this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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中国的最新发展, A place to learn about China, Chinese and China's latest developments, (Reddit's Sino)

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这是一个专门讨论中国、中国文化、中国语言和中国人的论坛。

~This~ ~is~ ~a~ ~forum~ ~dedicated~ ~to~ ~China,~ ~Chinese~ ~culture,~ ~Chinese~ ~language,~ ~and~ ~Chinese~ ~people,~ ~and~ ~China's~ ~latest~ ~developments.~

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需要翻译英文吗?讨厌谷歌?
~Need~ ~to~ ~translate~ ~Chinese?~

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这个论坛目前由一个不会说中文的人主持,他不是共产党员,而是一个反帝国主义、反附庸国的欧盟联邦主义者,他似乎在任何地方都找不到立足点,因为他国家的所有政党都是亲美附庸国的,所以暂时居住在这里。

~This~ ~forum~ ~is~ ~currently~ ~moderated~ ~by~ ~someone~ ~that~ ~does~ ~not~ ~speak~ ~Chinese~ ~and~ ~is~ ~not~ ~a~ ~communist,~ ~but~ ~an~ ~anti-imperialist,~ ~multi-polarist~ ~EU~ ~federalist~ ~that~ ~can't~ ~seem~ ~to~ ~find~ ~a~ ~foothold~ ~anywhere,~ ~as~ ~all~ ~political~ ~parties~ ~in~ ~his~ ~country~ ~are~ ~pro-US~ ~vassal~ ~state,~ ~so~ ~resides~ ~here~ ~for~ ~the~ ~time~ ~being.~

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Bear with me, on this boba liberal's video.

She talks a bit about restriction, censorship, and standardization of exported media by the ebil CCP /s, but rather focuses it on its consequent dullness, on-the-nose approach and cheapening of its media products...

How would you respond to this, point by point? (Sorry if I may sound like I argue in bad-faith)

Additional thanks if you don't rely too much on whataboutism (yes, we can apply the artificial-politics-imposed media label, associated with CPC, on U.S media, like G.I Joe and Rambo, some of them even funded by the Department of Defense)

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, China has lots of 'cool' things, but it is actively suppressed by the media landscape in the west. It should also be noted that China lacks soft power only in western countries. According to the Bennett Institute, China is more popular in the global south than the US.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can see that, but besides hard power like economics and geopolitics, what are some examples of these cool things, if not shared trends and memes? Of course, without too much of the western hegemonic influence.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If we're talking about cultural exports, then I would highlight the three body trilogy, which is a Sci-fi trilogy which actually did become quite popular in the west. China of course also has quite a big gaming industry (genshin).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There, a response.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are a lot of good shows in China, easily equal to any South Korean or American tv show. I don't think their animation industry is quite as developed as Japans, but they still produce plenty of animation (and arguably, much better stuff than 90% of anime, seriously, anime can be amongst the worst things created by humans sometimes.)

The problem is that Chinese media rarely gets exported to the west in the same way media from western allies do. It isn't a lack of capacity or ability on China's part, it is a lack of willingness on the part of westerners to consume media from "the enemy."

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Previously this may have been true, mostly because South Korea and Japan have been embraced by the US as vassal states. Obviously China will not have the same level of cultural exchange with the US.

For example, do we complain about a lack of Cuban, Vietnamese, or Laotian soft power in the West? No, because those countries are also marked as enemies by the US.

Today, Chinese cultural exports are starting to be able to stand on their own in the global market without extra help from Western governments. For instance, Genshin Impact, made by miHOYO from China, earned the highest ever first-year launch revenue of any video game.

Her analysis is insanely narrow, and fails to take into account any of these historical issues. Her conclusion boils down to: "China should make the West happy so they buy more C-pop."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

All her videos boil down to 'ccp bad' lol. I can not think of a better 'boba liberalism' example than this girl.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

does china really NEED media exports to appease westerners though? of course on the western internet china will seem "uncool" or be the punchline in jokes, because the western internet is full of racist, anti-communist liberals or neo-nazis. china is powerful enough on the overall world stage, and especially the global south, to not need to have "soft power" propped up by capitalist media that westerners eat up like kpop or anime (that is also rife with exploitation in their respective industries as well). to me this just kinda seems like "why doesn't china make itself look nicer for the western internet users????".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

China has actual soft power, in that they build infrastructure for other countries. People can point to a hospital or a highway and say "China helped us build that." US only has meaningless distractions full of white people living lavishly (even "poor" families in US media are always stupidly wealthy compared to the average person in the global south). It works great on other western nations, but providing actual, tangible material benefits to a people goes a lot further than shoving Avengers 17: The Hulk Passes a Kidney Stone down their throats.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

China has actual soft power, in that they build infrastructure for other countries. People can point to a hospital or a highway and say “China helped up build that.”

