These soft power arguments come and go all the time in the forum. And everytime we have to waste valuable time and braincells dismantling their arguments.
Argue with them, and next week you will still have the exact same discussion
Chinese Soft Power and Media Discussion and Updates
- Thread starter tankphobia
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Argue with them, and next week you will still have the exact same discussion
Over reliance on the soft power makes the country soft. A healthy country want mix of both. In the same way a country overly on hard power and lack soft power also is sign of weakness. See Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. No doubt if I must pick soft power or hard power I will always pick hard power, but that is not the point. A country should strive for both, as long as soft power do not conflict with hard. Soft power can do diplomatic things hard power cannot. Soft power can be used to grow hard power back.
Anime is a weak form of soft power. It might improve perceptions of a country marginally at grassroots level. It provides marginal economic benefit for cultural product competitiveness. It will not decide a country's national policy.
Religion in the past is an extreme form of soft power. It could start wars, decide alliances, be source of ruling legitimacy, major source of economy... Pretty insane and volatile I agree. We are moving away from those thankfully but you must admit it is an powerful example.
Ideology is self explanatory. While not be all and end all, it could provoke unrest, forge alliance, collapse a country by revolution. Almost as powerful as religion at some point.
Let's talk about practical example of soft power today. China is promoting exchange students from Africa. These well educated African will go home and form the elite class. It is important to influence them for a more cordial relation.
Thai drama viewership is lower than Genshin player market.
Note that Genshin players pay money and must be intellectually engaged, while TV is free and you can put it on and not pay attention.
Entire Thai media industry makes less money than Genshin Impact alone.
Tourism in South Korea declined to 10% of 2019 levels which were a further decline from 2017 levels.
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Most of foreign culture content consumed by Chinese people（and majority of people in the developing world）are in fact pirate version. But copyright is irrelevant here，there is no difference in terms of culture influence regardless. There are plenty of people whom never bought any copyrighted stuff in their entire life，but still look up to certain countries due to culture influence（via pirate stuff）
Yet Chinese media industry and even a single Chinese anime game is far larger than Thailand's entire media industry despite equal levels of piracy.
Japanese and Koreans spend far more money on Genshin than Chinese do. That's real cultural influence: getting people who hate you to pay you money for your cultural product.
In4ser
Junior Member
I agree with you, hard oak snaps with torrent winds but a softer but more flexible bamboo endures. Nonetheless, history tends to follow a pattern of hard power creating order, and over time society becomes soft and decadent leading to decline.
It applies not only to everywhere from great civilizations to nomadic peoples like Mongols who got Sinacized. Entropy is a fundamental law in the universe appearing in everything from governments to biology because all systems eventually become too complicated and inefficient over time to be managed. Thus to purge this cancer or corruption, a new cycle from which order is reimposed typically around hard power unto the natural development of chaos.
That is a separate problem. Decline of hard power at peace is the cause, rather than success of soft power causing hard power decline. In the ancient time military is very expensive there is no standing army for most part. Army get disbanded if not used. Further more military if not regulated could coup the leader. Feudal society is very poor at managing those loyalty especially in far away regions. These kind of decline are less relevant today. 19 century European army kept growing in size despite relatively peaceful on the continent.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Both money and political leverage are hard power. How much you translate one into the other does not leave the realm of hard power.
They are both hard power; nether technology nor spying counts as "charming." This is an example of failure to use resources (hard power) to build further hard power.
Ideology is fake and doesn't matter. It's all about hard power alignment. Saudis have a monarchy and they stone women to death for cheating. Russians have a democratically-elected leader. Until quite recently, the US loved the Saudis and hated the Russians.
Furthermore, this example is rooted in hypothetical extremism rather than real world pragamatism. They are also examples of being extremely poor at putting your resources to use. Yes, you will have a hard time if you are a total angry orc everywhere even if you have more hard power but nobody is like that. And even then, if you had total hard power control, your orcism will be tolerated, accepted and mimicked as the dominant culture.
Well, religions depended on hard power too. Muslims and Christians tried to kill each other and if one succeeded, the other would not exist. Christians and Muslims didn't peacefully or successfully try to convert each other, hence the irrelevence of soft "power."
That's just a fancy way of saying that being a total dickhead is worse than appearing a reasonable person but that's not soft "power." Power needs to be able to coerce someone into going against their own interests for yours; talking like a nicer guy while holding a gun doesn't mean your words have power. It's still and always your gun.
