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smug

New Member
Registered Member
It's benefit is to take a step or two in the direction of endearing foreigners to Chinese products, not necessarily to turn them into true Chinese. If you're using a Chinese product, you are benefitting China in some way, and at this stage that's the most important part.

Fanboys do have a positive effect in spruiking Chinese soft power, as their word of mouth is the best advertisement. See ElectricViking's videos on youtube about Chinese EV's, and take note of the foreign BYD fanboys.

If they love your product, they eventually start loving you.
People love TikTok, people love Genshin, they might love the companies who make the products but I don't see how it's making them love China?
If you want some ‘real’ influence, then the best way is to sit and wait. Cultural influence is made by the market. Those who are rich enough and have a big enough population, will create a huge market of their own culture, and make some good games and movies with their cultural characteristic. The majority of Chinese people just get rich enough to watch movies and play video games for no more than a decade. The demands for stories of our own in movies and video games are large, but the game companies and movie companies also need time to understand how to make stuff in our own culture.

Or, if you mean living style, sit and wait, too. We haven't created a totally different one yet. Maybe decades later, after several important technologies emerged in china, you can see how we Chinese people use these technologies to live in a better way first, just like the Americans did, and everyone just start to say that we should and will live in a Chinese way.
I agree, it definitely will take a long time for any cultural influence to take root, however I'm curious, what is your definition of soft power? You guys say genshin is doing well exporting soft power, but what is it that it's exporting exactly? Like what tygyg1111 said? Making Chinese games more endearing?
 

tygyg1111

Captain
Registered Member
People love TikTok, people love Genshin, they might love the companies who make the products but I don't see how it's making them love China?

I agree, it definitely will take a long time for any cultural influence to take root, however I'm curious, what is your definition of soft power? You guys say genshin is doing well exporting soft power, but what is it that it's exporting exactly? Like what tygyg1111 said? Making Chinese games more endearing?
The ability to make someone do what you want them to do, of their own accord.
(you probably won't get a singular 'thing' that does this in one go, so it's a whole of system approach).

I don't think people should be yearning to 'be liked', that's putting the cart before the horse; it is a side effect of when you achieve the more tangible goal of dominating the key sectors within society.

At that point, you'll have people climbing over each other to be associated with you.
 

infinity_wor;d

New Member
Registered Member
I agree, it definitely will take a long time for any cultural influence to take root, however I'm curious, what is your definition of soft power? You guys say genshin is doing well exporting soft power, but what is it that it's exporting exactly? Like what tygyg1111 said? Making Chinese games more endearing?
Definition of soft power. Hard to tell for me. In my eyes, making people abroad know that you have good stuff is enough. Because soft power alone is useless, and it needs hard power as the backbone.
Kind of. It is the first time a made-in-china game become so popular in the world. It first tells the world that we can make good games like that, second, it is an example for other Chinese companies about how to make games in our way and get a lot of money. Other companies are trying to follow Genshin's path, making good games with less or more of our culture in them. How many films or games it takes to make people in the west know about things like Ninja? Or other Japanese culture stuff? Genshin probably is the first one. If it is not, it is the one who shows everybody that there is a way here.
 

tygyg1111

Captain
Registered Member
East Asian women in general. I'm sure we all had to deal with non-Asians lusting after our Asian girlfriends. Sometimes they look like they want to draw out their sword and slay me so they get to steal my girlfriend, but it's not a sword bearing society today so they don't get to steal my girlfriend in this way (or any other way, for that matter).
What was your experience like in SG? I'd imagine certain "Little areas" would be worse than others?
 

BMUFL

Junior Member
Registered Member
People love TikTok, people love Genshin, they might love the companies who make the products but I don't see how it's making them love China?

I agree, it definitely will take a long time for any cultural influence to take root, however I'm curious, what is your definition of soft power? You guys say genshin is doing well exporting soft power, but what is it that it's exporting exactly? Like what tygyg1111 said? Making Chinese games more endearing?
What part of "one step at a time" don't you understand? Right now, most people are barely willing to recognize Chinese product as "quality", and you are already crying about it. Do you seriously believe that the (rather undeserved) reputation of "German Engineering" being byword for quality, or the entire saga of Japanese car (and Japanese culture by extension) in North America was built in one day?

And if you are going to cry about "muh Japanese influence" in China, you are about 100 years too late, because modern mandarin Chinese is filled with lexicon of Japanese origin. I sure hope you aren't one of those genius ultranationalists that insist on keeping everything "pure" (whatever that means). 閉門造車/闭门造车 is a thing, and it's a surefire way to get yourself pwned hard in the future.
 

infinity_wor;d

New Member
Registered Member
Definition of soft power. Hard to tell for me. In my eyes, making people abroad know that you have good stuff is enough. Because soft power alone is useless, and it needs hard power as the backbone.
One more thing. Even if you have hard power as the backbone, soft power just makes your country more acceptable in one way. If you invade any country, locals won't just give it up to you for any soft power reason.
 

name

New Member
Registered Member
You guys say genshin is doing well exporting soft power, but what is it that it's exporting exactly

Very little and that's the problem that these people don't want to admit. I'm just going by what I see at a glance. I don't play the game. Every time I try to raise the alarm they'll side with whoever brings out the best copium (usually by misrepresenting what I say) - not the most important facts, but the best cope so they don't have to face reality.

Using only video games as the example..

When the west creates games like Batman, Spiderman, Unchartered, God of War, the players learn to admire/worship white looking people as cool, powerful, sexy, heroic, other good traits, etc. Why? Because the characters are clearly white people doing cool stuff.

When East Asians create Wukong, the players see a monkey man who is powerful....but how do Chinese people benefit? They don't because Chinese people don't look like that (nor would they want to look like a monkey man)

Or When East Asians create Genshin Impact, the players see people with blonde hair and colored eyes but how do Chinese people benefit? They don't because Chinese people don't look like that. You know who benefits from Genshin Impact? White people. It's the same with white worshipping crap like the newer Final Fantasy games from Japan.

Ironically, the one game developer who actually made East Asians cool and admirable (at least from a glance) was some western game developer. Compare this to Ninja Gaiden made by a Japanese company whose face is covered up with big mask and only his GREEN eyes are visible.

ghost-of-tsushima.jpg




Be honest with yourself.

Which game is creating soft power for East Asians really? Ghost of Tshushima or I love white people sooo muuchhh!! and I wish I was white too!! I meant, Genshin Impact


genshin-impact-how-to-get-characters.jpg
 

coolgod

Colonel
Registered Member
One example here:
This Peking opera video get more than 80k views from western players after one story quest of Genshin Impact was released which is about Peking Opera. Here is the first comment I see under that video:
What a terrible example to support your argument. The people watching CGTN videos are already under the influence of Chinese soft power, much less the ppl who comment under them. The person commenting is Chinese, and probably inside China using a VPN to post on youtube.

Your example shows the misguided interpretation of people online appreciating Chinese culture from Genshin as an example of China's soft power, when in fact it was just Chinese people appreciating Chinese culture all along. This is the textbook definition of a circle jerk.
 

Minm

Junior Member
Registered Member
Soft power comes from wealth. Poor people are not attractive. Whether it's in movies, songs or fashion and holidays. People want to enjoy luxuries and only wealthy societies produce luxuries. For China it's most important to make everyone rich. Cultural exports will follow naturally.

How did Marxism ever become popular? Because it came from the centre of wealth at the time, London. Just become the richest country first and the world will worship you
 
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