USSR did that. And whoop dee doo, would you look at that - near damn all former republics hate USSR, call it totalitarian oppression and simp for USA!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

That's a bit different though, that was an internal issue, nothing to do with their power projection abroad, and the former states of the USSR hating it has more to do with 30 years of neoliberal propaganda being shoved down their throats rather than anything the USSR actually did.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

China gives aid with few strings attached, whereas the USSR demanded that they mirror their political system, which led to things like the Sino-Soviet split and otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's actually a glut of content in China due to all the streaming companies - more than anyone can consume. If people can't find it, they weren't really looking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What are some major streaming companies of China there?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

iQiyi, mango TV, for TV shows. Lots of them are free to watch on YouTube with English subtitles. Or translated on Viki.

Bilibili for YouTube-like content.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Tencent, iQiyi, Bilibili, Youku, MangoTV

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I didnt watch the video but had it pop up in my recommended.

Japan and Korea I feel on some level create things with the knowledge that it will be exported and consumed by ally nations and propped up by weeaboos and koreaboos.

I don't think China really needs to export their media. They have a huge domestic market, they don't need western countries in order to succeed. I feel that most Chinese media is made for domestic audiences and therefore they don't need to create things with westerners in mind. For example square enix will make a video game set in basically medieval Europe (FFXVI) starring primarily westerners. China does not need to do that. It doesn't need international critical acclaim for media. So they can make films that focus on Chinese stories like "Better Days".

Also because the intended audience is domestic, a lot of the media created is pretty niche. For example something focused on a businesswoman that speaks Shanghai dialect at home.

Most media creators there just don't need that international market to succeed and so there is no push to export. The west is so rabid in their brainwashed anti China hate that they would reject anything from China except for small pockets of the population so there is no demand for Chinese media either.

Try pirating some smaller Chinese films, you'll see how difficult it is to get one with English subtitles.

Some media recommendations with easy to find English translations

films: Better Days

White Snake (3d animated movie)

Webnovel: Daoist Gu

Novel: Three Body Problem

Series: Link Click Three Body Problem Countless BL romances that American AO3 Tumblr types gush over

Games: most of the ones I would like have no English translations. But I've played a few like Gujian where it's fun but not my type of game.

Mobile/gacha games(I don't like mobile games) Genshin Honkai star rail

Also Chinese devs have been killing it with apps.

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

highly recommend the three body problem. what an incredible book and series.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I gush over them. Gush. GUSH

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not trying to throw shade at the AO3 crowd lol. I'm honestly curious and hope you can explain, what about cultivation + bl makes it the winning formula? Specifically why is Untamed so popular? I tried asking various AO3 types if they could explain the appeal of their favorite ships but they just straight up refuse to tell me why. The only hints I get are from the YouTuber coleydoesthings.

I have tried watching untamed and I just couldn't figure out why it got so crazy popular.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are the benefits of a strong soft power in the west though? I feel like a major advantage China enjoys is that America fundamentally cannot understand China's successes. I mean, most Americans have no idea why China would be popular in Africa and South America to begin with and watch videos how China will fall in the next year and so on. This allows China to often seize the initiative for things like the Chip War, which most analysts believe is far too late for the United States to do anything about.

And even if Americans did have a more popular view of China, I feel like that would cause the government to be even more aggressive to them to prevent Americans from wondering things like why they have a lower life expectancy and stuff.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The benefits of soft power is that it exposes and humanizes another culture personally, and I feel that though China should continue on their hard power approach (limited military, strong economy), the cultural media exports should amount proportionally as well...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

According to these dorks, making imitations of American culture is "soft power". Only delusional liberal anglos would think this lmfao

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I mean there is a reason why I said boba liberals...

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