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Embracing Western ways while cleaving to tradition
(China Today)
Updated: 2005-01-21 10:00
Colorfully coiffured Chinese youth dressed in up-to-the-minute grunge
listening to rock music as they walk, or sitting in a group discussing last
night's NBA league match are common sights in China's large cities.
Western, particularly stateside, youth culture is rapidly incorporating
itself into everyday urban Chinese life. What does the country's youth and
society in general feel about this cultural onslaught?
The Mighty Wave of Western Culture
In the 20-odd years since implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,
Chinese youth has ostensibly embraced Western culture. They eat at any one of
the 600 McDonald's or 1,000 KFCs in China, flock to NBA League and Italian
Soccer League matches and watch Hollywood rather than domestically produced
films.
Youth -- a source of joy and exuberance.
[sohu] | Hollywood earns 1 billion yuan, the
greatest part of Chinese film market, while Chinese cinema goers spend a measly
20 million or so yuan on locally made films.
The CCTV sports channel showed live broadcasts of the NBA league tournament
matches almost every evening, and all young Chinese basketball fans are avid
readers of NBA Magazine and Slam.
In a coastal survey among middle school students on the most popular sports
and entertainment personalities, Michael I. Jordan came first (26 percent),
followed by Jackie Chan (18.6 percent), and in a further three surveys between
2002 and 2003 Hong Kong's Andy Lau and Jackie Chan and British footballer David
Beckham came top.
Zhang Yan, junior student at the School of International Studies at the
Renmin University of China, admits, "People my age are attracted to Western
trends and products because they are so advanced and innovative."
Among her peers, anyone who fails to converse convincingly about
international sports stars is considered a hick; the same applies to
unfortunates that wear domestic rather than Adidas or Nike brand sports shoes.
Young people are
happy to celebrate traditional and foreign festivals, as long as they are
good fun. [sohu] | Middle school and primary
school students are particularly prone to Western fads, the majority of them
more enamored of Harry Potter and Finding Nemo than any domestically produced
books or animated cartoons.
The youthful preference for Western leisure pursuits extends to holiday
celebrations. Of China's numerous traditional festivals, only Spring Festival is
unanimously observed by both young and old.
Others, such as the Lantern Festival and Dragonboat Festival, are
overshadowed by Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas.
Parents are, in addition, more than a little alarmed at how readily their
offspring accept Western concepts of marriage and sex.
According to a survey among young Beijingers in 2000, only 30 percent of
respondents disagreed with the statement "It's fine for lovers to have sex
whether or not they intend to marry."
Furthermore, the proportion of participants under the age of 20 agreeing with
this sentiment was 16 percent higher than those above the age of 30. There is
genuine concern about Chinese youth's apparently unconditional acceptance of
Western culture; many fear it may lead to moral degeneracy.
Deep-rooted Chinese Traditions
Everyone in China, young and old, acknowledges that Western culture has
indeed influenced the lifestyle and values of the younger generation. But to
what extent? Have today's young people internalized Western influence to the
"dangerous" extent people imagine?
NBA superstar
Michael Jordan surrounded by his worshipful Chinese fans.
[sohu] | After reading a media report on the high
assimilation rate of Western culture by Chinese youth, student Zhang Yan was
skeptical. According to her observations, Western influence is not that strong.
She and her schoolmates made their own survey of several hundred young people
aged between 15 and 30 in seven cities of diverse geographical locations and
degree of development, including Beijing, Chongqing, Xining and Weihai.
Its outcome endorsed her view. In answer to the question "What do you think
of Western food," only 10 percent expressed a particular liking for it, while
62.55 percent said that it had novelty value, but that they could take it or
leave it.
As regards attitudes towards the family, only 15.03 percent upheld the
Western view of personal freedom and independence as paramount, and 44 percent
found it unacceptable.
This suggests that young Chinese people still espouse traditions of familial
responsibility. Zhang Yan's findings are further endorsed by Professor Fang
Ning, an expert on Chinese youth at the Institute of Political Science under the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Professor Fang believes that Western influence on morals and social values as
reported by the media is exaggerated.
In answer to the question "Why you like Western films?" most respondents said
they were fascinated by the scientifically spectacular aspect of Hollywood
movies and also the insights they bring into psychological interaction, but that
was as far as it went.
All this would indicate that Chinese youth is interested in Western products
but not in being assimilated into the culture from which they
emanate.
The extent to which the younger generation accepts Western influence is
closely linked to age and place of residence.
