BALANCE of CULTURE

China's Next President to Ink Hollywood Joint Venture

This week much of US political news has been focused on Xi Jinping's official state visit from China. Xi is China's current vice president and heir-apparent.

Xi met with President Obama in the Oval Office, where Xi was approached with a candid welcoming discussion on subjects like a balanced trade flow between the US and China as well as America's commitment to recognizing critical human rights issues.

But Xi isn't leaving for home after DC: he is schedule to visit Los Angeles on Friday to ink a new joint venture between two Chinese media groups and DreamWorks Animation (DWA).

This will be a huge deal for both sides: production studios will be built in Shanghai for China's cinema market, which is the fastest growing in the world: with a growth rate of three screens a day, China is set to be the world's largest cinema market within 10 years.

Hollywood media will be able to infiltrate the spendy and increasingly relevant Chinese film market with less restrictions, a sort of victory in its challenging adaptation to the dwindling global movie market in recent years. Meanwhile, China's role in international film culture will finally expand beyond its state-owned sensibility (though to what extent is still difficult to measure). At any rate, the soft power angles here are undeniable, and both Hollywood and China could use a little sprucing up in terms of global taste anyway.

Xi is expected to become China's president in 2013.

K-pop Behind the Scenes/Soft Power Impact

"If you want to be cute, you have to be very cute. If you want to be sexy, you have to be very sexy." (Typical Korean approach to pretty much everything, isn't it?)

Perhaps (not so) coincidentally this week, I met a couple of women -- one Thai, one Vietnamese -- who were keenly interested in my Korean background, especially when they found out my love for Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese gal even gave insisted on giving me her banker sister's contact info in Ho Chi Minh for my next trip to Vietnam, saying that her sister is obsessed with Korean culture (she's currently learning her 4th language: Korean) and would love to show me around the city.

I was surprised because we had literally just met, but if that isn't a simple and direct result of Korea's growing soft power, please show me what is! I'm far from your typical K-pop fanatic but I'd be straight up lying if I denied seeing the influence that this divisive music genre has had on my interactions with people lately -- which is why this video of the darker K-pop reality is worth a look:



Grueling schedules and tricky contracts, allegations of prostitution and corruption…Al Jazeera goes behind the scenes of the K-pop world, interviewing artists (both well known as well as anonymous) and their "people," a plastic surgeon, "Dr. Music," and others heavily involved backstage. South Korea's soft power push for foreign fans around the world and the seedier parts of the industry are discussed.

China Recognizes Soft Power Challenge

Comedian @ConanOBrien had a funny tweet for his followers this weekend: "As I look around at everything we have, I want to thank the one who makes it all possible: China."

While it's true that China has seriously strengthened its global economic and political influence the past decade, the one category the Communist nation hasn't received a 4.0 in is its soft power. Though so much of the world relies on Chinese manufacturing and products, the influence of worldwide Chinese culture is still in the early stages.

Last year around this time James Fallows published one of the best essays of the year, which quite frankly pointed out how despite China's impressive rise, most people would never want to be actual citizens of China. It's a simple idea but the example really puts the China context into an accurate equation: the country's success is great, but it has quite a lot of issues to work on before people view it as more than just a manufacturing/production system.

Like many people, I have anticipated something like this from the Chinese government for quite some time now…this is exactly what Balance of Culture is about: cultural influence/competition (soft power), ideology, and globalization. This cultural challenge is China's next giant hurdle.

The US v. China cultural see-sawing is kind of like a more au courant offshoot of Samuel P. Huntington's divisive yet prolific "Clash of Civilizations" theory...

 

China's image caught up in a scuffle with actor Christian Bale

Christian Bale is "ranting" again, but this time it's a lot more interesting.

In another high profile blow to China's attempts at a more positive image abroad, Flowers of War star Christian Bale seems to have gotten into a scuffle while trying to visit Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer/human rights activist under house arrest in Beijing.

Bale isn't the only one who has tried to pay Chen a visit -- many have tried to enter the village in which Chen resides, but it usually ends in some kind of physical altercation or downright beating. The guards are not fooling around by any means.

