Youth Culture in China - Essay Example

Youth Culture in China The cultural situation in China has continued to change courtesy of the new generation of young people. Most of the young people in China are being attracted to the western culture as opposed to the Chinese culture. They have gone ahead to disregard some the local products as opposed to the western ones. In this essay, a perspective has been developed on the way the Chinese youths have preferred western entertainment as opposed to that which comes from other countries such as Japan and Korea. In addition, the youths are tending towards developing illegal strategies in order to enjoy this entertainment; one major strategy has been through pirating of discs through rigging them. The youth in China have completely changed the entertainment culture in the country resulting to more westernization. China has been a culturally conservative society for quite some time. However, this picture is tremendously changing resulting to integration with the global community. The rising of the country as an economic power has created a room for its citizens to integrate with other people in the world. The youth comprises one of the widely travelled groups because of work and educational purposes. They have gone ahead to embrace the western culture and hence translate the same in the home country. The growing influence of the western culture in China, to a great extent interferes with the way the local Chinese culture has been. For example, the movies that are mainly seen in China by young people are mainly from United States. As a way of demonstrating the way the state of the country’s young population has been influenced, President Hu Jintao mentioned that western forces were infiltrating their culture (Moran, 2003). The culture that is being adopted by the youths has boosted consumption of western made products. American theatres are one of the major beneficiaries; not in form of income that is generated but based on product consumption. The youth access the United States drama series, which they pirate, and almost everybody has an access to them. Media is very impactful in behavior development, therefore, most of the young people have been diverted by the foreign culture that is demonstrated through the movies. Aspects such as the dressing habits are slightly changing with more of western-culture being expressed. The movies have attracted quite a huge number of young people who are impressed by the American films as opposed to those from Korea and Japan. Western products such as Coke and Mac are the favorites among the youth in China. This has changed the traditional consumption patterns. The concerns by the government have continued to fall into deaf ears. There is a complete dominance of the western culture among the young people as evidenced even by the eating styles. It has been evidenced that there has been a rise in appetite for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Disney among other western products. Disney has already announced expansion plans in China by capturing the opportunity and constructing a resort in Shanghai. Coca Cola has been a big beneficiary in the cultural change; they have used the opportunity and has developed, the last development being the bottling plant at Shijiazhuang (Kochhar, 2011). The cultural situation in China has been influenced by the rise in the income levels in the population. The so-called ‘second rich generation’ is a group of young and rich Chinese young people who have inherited wealth from their families. This group has little to do with income generation; they have inclined to luxury, most of which is based on the western culture. Actually, even the concept of guanxi is slowly fading and hence the western influence is clearly evident. According to a 2009, Youth culture study, there has been a rise in shopping patterns with a special inclination on fashion (De Kloet, 2005). The Chinese young generation has been transformed by the western movies that they consume hence transforming the overall view of culture. It has been reported that the tendency to consume local movies by the youth has declined tremendously. The western concept seems to be the source of enthusiasm for the young people. The youth seem to disguise some of the traditional concepts that had been used in China for decades. There has also been seen a trend in women empowerment that has left the country to have some aspects of equality as compared to their male counterparts. Women can also do almost anything that is done by males effectively (Vangsgaard, 2013). The rise in the entertainment components has resulted to social stratification of the Chinese population. The rich and the middle class young people seems to be adjusting at an alarming rate to the aspects they get to learn through the movies. It is no doubt that there has been a complete transformation in lifestyles as a result of these movies. Looking at series such as the Prison Break, Friends, Desperate housewives, among others, it is apparent that there is conformity by many young people to some of the aspects that features in these movies. This has resulted to abandonment of the Chinese culture which remains at stake if the young people continue in this trend. Luxury is not a traditional Chinese cultural concept, however, the youth have facilitated the establishment of luxurious lifestyles. Due to the cultural integration especially with the west, The second young rich generation has risen and is influential. The ‘second rich generation’ is a group of individuals whose parents are extremely wealthy. It is reported that the phrase appeared on a TV talk show, A Date with Lu Yu, which referred to children that were born in the 1980’s and have acquired massive wealth from their families. Their parents took advantage of the policies and reforms that had taken place hence they were able to amass a lot of wealth. This group of individuals has a very lavish lifestyle though they do not engage in any economic activities. They have been characterized as individuals that are not thrifty, they seek much fashion and are big spenders. According to Zhou (2011), most of the luxury proponents are between ages 25 and 30 years, which is an indicator that the ‘second rich generation’ contributes a large majority of the luxury enthusiasts. The underdevelopment of the film industry in China and lack of sufficient creativity has facilitated the cultural change. Many young people are inclined to the western media especially movies because they find them more thrilling and entertaining as opposed to local ones (Wilson, 2013). This means that despite the Chinese population having a crop of elite young people, there is little that has been done to ensure that they use their creativity to develop programs and films that can be able to capture the attention of the young people. He overall implication of this is that consumption has shifted towards the western productions that introduces their culture to China. In conclusion, especially the young people have transformed the Chinese culture through the entertainment industry. The western movies provide more creativity and have the capacity to attract the young Chinese population as opposed to local ones, those from China as well as those from Korea and Japan. However, most of the movies that are consumed in China by these young citizens are pirated and hence they are easily spread among the youth. Culture has also been transformed through consumption trends that have been adopted by young people, this includes consumption of products such as Coke. In addition, there has arose a group of young and rich citizens that have influenced the view of luxury and entertainment in China. References De Kloet, J. (2005). Popular music and youth in urban china: The dakou generation. The China Quarterly, (183), 609-626. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/229495136?accountid=45049 Kochhar, G. (2011). Chinese youth: Rise of a new culture. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2011-06/14/content_12692011.htm Moran, T. (2003). Popular china: Unofficial culture in a globalizing society. The China Quarterly, (176), 1100-1102. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/229526553?accountid=45049 Vangsgaard, C. (2013). There’s a culture clash occurring across urban China and its benefiting women. Retrieved from http://qz.com/109496/theres-a-culture-clash-occurring-across-urban-china-and-its-benefiting-women/ Wilson, M. (2013). Chapter 4: Didactic Escapism Zhou, Q. (2011). Luxury market in China. Metropolia. 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