The Image of Westerners in the Chinese Media - Article Example

The image of westerner in the Chinese media and Chinese cultural identity Introduction The Chinese media have a remarkable amount of influence on not only the Chinese politics but also opinion of the people in the country. Many broadcasting companies, thousands of magazines and newspapers as well as web-based media are vying constantly for the attention of the audience through lucrative content and quality reporting. The state also exercise considerable amount of control over the media in China and constantly assess its policies regarding media practices. Further, the advent of latest technologies such as innovative mobile applications and high-speed Internet have also changed the face of Chinese media, just as it have done in the other parts of the world (Zhang and Harwood 2002). The reform in the Chinese media was initiated in the last 15 years, giving the industry a more democratic characteristic. However, before the 1993, the media in the country merely reported about banquets and dinner parties hosted by the government and was under strict censorship, be it in news reporting or entertainment channels (Chu and Ju 1993). The changes came swiftly with the government relaxing its media regulations post the liberalization era. In today’s contemporary world, the Chinese media is no longer the stringent press controlled by the government but has varied programs, investigative journalism, social issue focus as well as commercial programs. The television has a range of chat shows, wherein a wide variety of issues are discussed, while the magazines and newspapers provide opinions of experts from all over the country. Along with the traditional media, the new media has also evolved in the country at exponential rate and with it bought user-generated content. The country has around 17 million blogs, which are also providing tremendous influence over the society and its people (Zhang and Harwood 2002). With the growth of media in China, the content is also witnessing rapid changes. While, the media these days are discussing varied issues openly, the Chinese people are still conscious about their traditional values. Although, the western technology has changed the face of the media in the country, it is still needs to be understand whether the people are influenced by the western culture or not and how the media is depicting the western world in China (Pan et al 1994). This paper therefore, attempts to understand how China has perceived the western world and how the westerners are being depicted in the Chinese media, especially in relation to the Chinese cultural identity. Research indicates that experts have been writing about how the western world perceives China and the varied opinions and stereotypes depicted about China in western media. However, seldom research has been conducted to understand the Chinese perception about the western world or the westerners and whether the perception is based on Chinese cultural identity. Initial research indicates that the cultural identity between China and the West has always been in conflict. This might be due to the fact that as compared to other Asian countries, China has a very deep-rooted and long cultural and historical existence and therefore, since the commencement of the conflict with the West, the country has always resisted being influenced by the way of the Western world to preserve its culture and values (Castells 1997). Thus, in terms of the cultural values in China, the country is still resilient against the growing western influence, which has helped it in maintaining its culture and values even through the major changes that were accompanied due to technological innovations and media openness in the country. However, this perception of the west is fast witnessing change with the newer generation getting more exposure to the western world and forsaking their own culture to ape the westerners. The openness of the media in China is often blamed for such cultural corruption (Lam et al 1999). Thus, this paper would understand in detail how the media in China has perceived the western world, especially in relation to the concept of Chinese cultural identity. The paper would focus on three major themes of influence of westerners in causing Chinese moral decadence, Occidentalism or stereotypical portrayal of the west in Chinese media and the perception of China regarding the west in the post-modern world. Westerners and Chinese moral decadence The policymakers as well as the people in China, especially the older generation, believe that the Western media is the major source of moral decadence and cultural pollution in the country. These people believe that the Chinese people, particularly the younger generations are giving much more prominence to the western values rather than the traditional Confucian values, due to the influence of western way of life and media in the country. They have been asking for banning portrayal of western values and culture in the mass media in order to protect the local culture and values. Therefore, the traditional view about the westerners among Chinese people is that the western values are corrupting the conventional culture and value system in China and should not be encouraged to flourish. However, to understand the reasoning behind such beliefs it is essential to analyze how the Chinese media has been depicting the western world (Lull 2000; Zhang and Harwood 2002). Some of the very first interpretation of the western world by the Chinese media was presented by Francis Hsu (1972) in his work that focused on the cultural differences between the Chinese and the Americans. Hsu (1972) discussed two major distinctions and called them