This hardline stance taken by the Chinese government in light of its human rights violations (international artist Ai Weiwei has also served as a spotlight on these issues) surely brings attention to one of the country's main image problems: as China rises politically and economically, so do people's expectations regarding China's social and cultural progression.

While we marvel at China's quick and aggressive upward trajectory, such success doesn't impress as much when it appears to come at a price that disagrees with basic human values. Of course, China certainly isn't the Western democracy that many wish it was (despite its embrace of capitalist money-making), but the equation of its complex history and current context just doesn't seem to add up to any of the petty and unreasonable human rights issues that seem to arise every few months.

What I say here obviously comes from a Western perspective, and we all know the Western hemisphere isn't exactly known historically for its own lack of human rights violations (see Colonization 101) -- but this doesn't mean that any issues cannot be recognized.

At least this is all being documented, whether we're talking about Ai Weiwei, Christian Bale, or the slew of Chinese human rights activists (Wan Yanhai, Zhao Lianhai, and Liu Xiaobo, to name a few) that rarely get as much attention as the aforementioned. This lack of free speech (and some basic other basic freedoms that come easily in the West) isn't a new problem in China, but the documentation of it is rather new.

China wants to enhance its soft power and international cultural reputation abroad, but it may be more of a challenge in the long run than its road to wealth has been.

If Bale's scuffle happened in the US, I'd probably chalk it up to yet another PR ploy for the film. And ultimately, that's probably what this is going to end up being for the most part. But I'll definitely be looking forward to watching Flowers of War; Bale's incident with the Chinese government was probably the best press for any film in a long time!

China enters the Indian Ocean

Instead of opting for the Maldives, it looks like China's first naval base abroad will be set up in nearby Seychelles, a former British colony.

It's a win-win for both nations: Seychelles will benefit from having more support against its constant battles with local pirate attacks and China will have a stronghold deep in Indian Ocean territory that is near formidable India, but not so close to the mainland as the Maldives, which is what many experts thought would be China's first naval base in the region (another reason being that Chinese tourists -- no longer Western ones -- are now who maintain the Maldives' renowned tourism industry).

Interestingly, there is also a small indigenous Chinese population in the Seychelles , so the cultural connection is also an easier equation than that of predominantly Muslim Maldives.

With China increasingly present around Africa, South America, and now the Indian Ocean, their efforts of global influence are, at this point, undeniable. From a hard power standpoint, China is clearly doing the legwork to counter any soft power discrepancies as much as possible. This checkerboard strategy should be a fascinating case study even 10 years from now...

McIndia

We all know that McDonald's isn't the healthiest food around, but that hasn't stopped the iconic food chain from continuing to expand throughout many parts of the globe. India, and especially the nation's youth, has embraced McDonald's warmly, evidenced by the lunchtime mobs trying to place their orders for a Chicken Maharaja Mac or Paneer Salsa Wrap.

The next step in the import of McDonald's into India is, of course, the inevitable threat of "Western" obesity. Since Asia has been targeted as "the hottest area in terms of growth," according to McDonald's India managing director Vikram Bakshi, we can reasonably expect India to follow the steps of China, Korea and Japan in their expanding waistlines thanks to American fast food chains (expect India's current 200 McD's to grow to 1,000 by 2015).

Quite an ironic situation considering India's well known context of malnutrition, poverty, and wealth disparity. Money usually equals food (and often too much of it). In India, 1 in 3 private school students are obese, compared to 1 in 10 in public schools.

KFC is well on its way as well...

The Next Episode in Asian Pop Music

Google isn't alone in paying attention to what's going down in Asian pop culture these days -- just last night, rap icons Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg performed at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards ("MAMA") in Singapore.

The "cornerstones" of West Coast hip hop performed their joint hit "The Next Episode," their first TV performance by the duo in 11 years! The audience was pretty much nuts over them, obviously!

Korean rapper Simon D excitedly tweeted the above photo with Snoop Dogg.

Watch the performance below, the two are definitely considered "old school" but they've still got it going on...

For what it's worth, during the red carpet interview Dr. Dre stated, "It's my first time in Singapore, but it won't be my last!" and when asked if he is listening to any Asian pop music, Snoop responded with K-pop/hip hop girl group "2NE1."