The youth in China's large cities have a greater scope of access to foreign
trends, fashion and attitudes than those in middle-sized and small cities.
They are consequently more likely to subscribe to it. Yu Jun, now in his late
30s, was a college student in the mid-1980s, when liberal concepts born of
wholesale Westernization were widely embraced.
At that time, Yu Jun and his peers led a lifestyle strongly influenced by the
West. Says Yu Jun, "Staying single was very much in vogue and some of my former
classmates have still not married -- not because of Western influence but
because the single life suits them."
Of people twenty or so years his junior, Yu Jun believes, "On reaching
maturity they will reassess and return to tradition."
Student Zhang Yan's comment conveys a still clearer picture of contemporary
Chinese youth.
"Chinese youth is fundamentally incapable of casting off traditional
influence, particularly when it comes to family values. For instance, when my
American teacher came to China, he did not bid his mother a formal farewell
before getting on the airplane. Could a Chinese person do the same? On the other
hand, to many foreigners it seems that Chinese students deny themselves a life
of their own. They are appalled at how their Chinese peers study on weekends
instead, like them, of spending their free time exactly as they choose. Unlike
their Eastern counterparts, Western students are overwhelmingly hedonist in
outlook. This may explain why many overseas Chinese students find it difficult
to blend into Western society, as it is very hard to break away from traditions
formed over thousands of years. Some Chinese youth think they know and
understand the West and its ways, but their knowledge is superficial. Stanley
Rosen, a professor at the Department of Political Science of University of
Southern California, said in a lecture in August 2004, "When I ask my Chinese
students why they chose to study political science, they tell me it's a visa
shortcut. After a year of study many switch to computer science or an MBA as
both bring better job prospects. The Department of Political Science is regarded
merely as a springboard for Eastern students, and some even start doing a little
trade while they are still here. They are very pragmatic." Professor Rosen does
not believe there is a similar phenomenon among American
students.
Chinese and Western Fusion
In this era of highly developed media culture, young people have more contact
than ever with foreign culture. According to CNNIC statistics, by June 30, 2004,
China had had 87 million Internet users, most of them young people.
Traditional Chinese attire is now a fashion
trend. [sohu] | Coupled with the openness and
diversity of modern society, this means that young Chinese people now seek their
cultural orientation within the ambit of Western culture.
In contrast to the youth that wholeheartedly allied themselves with the
liberal trends of the 1980s, however, today's young Chinese have a more rational
stance over Western culture.
They do not unconditionally accept Western concepts, nor do they regard
Western culture as the be all and end all of civilization; today's young Chinese
people absorb elements of both the East and the West.
In 2000 a sample survey carried out on 2,500 participants in Tianjin on the
topic "Chinese youth, their values and outlook on life" showed the number of
those that follow Western concepts of marriage and sex to be minimal.
For instance, only 7.7 percent of students and 7.2 percent of young people in
other occupations agreed with the proposition: "Sexual liberation is the
landmark of modern civilization and an inevitable aspect of love;" while an
overwhelming 73.3 percent in both groups refuted it.
Most young people interviewed also rejected feudal moral concepts, as
demonstrated by the 54.4 percent of students and 51.4 percent of other young
people whose answer to the question: "Is the life of chastity expected of women
a traditional suppression of humanity?" was "yes."
This is another sign that Chinese youth do not accept Western mores wholesale
and that their attitude to traditional culture is influenced by informed and
rational contemporary cultural theories – a sign of social progress.
On the surface, certain aspects of the Western/Eastern youth lifestyle have
so blended as to make them indistinguishable.
The commonly held view among young people, as expressed by one
representative, however, is that: "Certain social changes relate to social
development. For instance, many of my friends have decided not to marry until
they reach 30, but this decision is based purely on the pursuit of a higher
quality of life fostered by social development. No one sees it as stemming from
Western influence, yet two decades ago, such an attitude would have been
condemned," says Wang Zhuo, who chooses to stay single.
In the Tianjin survey of 2000, 50 percent of students and young people in
other occupations agreed with the statement, "Chinese and Western cultures both
have weaknesses, and should develop in tandem as they learn from each other."
Nearly 30 percent of respondents thought that, "World culture will eventually
merge."
Hu Shouwen, president of the China Youth Press, states that although the
entry of Western culture into China is a challenge, 'We should not shun Western
culture as it contains so many essential attributes that we still need to
absorb." Zhang Qizhi, a well-known ideological and cultural historian agrees. He
advocates education in China's fine cultural tradition, as its solid foundations
allow a finer, more objective appreciation of Western
achievements.
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