's comment:
- A poor past like JJ says is definitely one factor,
but what he miss is: not having creative freedom (being persecuted to have any "non-approved" opinions) is two big factor.
- Doing things on behalf of the West, i.e. not exporting anything genuinely Chinese is spot on.
Incorporating Chinese elements with Minions is at least cute and funny, highlighting Chinese elements that have the potential to become cool-er.
Here are other factors that negatively impact coolness:
1) The conservatism, mostly from Confucius thoughts is a big part of eliminating any "coolness".
(Chinese philosophy is not just Confucianism, but they all have been downplayed for thousands of years)
Case in point, I remember there is so many Western made videos using image of old men / women when talking about China, this literally destroyed any coolness - which is usually associated with youth and vitality
2) The lack of cultural identity - Other cultures that's considered cool often have a very deep sense of their own culture, .. this is the very thing that's missing with many Chinese today in the West or in the East.
3) Negative impact of the cultural revolution: It did so much damage, it literally cut present Chinese off from their own past and cultural identities, which destroyed any potential to be cool.... we need a sense of cultural identity before becoming cool
4) Kung Fu - is one of the things that preserves a lot of traditional Chinese culture, and successfully appeal to Western audience now, so a coherent cultural identity + money + creative freedom is definitely the sources of coolness.
In response to wat you say in the video: I feel the only "bragable" things about Chinese culture now is Kung Fu
So Kung - Fu Panda, Kung - Fu Hammer Phil is at least cute, going towards "coolness".
pt2 is spot on. It seems modern Chinese identity revolves around “century of humiliation”/victimization narrative
Culture, including Chinese culture, is not a static thing. Even 2,200 years ago, much of Chinese culture was censored and banned and burned and executed to make way for the Qin Dynasty. This is the norm, not the exception. We pick and choose the culture to keep and the culture to replace.
I don't know what or how people define cool. What I see in San Francisco Bay area are the Chinese culture things are in beded to their daily life. Kung Fu, taichi, accuputure, Chinese medicine. Chinese word for tattoo, dragon boat racing. The video game base on the Three kingdoms started from the 90s. The none Chinese are using those. Just not talking about them, it could be the political with CCP. Also China is big, with lots of different ways of celebrating. And we don't care if other people want to use them. Like preserve vegetables, noodles
It’s because they don’t present it in a cool way. Japan would be in the same boat if anime didn’t exist.
Pandas aren't fierce animals?
Dude thats a bear.
Bears are fierce.
I wouldn't use the word cool but instead mainstream. Japanese culture wasn't mainstream until Nintendo made it over to North American shores. Then came the toys and anime. This was a time when Japan became richer as Japanese cars became more popular in the late 70s and especially the 80s. Then came the food and music in the 80s when artists started incorporate western tunes like funk, rare groove and hip hop like City Pop genre and Japanese street culture. K-Pop and K-Drama only became popular 2003 in Asia and mainstream in 2012 spreading worldwide. Mainly because population became richer thanks to tech and semiconductors (Samsung, LG, Hynix, Navar etc.) R&D and manufacturing. Music started to incorporate some western tunes like rap and hip-hop while K-Drama started to incorporate more risque, sex, violence, conflicts in their stories that the West are accustomed to. I agree with much of what was said from this video and the guy from Canada. Both Japanese and Korean culture became “cool” or mainstream was mainly due to the country getting richer and in "tune" with the West.
As for China, they have been poor and closed for much of last century. But you will see more of Chinese culture becoming more popular, first if more people travel to China and see it with their own eyes what China is really like. There are tones of new YT videos this past year of travel vlogs and how they have been lied to by the West. Very funny actually. Pop culture wise, maybe will be something new and different and not in the “tune” of the West. Maybe something that isn’t woke/dei like the recent Black Myth: Wukong video game. Looks like people now are starting to get tired of woke/die agendas being forced down people’s throat trough media, movies and video games. For now, I only see China’s different types of food from different regions being first to be popular in the West. Maybe?
They make a lot of our products and I noticed the quality is getting better. That’s Cool!!!
To see if Chinese pop culture is cool or not, please watch a recent Chinese drama series 长歌行 (The Long Ballard)
China has over 5000 years of history. Of which, China has always gotten back to being the Superpower from ruined.
The Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty around 130 BCE, was the beginning of East/Asia/Orient and West trade; and remained in use until 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. Christopher Columbus voyages (1492-93, 1493-96, 1498-1500, and 1502-04) in search of a route to Cathay(China) and India to bring back gold and spices that were highly sought in Europe.
My ancestors - Hoisanese台山人, /Toisanese/Taishanese Chinese, who have been in America since at least the 1800s, called ourselves Tang people唐人, not Chinese 中國人. That is to say, my ancestors have been travelling the world since at least the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). Tang people唐人 is still being use in all Chinatowns唐人街 in America today.
Most southeast Asian born Chinese also called themselves 唐人。
Yes, most Chinese who leave China before CCP even exist (before 1912) all address themselves The 'Tang' ppl. It is all the same for Chinese in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore. That's why we refuse to call our ‘’Tang Town‘’(唐人街）as 'China Town'(華人街）in Mandarin. Mandarin only gained its popularity 30 years ago.
