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Final PortfolioMain MenuPixlr Practice ImageCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: What Makes it Successful?Post 1Reflection on A Better Tomorrow (1986)Post 2Korean Wave 2.0 as Soft PowerPost 3Media ProjectGroup FacilitationResumeWork CitedWenshuo Zheng3893fe9d835972445a8d18abd64faaef1fb7a009
Over the past two decades, popular culture in the People's Republic of China has been massively disseminated throughout Asia and the rest of the world. When people hear the word "popular culture" for the first time, they might relate it to the entertainment industry as music, film and different actors or singers that pop into their mind. However, popular culture derived into many different forms over time and it is not only limited to those industries. The Chinese Popular culture is slightly different than other countries because China has a long social history which makes up a vernacular social form. One example is all cultural products are monitored by a powerful censorship which is enacted by the Chinese government. Because of this reason, a special form of popular culture which has Chinese characteristics is generated within the whole country and some of them has successfully entered the international market.
One of the interesting popular cultures that China has is memes and neologisms created by Chinese "netizen". Netizen is a portmanteau of the words Internet and citizen. They are active on the internet and involved in online communities. Although they are the population that is out of public view, their influences and power should not be underestimated. Due to the fact that China has a very powerful censorship, people are not allowed to comment or discuss any topics that are political publicly. So, netizen used coded language to encounter in online political discussions and avoid the censorship. Before Xi Jinping takes office as president in China, corruption in the Chinese government was a very severe problem. The talented netizen created a word "naked official" to describe those corrupt officials. It means government officials that obtained public funds illegally and fund their family overseas (Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon). Some words that also generated in China are adopted by other foreign countries. One example is "Jia you" is a Mandarin Chinese expression used in cheers in sporting events or right before exams. The English translation "add oil" has been made an official term in the Oxford English. There are so many other words created by Chinese netizens and they spread widely throughout different media platforms in China.
Social media is another form of popular culture in China and the use of these products by people becomes the main way for the popular culture to spread. Due to the strict censorship in China, popular social network websites like Facebook or the biggest video-sharing website Youtube is blocked within the country. The reason being these websites failed to comply with Chinese internet legislation and they might contain politically sensitive topics about the Chinese government. It gives local media corporations the opportunity to grow and develop. Weibo, the "Chinese Twitter" is the biggest microblogging website in China and it is a huge social media platform that people used to post their thoughts. Any breaking news will be spread here right after they happened. The other popular social media product is Weixin, also known internationally as Wechat, the "Chinese Snapchat" allows people to chat, share pictures and even to pay their bills. This app is able to make peoples lifes a lot easier in China because they can pay any bills through this app. The reason why these media products can become one of the most popular culture medium in China is that they can share their thoughts by using different coded language as I mentioned above under Chinese censorship. Moreover, these apps make people's life more convenient and easier.
The film industry in China has great influence throughout the world compared to its social media products. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) had a great success worldwide. This is the first time Chinese films has gotten attention from foreign countries. Chinese martial arts are well-known by the world, so the martial arts films that China produce have a title of "authentic". Many famous directors such as Stephen Chow and Jacky Chan both had a great success with their martial arts films. My point is when a nation combines its culture with its products, it becomes distinctive and unique. In Asia, Japan is well-known for their video games and people will think of Korea when others mention TV dramas. The same thing applies to China when people appreciate its martial arts, audiences around the world enjoy watching Chinese martial arts films.
China has a long social history which makes its popular culture distinctive and unique. It gives China advantages to combine its culture with their national products. Popular culture in China is able to obtain attention worldwide because it has different elements that include the Chinese soul.