Ordinary Westerners Lauded In China
In my five years of interaction with China and Eastern culture, one common quirk I repeatedly uncover in Chinese society is the Chinese romanticization of The West.
Occasionally, as I browse WeChat Moments (微信圈) – the Chinese equivalent of a Facebook Stories – I see posts from Chinese friends who had visited cabaret shows where Western people sing or play musical instruments.
These Western performers – while with amazingly beautiful voices – would be considered an ordinary busker in Australia, the United States, or any other Western society. To Chinese people however, the mere fact that this mediocre singer with an okay voice is a Westerner makes Chinese people go gaga over them. These ordinary Westerners are lauded in China.
On WeChat Moments I saw another post of a Chinese friend who went to an outdoor setting and posed in front of a white teepee tent backdrop. This is far removed from Eastern culture and her normal life in China. It reminded me that Chinese people believe in the Western fantasy.
Western Society In Pop Culture
Over the decades, an ideal impression of what high-end Western society looks like and does has flourished in Chinese pop culture. Western cabaret is one such novelty in Chinese pop culture that plays up to to this romanticized Western stereotype.
Photo shoots with Westernized backdrops are another popular example. Chinese people will come into a photo studio with a backdrop of white-picket fences imagined from America, Britain, or Australia, or travel to a Western country to snap wedding photos in that idyllic Western location.
How Chinese people imagine Western society however is not how everyday America, Britons and Australians live. It could not be further from the truth.
It leads me to believe that Chinese people have seen these Western cultural backdrops in a Western magazine or Western movie and copied the scene. The Chinese market that monetizes the Western lifestyle answers questions such as, “What do people dress like in Australia?” “What is Australia’s traditional clothing?” “Show me the difference between Western vs Eastern clothing?” “What is Australian style fashion?”
Romanticized Western Society
That romancing of the Western lifestyle in Chinese fashion and pop culture is what fascinates me about China. Western society is romanticized and consumed through this fashion magazine lens.
Chinese pop culture has a chorus of stereotypical views about Western fashion and turns those into a cabaret show. It is as if the closest that Chinese people will ever get to Western society is through these fashion magazines and cabaret shows dreamed up by Chinese marketers that employ the average Western Joe in China to perform for Chinese audiences. Western foreigners who perform in China have talent and good voices, but these cabaret shows and what they see in magazines is not the actual true story of Western society and Western life.
Western Time Period Fashion In Chinese Pop Culture
Time period fashion seems to be the most common Western stereotype displayed in Chinese pop culture. However, it could be deemed offensive to some in The West to see a cliche stereotypical view of Western society emulated, as if it were the real deal, when that is not what people in Western society do.
If you view this version of Chinese pop culture from a Western lens, Western society would not make Chinese tourists dress in traditional costume and applaud common Chinese folk for their cabaret shows. Only until Chinese people travel to or emigrate in a Western country do they realize, “Man. For years I have admired Western style fashion that does not even exist in a Western country. It only exists in a Chinese fashion magazine.”
Chinese Stereotypes Of Western Society
The admiration of Western style fashion is one good aspect of Chinese imagination, that Chinese people within Eastern culture have an impression of what Western society is about. Regular Chinese folk then roleplay and imagine these impressions in real life. Chinese have been known to dress in embellished Western fashion.
When you come to China you will see some regular folk dressed in Japanese cosplay costumes, Western attire, French berets, all the fashion they see in the magazine. Western performers in China also emulate the whole look and feel of the Western fashion stereotype for their cabaret show themes.
If there is a Western tune that Chinese like, that stereotype will be provided to some Western backpacker in China that happens to play a guitar or belts out a tune. If there is a Western movie that Chinese like, common Western folk will perform that stereotype in bit parts in Chinese movies. Chinese people who appropriate Western fashion will themselves play up Western themes and perform Western tunes in karaoke.
Why Western Society Does Not Emulate China
The reason this behavior can seem funny to Westerns newly arrived to China is because they would never see anyone in Western society try to emulate, mimic or impersonate anyone in Chinese society, simply because there is no novelty factor there for them to impersonate.
A similar example of Western appropriation of Chinese culture would be like having a Chinese national who lives in Australia to dress up as a Terracotta Warrior, and have them walk around as a Terracotta Warrior with a Westerner friend for the day.
Another example of romanticized Chinese culture would be for an Australian to think, “Instead of sitting on Santa Clause’s lap for Christmas, let’s create a majestic scene with the Great Wall Of China behind us, and I will be the Yellow Emperor, because that is what I think China is about.”
Chinese Adulation For Western Culture
China over the decades has come to adulate America and Western society because of how the media has portrayed those countries. The West is modern and has developed countries, whereas China is told that it is not.
The Chinese romanticizing of Western society therefore is all about stereotypes. The reason one never sees that scene play out in Western society is because Western society does not have the same adulation for China.
Until the shoe is on the other foot and China starts to become a country that is adulated, then Western people would never think to romanticize China. It will remain a destination for English teachers, academics, business owners and entrepreneurs, family, and backpackers who want to explore an exotic and unknown culture for a year.
Diary Of A Mad Chaos is a daily diary written from March 1996 until today, of which individual books and book series have been created, namely “The Lost Years” an exploration of young, entwined love, the “Wubao In China (猎艳奇缘)” book series which provides an extensive comparative analysis of the cultural differences between Eastern and Western societies, and the book titled “Foreigner (华人)” an exploration of race relations in Australia.