I think all roads lead to Chinese civilization, they are the original soft power but they have such a long, complicated history and such a big population and geographical size, people have had to survive above all else that the focus was not on how to communicate their culture to the world. It’s been overshadowed by geopolitical issues. It’s such a rich culture that is so varied that most people don’t know how or where to even begin to approach it. But go to China, see how people live and how much they value and preserve the culture and you will see they aren’t interested in you thinking they are cool, they already know it’s cool and that’s good enough for them.
The geopolitical tensions between China, the West, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and Korea makes them look uncool. Even though Chinese Culture is actually cool.
its been cool for too long without doing something new. Chinese and Kung Fu were "anime" before anime. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Bolo Yeung, Rush Hour, the 5 venoms, Kung Fu soccer, etc. So, similar to how anime will be lame when our children are in their 20s/30s, similar to how Reggae Music is nowhere as big as it was in the 60s/70s, so is Chinese culture.
I think JJ's opinion that people don't care about poor people is completely on point. Sure, Korea used to be poor just a few decades ago, but that's precisely the point. The explosion in appreciation of Korean culture only started recently, less than 20 or so years ago. South Korea had already been relatively rich at that time for quite soem time.
I think Chinese culture is considered cool, but there's this sense that the CCP counter acts any good that China could do culturally, which is a shame. The PRC is not a perfect country but it's not this evil entity people tend to act like it is either.
As much as I appreciate and enjoy Japanese and Koean history, Chinese history is so much more interesting and expansive due to Chinese civilization having developed a writing system early on to be able to have a written recorded history.
What are the core values of Chinese tradition or any traditions aside from superficial stuff. In my opinion is being "rebellious/defiance" despite what thousand years of sanctified Confucianism and contemporary RED have attempted to suppress. Mao even stated, "rebellion is sound/logical" unless you are against his ruling. Most classic novels and literature are filled w this theme. The monkey king sets up a banner "carry out justice on behave of god/heaven" in defiance of "heavenly jade emperor". Haha.
A chinese team also just won the valorant championships and china got its own wukong and dragon skins
1:17 Domestic production of Chinese manufactured products is increasing *exponentially* [which for China is WARP SPEED] particularly due to the US sanctioning and even prohibiting Chinese products like those from Huawei. Many countries like Germany and other Eastern countries have happily adopted 100% Chinese made products like cars and appliances because they find the quality higher than their own products and the cost is less expensive. People like JJ is not living in the countries in the Eastern hemisphere that are enjoying ad respecting the quality of products coming out of China. Americans, Westerners and Europeans are brainwashed and inundated with lesser quality products from China that are literally being ordered from white men in power to make the products in the first place.
Chinese brand electric cars are blowing it out of the water as some of the best in the world with even heated back seats and features the rest of us have never heard of, with prices that cost less than buying an old used car in the United States. Go China.They are winning world awards left and right in engineering bridges (look it up), ad innovation. Look up the basic train station in the megacities like Shenzen, Chongqing, Beijing. Their train-stations look like futuristic airports.
The United States is shooting themselves in the foot by putting tariffs and banning true Chinese products or China's access to resources. It's encouraging China to do it themselves resulting in them being resourceful and independent of the US-making them stronger than ever.
While I mainly listen to youtube Jpop and Kpop.- I will listen to Chinese-pop cover youtube videos by: SING, Siu Xiaoyi, YaoMaoRen, Milki, Shania Yan
I was 1 year in Shanghai and I have to say these people, parties and their taste is soulless
to be fair that's Shanghai man LOL
@@gambitschema "that's Shanghai" dude, I've also been in Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Sanya, Changzhou, Suzhou and Zhangjiajie...
I think there is so much
Lack of exposure on chinese culture. Even as a chinese american i can say i have not been back for a decade and have my own judgments that are probably super inaccurate. Its grown
And modernized so fast i cant wait to learn more when i schedule a visit !
the reason most in america do not find chinese culture(not ccp culture, but actually chinese culture). is due to chinatowns, etcetera. in a sense you wanna share culture you have to spread out.
I wonder if this is hitting differently now that everyone's on RedNote. You are gonna see some actual unfiltered pop culture there
it definitely is... ive had xhs(aka rednote) for a while before the tiktok refugees and have always been confused as to why people think chinese have no modern culture..but now that they have xhs they finally see all of the amazing creativity and they are very surprised.
It's so modern that u can't obligate it, make western cultures like old
China's culture to Asian countries is like Christianity to the west. you might not like it, but it's in there
I don't know about you but Romance of the Three Kingdoms is something that still excites me after decades of playing their games. Traditional Chinese is neat too.
Just learn some korean and pretend to be korean.. 😅..so much more fun to be korean ...😝
Asiatic black bear, cranes, and Asian dragons are also cool but shared with Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Lion and dragon dancing are cool so is dragon boat racing. Hot pot is cool. Boba and shaved ice are very cool. One last thing instant noodles are Chinese, Ando Momofuku is ethnic Han Chinese from Taiwan.
you guys don't seem to get JJ's point about 'being poor'. It's obvious when the society is poor, they concentrate more on working jobs that put food on the table. they can't afford to spend time and effort on creative stuff like making kpop music or producing kdrama shows or drawing manga and making anime. nor do they have the time and money to spend on entertainment consumption. but when the country develops and the society reaches middle class level, and people have more leisure time, they will start to consume these stuff like buying music, watching movies, reading comics etc. JJ talked about the 'export of... cultural goods' to other countries. it's not about 'poor people' being uncool.