situation centered and individual centered. He stated that the Americans believe in living their life and concentrate on an individual centered existence, while the Chinese put their fellow citizens on a higher pedestrian then themselves and focus on a situation centered entity. Therefore, the Americans are considered to be more emotional in their approach, while the Chinese are seen as more practical. However, such an individual centric living also gives rise to selfish motivation and alienation from the society and family, which is in direct conflict with the Chinese value system. The modern day depiction of American way of life in Chinese media has made such individual centric existence popular among the younger generation in the country, who are forsaking their traditional culture, value system, society and family to gain greater independence by following the Western way of life (Morley 2000). The Chinese media has also been accused of glorifying the western way of life in various television series and movies. For instance, in the Chinese movie, ‘Grief Over the Yellow River’ the Americans are being glorified for their bravery to save China from the Japanese attacks during the World War II. The movie was an instant hit in the country and had a massive influence over the people to view the Americans and the Westerns as saviors and flawless people. Such movies especially dent young minds who are being raised on the glorification of the Westerners rather than the portrayal of the ancient Chinese history and heroic deeds of their ancestors. Together with the depiction of the westerners by the Chinese media, even the western media have impacted the Chinese culture in a major way. The Chinese people are constantly getting attracted towards Western movies and events, with movies such as Titanic and Patriot being very successful in the country. Even children are getting attached to Western content, with the cartoon series ‘Mulan’ growing in prominence in China. Although, the growth of the western media in China or the increasing depiction of the Western world in Chinese media can be seen as the impact of globalization, it is important to understand that such a growth should not affect the cultural values of the country in a negative manner. China and Occidentalism Occidentalism means the stereotypical depiction of the western world. Due to the growing influence of the western world in the last few decades, many countries have been constantly trying to identify how the western world is influencing their culture and values. China is no exception to this situation and is also trying to understand how the West is being depicted in the nation. Chen (2002) in her book Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China for instance has focused on two stereotypical depiction of the West in the modern day China. The first stereotype is defined as Maoist, or the portrayal of the West as a demon, while the second one is anti-official Occidentalism, perceived by the educated Chinese who views the West as a metaphor to counter the oppressions by the Chinese government. As per the Maoist view, the West is being seen as an imperialist aggressor, who is out to win the world. Such a view helped in creating a wave of nationalist feelings among the people in China and created hostility toward the Western culture and values (Dirlik 1996). The government especially endorsed this view as it helped in making the West an evil entity and promoting nationalism in the country. Further, such a view suppressed the democratic uprising, which is considered to be a western concept as well. Therefore, the government was able to control the domestic uprising by providing an alternate purpose to the Chinese people. Although, such a view about the western world has been dominant mostly in the 1980s, still even in today’s China, people are still against the western values and culture, which is the result of the long-drawn propaganda of the Chinese government in the media. As discussed earlier, the government had a strong hold on the media in the 1980s and still has a significant amount of influence over the content being aired in the country. Thus, by leveraging its power, the government influenced the media to depict negative image of the west and thereby, manipulate the people to think in negative terms about the western culture and values (Venn 2000). However, on the other hand, the Maoist view was being countered by anti-official Occidentalism, who unlike the Maoist believed that the west is symbolic for China to be delivered from the government oppression and establishing a more democratic way of living. These people did not perceive west to have a bad influence on the people and instead glorified the western world in their discourses and depiction in various media. The television mini documentary, Heshang that was being aired in the country in 1988 is considered to be a major contributor towards the propagation of anti-official Occidentalism thinking. The documentary focused on comparing between the traditional values and culture of China with that of the modern western world. It described the new western movement in glorified terms, while degrading the cultural heritage of China as accused the Chinese way of life for denying the modern citizens the pleasures of modern thinking and life, as epitomized by the western world. The documentary praised the adventure spirit, the openness, the youthful appeal, the capitalist outlook, and the technological advancements that defined the western world and glorified it by defining them as the necessity of the modern world (Ahiska 2003; Tavakoli-Targhi 2001). The documentary was not only strong in its content, but even in its cinematic presentation. The dichotomy