Globalization And National Culture: A Chinese Dilemma Essay

The authors gull discussed transformation of Chinese farming and its impact for Chinese various(prenominal) in the wake of advancedization and stinting growth. The authors atomic number 18 concerned about the ethnic minorities that make up forward-looking mainland China and the changing Chinese cultural landscape where past traditions be becoming obsolete in the wake of modernization. The article depicts the two sides of a nation individual wish to retain the older traditions piece of music the extract wish to prevent one super acculturation for all Chinese hoi polloi. They cite the example of 2004 Athens Olympic, where Chinese Stage Director Zhang Yimou stage a grand spectacle for global audience presenting the cream of Chinese civilisation.Despite the glitz and glargon of the event, it was dubbed as pseudo Chinese tell developed for the westward audience only by Chinese g everyplacenment. The spectacle may not portray 100 percent Chinese culture perhaps staged to China to the world. However in that location is no social occasion wrong in marketing wrong ones body politic to world. Being a part of the global economy, it is not China whatever several(prenominal) other country would do the same. One similar example can be seen in Egypt, where every year a grand event related to Egyptian culture is conducted to attract global audience. The emphasis is on the era of Pharaoh, which is charitable to the West, to a greater extentover less attractive for its own population.Egypt is an Islamic country Islam all the focussing prohibits any kind of association with pagan rituals. For normal Egyptian any events related to Pharaoh are clear pagan rituals which are unacceptable in a Muslim society. However the Egyptian government is bent on promoting a culture that is far removed from mainstream society. The main gets of such events are to promote Egyptian culture to attract business and visitors to Egypt. Thus it would be wrong to assume that t he China is promoting a pseudo culture, the basic purpose of such kind of events are to promote China and Chinese culture. fit in to the authors China has hold the traditions for thousands of long time and now every aspect of intent is going under change that for many Chinese individual is creating an individualism crisis. Many are questioning the cost of change and the loss of the conventional Chinese culture. Many individuals ask to retain the old values while the state is promoting one grand culture done control and coercion. In such situation the authors believe that individuals are taking drastic streak in various ways to defend their culture.China is going through the same level of change as European nations faced in the wake of industrlization in 18/19th centuries. Its natural for people with old school of thought to resist change while other will push for change. The issue is that all cultures change through succession Chinese culture is no exception. For any change to take place, there are forces that resist change, even if a culture is no womb-to-tomb operative and instead creating stagnancy in global world. Some individual resist change and advocate for preserving the past as authors have mentioned. Others want the amalgamation of traditions and new ideas to form a culture that is more working and workable in the changing world Chinese government is working on second option.The resistance to change is not some thing new. For example French government has forbidden the use of English speech communication except for words which French equaling vocabulary. An example of such resistance is the ruin of star bucks in France, still is successful in rest of the Europe. China is the past two decades has been changing a lot by adopting Western technology and cultural ideas to occasion part of modern world. It can no longer afford to remain in a world which eternally changing and demands new way of lifespan.It would be wrong to assume that Chi nese people do not want to change and government is forcing them to change. deviate is not becoming worse, but Chinese people have be go on wealthier than ever. Its natural to come up with high-rise buildings that are break off equipped sophisticated modern structures compared to older style slums and squatters which makes city crammed and over populated.The authors seem to have nostalgia for the past where every thing looks perfect and grand, but the reality is far from true. Just two decades ago majority of Chinese people were barely surviving with meager resources. The reason for such way of life was traditional way of living dependent on coarse economy. The change from traditional way of living to modern era has brought some problems, but it has too givenrise sophisticated sky scrappers modern infrastructure equipped with better facilities to cater for the inter home(a) and local entrepreneurs. The invoke is now offering modern homes to its people that are located in ideal environment with better sewerage facilities and higher standard of living which were unthinkable 10/15 years ago.The authors mention that millions of Chinese are resisting change in their surroundings because they feel a sense of belong to the old way of living. Most of them according to authors are striving to maintain change and are busy in initiatives to resist state stag change at grassroots level. They mention the example of XU Yong photographer who impactd the pictures of local architecture and courtyard life in 10 years long movement.Similarly another writer Feng Jicai is mentioned who is fighting the government to preserve the old squatter and came up with idea of preserving it through maps and photos. The authors are nerve-racking to portray that perhaps state government is bent on running the Chinese tradition and culture, and people have no choice but to fight for it. The reality is far from true. For example China is now more open to ideas compared to the past. In 20 06, for the first time Chinese Christians celebrated Christmas openly.another(prenominal) change is the re-establishment of the older Chinese traditions. For example the annual homage serve up of tomb sites of emperors and high official have been institutionalized to celebrate the ancient Chinese culture, which was stopped after the 1940s revolution.In mid 1980s, these traditions have been re-assumed by non-governmental and some government officials to promote such activities at national level which was unthinkable a few decades ago. Chinese government is also promoting the old Chinese tradition of Confucius and special books have been included in curriculum of the children to let them know of the past. The reason for Chinese government to come up with a homogenous culture is that China is composed of numberless minorities, if all ethnic groups want their ways, there would be little means left for central government to rule.ReferenceWU Mei and GUO Zhenzhi, Globalization, national culture and the. University of Macau and Tsinghua