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[4Tran]

More recently, the fact that Chinese movies have many themes they aren't even allowed to develop or show possible narratives that are vaguely related to the government or government policsy such as independent heroes, or forbidden romance being successful etc... Unless it's killing Japanese people then they love showing it from the TV I watched there

Is this a recent SARFT mandate? I don't recall these being issues, though knowing how heavy-handed the Ministry of Culture is, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it works nowadays.

I mean, how prevalent is this stuff actually? Yet you hear it repeated over and over in threads related to China. If you only hear the most negative stories reported out of a country on repeat, its not surprising that china is viewed negatively. It's boarderline propaganda in essence.

A lot of Chinese people don't trust the safety standards of their own products. That's why Hong Kong is a popular tourist destination, and why items like baby formula are some of the most popular tourist purchases. I suspect that the overall quality is getting better, but everyone knows that the current systems are corrupt.

 

[Log4Girlz]

You can't force cool

 

[Cocaloch]

It's not appreciated enough just how closed off China was during the Cultural Revolution. It's basically like modern North Korea or Stalinist Soviet Union. Or maybe even more closed - other than an appearance at the 1952 Summer Games, the PRC's first appearance was in 1980 Lake Placid. In comparison, the Soviet Union in the 1980s was far more open to foreign influences.

I'm aware of that, the Russian comparison was to demonstrate that just because nations are enemies that doesn't mean there is no cultural transfer. Something more complicated went on in China. The Cultural Revolution is certainly part of that.

 

[Regiruler]

There's not a real interest in copying a communist power.

 

[OceanBlue]

I mean, how prevalent is this stuff actually? Yet you hear it repeated over and over in threads related to China. If you only hear the most negative stories reported out of a country on repeat, its not surprising that china is viewed negatively. It's boarderline propaganda in essence.

To me, that you can only hear negative stereotypes about the Chinese and that people think China is some backwards rural area are symptoms of the lack of cultural exportation. Obviously there will always be negative stereotypes about the Chinese like there are negative stereotypes about Americans, but I think you can reduce these things by humanizing the Chinese to foreign audiences.

 

[sphagnum]

Conversely, I think they would be considered cool if the readopted communism but didn't go Full Mao this time, because they could position themselves as being countercultural. But that would be bad for business.

 

[shintoki]

It's amazing to think how much of a decline China went from being at the top as a global power in Ming to completely imploding during Qing dynasty.

Isolation is a bitch.

 

[The Omega Man]

I wish I could speak Chinese, a language that can automatically make you able to communicate with 1.3 billion people that's something.

 

[4Tran]

Conversely, I think they would be considered cool if the readopted communism but didn't go Full Mao this time, because they could position themselves as being countercultural. But that would be bad for business.

It's probably more that that's not what China is about anymore.

Isolation is a bitch.

It's not entirely isolation, but more that the Qing Empire managed dealing with foreing powers extremely poorly. Being a foreign occupying power themselves, and being one that was deathly afraid of revolutions probably played a big role in that.

 

[perfectchaos007]

I can't speak for everyone but despite the pervasiveness of American culture, people in Australia really don't seem to like America or Americans very much. It's like there's movie Americans who are cool, and real life Americans who are loathed.

I think a lot of them pretend to hate Americans, but they sure love it when one of their favorite athletes, movie stars, musicians succeed in America. So they still view America as the pinnacle. On the flipside, when a US athlete gets a contract to play in China, Australia, or England we really don't give a shit.

 

[Mooreberg]

I wish I could speak Chinese, a language that can automatically make you able to communicate with 1.3 billion people that's something.

I don't think learning Mandarin or Cantonese would cover the full population.

 

[hateradio]

I wish I could speak Chinese, a language that can automatically make you able to communicate with 1.3 billion people that's something.

I don't think learning Mandarin or Cantonese would cover the full population.

Yup, Chinese dialects are pretty much almost different languages.

 

[4Tran]

While it's true that Chinese dialects can be completely different from one another, just about everyone inside China is going to be able to communicate in Mandarin. Cantonese is popular because the majority of the pre-1990s Chinese disaspora are from Hong Kong or Guandong province. And so, it's very commonly encountered in Chinatowns all over the world. However, despite this popularity outside of China, there are only about 80 million speakers, so I'd only learn it for very specific reasons (or if you just like watching Hong Kong TV shows and movies).

 

[rokkerkory]

It's not the people, it's the government that is shit.

 

[aznpxdd]

Yeah, don't bother learning Cantonese. Majority of the population in Guangdong don't even speak it anymore since its such an immigration heavy location. Might be useful if you are planning on staying in HK long term - but even then you can get by easy with Mandarin and English there.

 

[Rest]

This sums up nearly everything they do:

https://youtu.be/zq7Eki5EZ8o

Is the video a parody of Birdman?

 

[miller.skippins]

Yup, Chinese dialects are pretty much almost different languages.

in terms of spoken language, yes....the pronunciation for different dialect groups are way different.

in terms of written language though....they are the same...

still mandarin chinese aka the common language....can be generally understood by most people in china....lest the different slang and accent.

(PS. Am ethic chinese and can speak mandarin, teochew, hokkien...and only understand but not able to speak cantonese).