Yeah, because if America had the power to economically sanction and destroy the EU, the EU must follow no matter what.
Then you need to analyze the difference between America's forced allies and those 2 countries, because American hard power and your supposed "soft power" is the constant, not the variable. The country is the variable to be considered. North Korea I can explain easily; Chinese hard power kicked American hard power out in the Korean War.
Only if you take it to unrealistic extremes (ie. what if you had the best military but screamed at everyone like a gorilla and cursed at them all day long?). In the real world, it doesn't matter.
Anime has no power... except maybe to poison your enemy's kids away from studying but it hits home even harder. Religion was a contest of hard power; today, it just makes people do crazy things.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
By intimidating them into submission with your hard power.“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” —— Sun Tzu
What is this soft crap about people liking your or not? That's nonsense. It's about whether their interests conflict with yours and whether they yield in that case. And depending on the offense, yes, you strike them if they insist on their interests over yours (such as in a territorial dispute).
Because you think wrong. You engage with their leadership and you use your leverage (carrot and stick) to get them to behave on your terms. Have you not been watching world politics at all??
You have that confused with hard power. Hard power gives your passport and your people special powers everywhere. If a problem arises and you take out a powerful passport, the country you are visiting will solve the issue with expedited urgency in order to not offend you and your embassy.
That doesn't stop people from boycotting Samsung and Lotte either. Free show, why not?
Totally related. This shows that soft "power" cannot determine anything. It is hard power that will produce the solution.
What risk? Getting ripped off? China is the number 2 tourist destination in the world. That's how you count "soft power"? LOL China wins again. What's the only country with higher tourism? It's the US, number 1 in hard power. Furthering my point that hard power spills over to your definition of soft "power." What about Thai tourism?
They go to get plastic surgery. Koreans visit China and study in China all the same. You say we get poorly treated? I've been to Korea (to visit an ex, NOT for the drama) and have felt no such thing. This is the difference you get from real life experience and internet trolling.
What, because you saw some Chinese forum talk about Korean dramas so that's worship? LOL What about all the Chinese people who make fun of Koreans for sissy follower culture? We don't count? LOL Koreans visit China and study in China too. If they don't reciprocate, we dry their tourism by government order. Hard power.
First of all, is this for me? Cus if it is, you should have the courage to tag me so I don't accidentally miss it. But maybe that's what you wanted
Secondly, that's a stupid unhinged question. Compared to whom? It is undeniable that China is at least the second most powerful country in the world but we work hard to become the first and then to maintain the first.There you go with your soft-flaccid-"power"-wahh-wahh-everybody-please-like-me crap again. We make the reality. Other people's imaginary worlds are not our concern. As a matter of opposite fact, much of China's challenge today is that other Western countries percieve too well China's rising power. We'd like to stay under the radar a little longer but unfortunately, it's rather like an elephant trying to stay covered under a hankerchief now.
Just stating it doesn't make it true. I've proven again and again that in general, it does, but it can be distorted by active suppression from a country with more hard power, like the US.
So you're saying they don't have enough force AKA hard power yet. In other words, it's a hard power issue. Congratulations on the first non-stupid thing you said.
In all of history, that has not happened. The loser of a war respects and submits to the winner unless and until the loser can defeat him in return. That is an accurate summary of human history. And in your fantasy mind, soft power is somehow the only way, LOL
Which is why he's doing the tech drive, nuclear buildup, military buildup, fighting trade wars, sending out wolf warrior diplomats, etc... right? Cus soft "power" is the only way. I'm waiting for Xi's cartoon/gaming/drama buildup LOLOL
And I will answer the same again. This is not what you think it is. To the CCP, soft "power" simply means to ask its citizens to behave in a more civilized less embarrassing manor. It has nothing to do with dramas/games/etc... which the CCP curbs. At the national level, the CCP focuses on technology, economy, and military, all pillars of hard power. At the diplomatic level, we use wolf warriors.
Right, just because you can't debate well, doesn't mean it's not important and you can just spit up old defeated points over and over again.
Not in the way you think of it. Their definition is improved civility and personal behavior, not some drama culture charm offensive. China has always stressed hard power and cooperation through mutual interest. That is the only way to make any meaningful progress.
This is for your self-reflection to become less deluded and better at logical debate.
It is actually the biggest exception in the world and that fact is also the main source of horror for the West.
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