Cultural diffusion and resistance
On one hand, I found an example of adapting a foreign influence to be "more Chinese." On another hand, I found evidence of resistance to the "foreign devils." And on a third hand, I found that China is capitalizing (no pun intended) on American Christmas demands. All hands represent real forces in China. Then, there is one image of Christmas in Nigeria. It is difficult to know what political effects these things might have.ONE: Shanghai: new Christmas tradition
"Christmas is no longer the exotic western import it once was, and so one group of revelers is preparing to restore the lost luster of the season by reaching back to their childhoods.
"'We've always celebrated Christmas in a western style. We go to bars or clubs with friends to celebrate the season...' said Zhao Ye...
"Zhao's goal is to help people relive their childhoods that night by playing children's games like shuttlecocks, rubber-band dancing, hopscotch and roller skating.
"Zhao estimated that nearly 300 people would attend..."
TWO: PhD students say 'No' to Christmas
"As Christmas draws near, ten philosophy and education PhD students from China's top universities jointly publicized a petition on the Internet, calling on netizens, especially the young, to be less excited about the exotic holiday, Shanghai-based Xmnext.com reported December 21, 2006.
"This is the latest instance of public resistance to western culture and lifestyles in China. In the online petition, titled 'Out of Cultural Collective Unconsciousness, Strengthen Chinese Cultural Dominance' and dated with traditional Chinese Era Calendar, PhD students from China's most authoritative universities including Beida, Tsinghua and People's University hope to 'wake up the Chinese people to resist western cultural invasion'...
"It seems the petition will not receive much support, judging from the large number of critical responses on the Internet. And it's likely it will be drowned out in the mainstream, where Christmas and Valentine's Day are becoming more popular than the Spring Festival among youngsters..."
THREE: South China Supplies World With Christmas Items
"Shenzhen is now the world's largest manufacturing base and export center of Christmas-related products, with an annual export volume of over US$2 billion, according to an official with the city's Foreign Economic and Trade Bureau."
FOUR: Nigerian Christmas without 'evil' Santas
"There are no Christmas decorations, the radio stations are still playing hip-hop and rap and some children recoil at an image of Santa decrying it as evil.
"'His costume looks phoney and his face is strange,' says eight-year-old Ifunanya Chima when shown a picture of the benign bearded old man in his trademark red cloak with white fur trimmings.
"'We prefer masquerades,' he told me referring to the traditional colourful dancing which is a big part of the festive season here...
"Soon, the major cities will become ghost cities as most people return to their native villages to share the traditional Christmas rice...
"Christmas in Nigeria is a time for new clothes, long distance travels for family reunions, and lots of colourful masquerade dances in most villages.
"And for now, it does not matter that half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims with a handful of pagans.
"At Christmas, most Nigerians forget their religious differences and just share their Christmas rice - a dish of boiled rice eaten with very spicy chicken stew...
"There are big retreats for Nigeria's fast-growing Pentecostal Christian sects, but these retreats sometimes look like bazaars as they throw up business opportunities for some enterprising people.
"Ironically, highway armed robberies are more common during the Christmas season in Nigeria..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:04 PM
1 Comments:
yes , more open for china , it will be more cultural and resistance . it is hard to chinese of us to lost much traditional culture in the young gap.......
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