 

[TheWraith]

Yeah, don't bother learning Cantonese. Majority of the population in Guangdong don't even speak it anymore since its such an immigration heavy location. Might be useful if you are planning on staying in HK long term - but even then you can get by easy with Mandarin and English there.

I don't agree, I learned and studied Cantonese in Guangzhou and now live in HK. In Guangzhou any local can speak Cantonese, and they're quite proud of it. HK is still almost Canto only, speaking Mandarin to locals will solicit strange reactions, and quite a lot consider it insulting. The main takeaway is learning Cantonese is a must if you live or frequently visit HK/Guangzhou area, outside of that it's Mandarin.

 

[TheWraith]

in terms of spoken language, yes....the pronunciation for different dialect groups are way different.

in terms of written language though....they are the same...

still mandarin chinese aka the common language....can be generally understood by most people in china....lest the different slang and accent.

(PS. Am ethic chinese and can speak mandarin, teochew, hokkien...and only understand but not able to speak cantonese).

Also not true: In HK written Cantonese is very common to see, and totally different to standard written Chinese. The term "dialect" for the Chinese languages is a misnomer, just there for political purposes. The Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) language family is comparable to other language groups like Germanic, Roman languages for instance. The Chinese language are also classified like this linguistically by academics worldwide, except in China itself that is.

 

[Liberty4all]

> China still isn’t beloved abroad, at least not to the extent that America is


As an asian, i agree China isn't cool going by its past behavior.....but c'mo Americans, you guys are no better.

Many in Asia look at America's policy (lack of gun control, constant ridiculous 'free-speech' rhetoric, imposing their idea of 'freedom' on other countries through the use of military might, wall street and their fucking banking system that affected the world whether we want it or not......on top of their current idiot president) with disdain and ridicule.

You are entitled to criticize other countries, oh Yankees.....but for your own sake, please take a look at the mirror as well.

You are not that 'cool' either.

China has done some cool things though : https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/i-followed-my-stolen-iphone-across-the-world-became-a-celebr

See that's a cool China story because it was organic and was pushed by the people not the party.

 

[miller.skippins]

Also not true: In HK written Cantonese is very common to see, and totally different to standard written Chinese. The term "dialect" for the Chinese languages is a misnomer, just there for political purposes. The Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) language family is comparable to other language groups like Germanic, Roman languages for instance. The Chinese language are also classified like this linguistically by academics worldwide, except in China itself that is.

hk written chinese only consist of certain slangs like terms that the 'localised' with HK context....the written structure and words are the same. The only misnomer is Hong kong uses Traditional chinese while china uses simplified chinese....still, it's pretty easy to switch between the 2 if you read enough chinese.

i am a singaporean chinese being taught in simplified chinese with 'singaporean style' mandarin chinese and teochew/hokkien and i can read Hong Kong/taiwan comic books and newspapers just fine (i've worked in Hong kong before). i am not linguistic expert or anything so if an idiot like me think it's pretty easy to switch around, then i assume most chinese should be able to do it without much issues.

 

[TheWraith]

hk written chinese only consist of certain slangs like terms that the 'localised' with HK context....the written structure and words are the same. The only misnomer is Hong kong uses Traditional chinese while china uses simplified chinese....still, it's pretty easy to switch between the 2 if you read enough chinese.

i am a singaporean chinese being taught in simplified chinese with 'singaporean style' mandarin chinese and teochew/hokkien and i can read Hong Kong/taiwan comic books and newspapers just fine (i've worked in Hong kong before). i am not linguistic expert or anything so if an idiot like me think it's pretty easy to switch around, then i assume most chinese should be able to do it without much issues.

Well no, check out many of the local gossip magazine , Or subtitled comedy movies, some manga, ads in posters across town... this is Cantonese written word for word as spoken. These also feature typical Cantonese characters like "冇"," 喺度 ", " 卅 ", "唔" , and so on.

Check out the magazine cover in the picture in this link as just one of a legion of examples:
https://coconuts.co/hongkong/news/hk-gossip-mag-sudden-weekly-cease-publication-after-20-years/

 

[lightskintwin]

China doesn't have Black people.

 

[lupinko]

China doesn't have Black people.

Actually China does have some African immigration. There's many news stories about it too.

 

[lightskintwin]

Actually China does have some African immigration. There's many news stories about it too.

In a country with over a billion population. Certainly not nearly enough to constantly inject cool into their culture, like America.

 

[Hierophant]

Actually China does have some African immigration. There's many news stories about it too.

im actually pretty interested in a future where most of africa speaks chinese due to a load of Chinese investment there, I mean that's a lot of damn people speaking mandarin if swathes of africa know it

 

[wandering]

im actually pretty interested in a future where most of africa speaks chinese due to a load of Chinese investment there, I mean that's a lot of damn people speaking mandarin if swathes of africa know it

A lot of that investment is kind of shady though, bordering on neocolonialism

 

[Hierophant]

A lot of that investment is kind of shady though, bordering on neocolonialism

Oh yeah I'm not surprised by that but the idea of the two most populous continents being dominated by mandarin speakers makes me want to study harder to learn it