These regional and cultural crossovers are not only a sign of the times, but also an indication of the future. One thing's for sure: these guys are obviously more than welcome in Asia any time!

Yao Ming Continues to Court Chinese Market

Amid all the NBA drama this season, it's good to see that former Houston Rockets baller Yao Ming has been pretty busy since retiring a few months ago.

Ming is now back in his hometown of Shanghai, and very busy -- he's enrolled at Shanghai Jiaotong University, pursuing a timely business plan for Yao Family Wines (his winery based in California), and continuing his charity foundation work, on top of owning the Shanghai Sharks (the basketball team that launched his career).

Once a beverage usually served in a glass of ice in China, serious wine-drinking has certainly captivated much of the Chinese bourgeois and elite in recent years (the vast favorite being French wines). Ming, as one of China's most famous and revered athletes ever, is probably the perfect presenter of Napa Valley style wines for the Chinese market.

Considering he is often credited with introducing the NBA to China -- basketball is now incredibly popular there --Ming's agency between vino and his homeland really seems like a no-brainer! Expect a lot more business ventures coming out of the Yao Ming machine in the future...

(Now that Ming has retired, I wonder how the tallest current NBA player is?)

 

 

Int'l students, especially from China, ♡ America

The 'rise of China' is now a household topic considering the country's rapidly growing hard and soft power, particularly in the last decade.

Vis-à-vis China's rise is also another compelling circumstance to consider: China now sends more college students to study in the US than any other nation in the world!

[Courtesy: Institute of International Education]

The Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report states that international student enrollment from all over the world increased by 5%, led by the +157,000 Chinese college students in America (up by 22% from last year).

Other interesting international student stats:

Top host university: University of Southern California (USC)

Top host state: California

Top host city: New York City

% of female int'l students: 45%

Top fields of study: Business & management; engineering

The US may no longer be the globe's leading manufacturer but clearly the American higher educational system is still one of the most attractive in the world.

However, a lackluster economy is an ill-fitting environment for such a robust arena of colleges -- no wonder so many foreign students head back to innovate their home countries after receiving their degrees in the US!

Yuan Xikun, artist and environmentalist

Yuan Xikun is yet another important and exciting Chinese artist who is extremely well known in his home country but also a familiar face in the international context. Xikun recently opened an exhibit in the Maldives' National Art Gallery and also made a stop in New York City last week for his US exhibit "Two to Three Dimensions: Blend of Contemporary Chinese Art and Western Aesthetic," which was co-hosted by The China Institute in America and E.G.G. Strategic Alliance at the CUE Art Foundation.

"Two to Three Dimensions: Blend of Contemporary Chinese Art and Western Aesthetic" features 25 of Xikun's lauded contemporary paintings and sculptures provided by the Yiyuan Society, which is China's largest private museum. Yiyuan Society's mission isn't simply to showcase art by both established and upcoming artists, but also to promote cross-cultural understanding and international exchanges between China and the rest of the world. The museum highlights both art history as well as contemporary art through its myriad interdisciplinary conservation and education programs.

Xikun, distinguished as both an artist as well as environmentalist, speaker, educator and philosopher, has been heavily involved in the progression of China's pollution control and environmental protection issues for decades. In the 1990s he facilitated an important loan between the World Bank, Yunnan province, and the Kunming Municipal government which went towards Dianchi Lake's pollution efforts and has since been active with multidisciplinary approaches to such public campaigns.

Recently at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Xikun was recognized by UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner with an award for "UNEP Patron for the Arts and Environment."

Xikun's public education of the environment continues all around the world today. The UNEP in Kenya and Beijing Zoo have installed his works to support their own aims at educating the youth and general public on local environmental issues. He continues to exhibit his multidisciplinary work within both museum and institutional walls as well as the public outdoor sphere -- Xikun's upcoming work is a highly anticipated "sand sculpture" in the Maldives, which will be comprised of sand from five different continents and water from the two Arctic Poles. This will surely be an amazing sight to experience!

Be sure to keep up with Xikun's future projects -- he is a substantial figure in art and the environment, as well as a leading creative mind in China's compelling contemporary culture and soft power.

Related:

Fabien Cousteau & Yuan Xikun bring more awareness to the Maldives