Chinese Soft Power and Media Discussion and Updates

manqiangrexue

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
View attachment 132562

Once Upon a Time in China, I don't think this movie insults China or idolizes whites, but it is popular in the West. Because simply because the movie is great. But ironically, since this, i.e. since the 90's, Hong Kong "somehow" seems to have failed to make decent movies and export a cool image of China through movies.
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This is from the old times when the US wasn't scared of getting run over by China.
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
Also, I never said anything about making movies to be appreciated by westerners, I was just talking about CCP's lack of understanding of soft power.
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And what is your understanding of it? My understanding is that there is no such thing as soft power because in order to be a power, it must have coercive force that can be used in the event of conflict. Media idolization is only a grease that aids friendliness when the foundation and basis was already amicable, but when hostile, it will be completely unable to penetrate the hard demand and insistance for one's own interests over those of others'.

For example, people often point to Japan as a giant of soft power because of its cultural exports and cartoon industry, as well as a fan following in almost every country. However, I argue that no such power exists because while the Japanese may have cultivated some fans, those people are marginalized in their societies (because the strongest people of every society are always rooted deeply in their own culture without idolization of others) and would be of no help to Japan in any conflict. When the US coerces Japan into signing some agreement that is to America's advantage, the anime fans have no ability to stave this off; America's politicians will coerce with the threat of sanctions until the Japanese capitulate. If they put up any fight at all, general American comments roll in that somebody needs 2 more bombs to remember their place.

So... my conclusion is that there is no such thing as soft power. If you want respect, admiration and a meaningful following, hard power and strength is all you need. Ironically, some in the CCP talk about the need to cultivate soft power and those are the CCP members who truly have a poor understanding of soft power.
 
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coolgod

coolgod

Colonel
Registered Member
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
But ironically, since this, i.e. since the 90's, Hong Kong "somehow" seems to have failed to make decent movies and export a cool image of China through movies. Also, I never said anything about making movies to be appreciated by westerners, I was just talking about CCP's lack of understanding of soft power.
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Hk movies aren't good enough now. Mainland Chinese don't watch HK news anymore. HK pageants contestants are butt ugly. HK still have some ok singers.

Meanwhile China: The Untamed, Genshin, Three Body Problem, Tiktok.

China doesn't need HK to make movies that make China look cool. TBH mainland Chinese don't really care about HK anymore, neither does most of the world.

In the end it sounds like a HK soft power problem, not a China soft power problem.
 
Z

Zhong"Geodaddy"Li

New Member
Registered Member
Modern problems require modern solutions. Galvanized Square Steel, Donghua Jinlong, and other gen Z memes originating from China and getting spread to the west are the path forward. The high effort productions from Chinese fan animators need to be pushed overseas on Tiktok. Videos from douyin depicting normal Chinese people and internet culture need to be all over TikTok. Chinese apps like Kuaishou are spreading overseas because of features like Kling AI video generation.
 
S

SanWenYu

Captain
Registered Member
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
View attachment 132562

Once Upon a Time in China, I don't think this movie insults China or idolizes whites, but it is popular in the West. Because simply because the movie is great. But ironically, since this, i.e. since the 90's, Hong Kong "somehow" seems to have failed to make decent movies and export a cool image of China through movies. Also, I never said anything about making movies to be appreciated by westerners, I was just talking about CCP's lack of understanding of soft power.
Click to expand...
Whatever you were trying to imply with that “somehow”, HK movie industry have not been subject to the censorship from the Chinese government. Their decline is completely due to their own problems.
 
T

TOKYO DRIFT ABC

Junior Member
Registered Member
manqiangrexue said:
This is from the old times when the US wasn't scared of getting run over by China.

And what is your understanding of it? My understanding is that there is no such thing as soft power because in order to be a power, it must have coercive force that can be used in the event of conflict. Media idolization is only a grease that aids friendliness when the foundation and basis was already amicable, but when hostile, it will be completely unable to penetrate the hard demand and insistance for one's own interests over those of others'.

For example, people often point to Japan as a giant of soft power because of its cultural exports and cartoon industry, as well as a fan following in almost every country. However, I argue that no such power exists because while the Japanese may have cultivated some fans, those people are marginalized in their societies (because the strongest people of every society are always rooted deeply in their own culture without idolization of others) and would be of no help to Japan in any conflict. When the US coerces Japan into signing some agreement that is to America's advantage, the anime fans have no ability to stave this off; America's politicians will coerce with the threat of sanctions until the Japanese capitulate. If they put up any fight at all, general American comments roll in that somebody needs 2 more bombs to remember their place.

So... my conclusion is that there is no such thing as soft power. If you want respect, admiration and a meaningful following, hard power and strength is all you need. Ironically, some in the CCP talk about the need to cultivate soft power and those are the CCP members who truly have a poor understanding of soft power.
Click to expand...

I do not mean to overestimate soft power, but then why is there a soft power thread here and we often talk about "brainwashing" by western media propaganda. That is exactly what soft power is. This is obviously a powerful weapon.
 
vincent

vincent

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Moderator - World Affairs
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
I do not mean to overestimate soft power, but then why is there a soft power thread here and we often talk about "brainwashing" by western media propaganda. That is exactly what soft power is. This is obviously a powerful weapon.
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It is not soft power when the need to please Westerners is encouraging Chinese film makers to make films that shit on China.
 
M

Michael90

Junior Member
Registered Member
ZhongGeodaddyLi said:
Modern problems require modern solutions. Galvanized Square Steel, Donghua Jinlong, and other gen Z memes originating from China and getting spread to the west are the path forward. The high effort productions from Chinese fan animators need to be pushed overseas on Tiktok. Videos from douyin depicting normal Chinese people and internet culture need to be all over TikTok. Chinese apps like Kuaishou are spreading overseas because of features like Kling AI video generation.
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The thing is even Tiktok is banned in China, so Butedance has its own version(Douyin) just for China . Tiktok is full of western content which dominates the market. In fact many people didn't even know tiktok was owned by a Chinese company until the US started targeting them..there is nothing Chinese in tiktok to be honest..So that's the wrong place to try to push Chinese soft power.
 
manqiangrexue

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
I do not mean to overestimate soft power, but then why is there a soft power thread here
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The thread is man-made. Anyone who thinks it exists can create a thread, even if they are mistaken.
TOKYO DRIFT ABC said:
and we often talk about "brainwashing" by western media propaganda. That is exactly what soft power is. This is obviously a powerful weapon.
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Western media brainwashing is a nonviolent extension of hard power. What they did could only be done by someone with control of the situation and control of the country in which the brainwashing is done. That control is first established by hard power and after that, behind the scenes bribes and threats, both extensions of hard power, are made to establish and control the media output for brainwashing. No weak country can wrest media control from an enemy nation by producing entertainment content because whatever they produce, no matter how good, can simply be banned and or ridiculed by the local media as something only pathetic people like and the people will follow the line drawn by hard power.
 
T

TOKYO DRIFT ABC

Junior Member
Registered Member
Michael90 said:
The thing is even Tiktok is banned in China, so Butedance has its own version(Douyin) just for China . Tiktok is full of western content which dominates the market. In fact many people didn't even know tiktok was owned by a Chinese company until the US started targeting them..there is nothing Chinese in tiktok to be honest..So that's the wrong place to try to push Chinese soft power.
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Also, TikTok has a very bad reputation due to its negative effects, regardless of whether it is in China or not. People obsessed with it have become a symbol of degeneracy.
 
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