between the Chinese and the western world is being depicted in a vivid manner through this documentary. For instance, the producers very cleverly portrayed the yellow colored earth of China and River Yellow to depict the old Chinese tradition and termed them as decaying and stagnant, initiating sorrow and sadness, while, the western world was depicted through ocean of clear blue color that is full of energy and life. Thus, the pictorial depictions also presented the contrasting image of the Chinese and the western traditions and culture, with the Chinese world seen as dead and decaying, while the western world depicted as alive and energetic. Such conflicting images especially appealed the people in China, who were still trying to come in terms with the Cultural Revolution that had dented the self-esteem of the Chinese people in a major way. The documentary provided them a source of inspiration to move away from the established Chinese way of life to a perceived better way of living i.e. the western way of living (Snodgrass 2003). Although, the documentary was seen as a critique to the decaying culture of China, many also perceived it as an alternate to the government’s ideology of depicting the western world as evil and demonic, and something that should not be followed by the Chinese people. The documentary in many ways helped in translating the frustration of the people of China with the government. The documentary did attract various viewers from all the strata of the society and became a historic masterpiece in China’s television history. However, it was subsequently criticized by many professional groups, giving excellent excuse to the government to ban it. China’s perception of the west in post-modern world The television mini documentary, Heshang is considered to be the turning point in the depiction of the western world in China, as the west is no longer seen as an evil place and their culture no longer perceived as polluting the culture of the country. Post this documentary, several television series, novels and movies started showing the west in a positive light and created a cooperative and accessible image of the west. This image of the west improved significantly during the 1980s after China adopted a liberalized policy (Godelier 1995). Many novels and television series during this period presented a positive image of the west through the portrayal of the Chinese people and their experiences in the western world. Some of the prominent novels that portrayed the west in a positive light included, Zhou Li' A Chinese woman in Manhattan published in 1993, Yu Heizi's Fleas in Berlin published in 1993 and Cao Guilin's A native of Beijing in New York published in 1994. The most important theme of these novels centered on the fact that for a Chinese person to become successful in the West, the person need to understand the culture and lifestyle of the western world thoroughly. Thereafter, the person needs to adjust as per the western conventions. However, despite adopting the western way of life, the protagonists are able to protect their inherent self, their identity and in fact have been able to influence the western lifestyle to accommodate their identity. The novels blurred the difference between the East and the West and provided a different and positive interpretation of the western world, while preserving the cultural identity of the Chinese world (Tomlinson 2000). Conclusion The media in China has undergone various changes in the past two decades, as it gained greater independence from the oppressive governmental rules and regulations, post the liberalization of the country. The advent of technological innovations, together with the relaxed government policies has resulted in the media promoting varied subjects which were considered to be taboos during the oppressive regime. Thus, the media that was only seen as a mouthpiece of government propaganda is steadily becoming the voice of the people. This is also true in its depiction of the western world as well. Initially, media was used by the government to portray the west in a stereotypical manner as a demon or evil. The government influenced the media to portray the west as an imperialist aggressor, which created hostility toward the Western culture and values while developing nationalist feelings among the people in China. This view was countered through anti-official Occidentalism, wherein the educated Chinese people used the West as a metaphor to counter the oppressions by the Chinese government. The major focal point of this movement was the television mini documentary, Heshang. The documentary portrayed the western world in glorified terms and degraded the Chinese culture. It was a turning point towards depicting the western world in a newer and positive light, which was gradually undertaken by several television series, novels and movies. However, despite the positive image of the western world, many Chinese people, especially the older generation together with the policymakers, believe that the cause of moral decadence and cultural pollution in the country is due to the influence of the westerners. As per their belief, the younger generation in particular are getting influenced toward the western values and forsaking the conventional Confucian values. Thus, they are advocating banning the portrayal of western values and culture in the mass media for protecting the local culture and values. Reference Ahiska, M. 2003, ‘Occidentalism: The Historical Fantasy of the Modern’, The South Atlantic Quarterly, 102 (2/3), 351–379. Castells, M. 1997, ‘The Power of Identity, vol. II of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture’, Oxford: Blackwell. 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