This was acutely brought to light at the September 21 birthday celebrations for Roy Wang, one third of China’s top boy band TFBoys. Online attention was so high that a hashtag for Wang’s birthday received 1.5 billion views and eight million comments.

The celebrations also had a real world consequence. Fans celebrated Wang’s 17th birthday by renting billboard space in New York’s Times Square to post a birthday greeting, while the Global Times reports fans in Chongqing spent 10 million yuan to decorate the exterior of a subway with his photos.

But the attention given towards Wang also served another purpose, one that brought pride to the country. As People’s Daily reported, some fans considered the extravagant celebrations as proof that China’s soft power is working. “Fans have not only celebrated Wang’s birthday, but also promoted China’s soft power worldwide. I bet many people in the US know about Wang now – isn’t that a new method to disseminate our modern culture?” said one netizen.

This opinion has been around for awhile. Last year, a Weibo user named “Love Money like Fate” said:

In this day and age, culture is a prominent part of a country’s strength and competitive power. Every country tries to improve its own culture and soft power as the main way to promote its own development. Roy Wang is an idol of exceptional quality. I hope he will continue to spread China’s excellent culture abroad as our cultural export.

Bringing up a case in which an exchange student at Chongqing University was inspired to learn Chinese because of the TFBoys, another Weibo user said that she was “very proud the day has come in which Chinese culture has been exported abroad and its soft power is growing.”

However, not everyone is China is convinced the TFBoys are good for the country. As the People’s Daily reported, one person wrote, “The celebration is shameless and servile. It has impaired the country’s dignity. How on earth can such a shallow and ridiculous show represent China’s modern culture? Fans should use the money to do something better, like helping delinquent students in China.”

The post China’s Soft Power is Growing, Say Fans of Pop Idol appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Mintel Report says 33 percent of Chinese consumers bought South Korean brands for their beauty needs, a market worth of 91 billion yuan ($13.7 billion) in 2015.

Vivienne Rudd, Director of Global Innovation and Market Researcher at Mintel, said the soft power influence of South Korean culture translates into big sales for the country’s beauty industry, which has a domestic market just a third the size of China’s.

“The success of South Korean brands has a lot to do with Chinese consumers copying the style of South Korean soap opera and music stars,” said Rudd. “They’ll even go so far as to get the particular products being used by these stars. The stores will try to get in the exact shades that South Korean actresses are using.”

“South Korean women are very much held up as the standard of beauty across Asia.”The demand for cosmetics is so big in China that beauty products have eclipsed groceries as the top-selling item in grocery stores. Meanwhile, male consumers of beauty products have become so common that male celebrities are often used to promote cosmetics.

The post South Korea’s Soft Power: Chinese Flock to Buy Korean Beauty Products appeared first on The Nanfang.

Xinhua analyzed 365,000 articles written about China’s high-speed rail system and found that 200,000 were “favorable” while 110,000 were “neutral”. Stories on science and technology also fared well. Of 301,000 stories on nuclear power, 164,000 were deemed favorable, while 78,000 were neutral. Nearly 60 percent of the the 15,000 stories on cloning technology were also favorable.

The big winner however was Chinese Nobel Prize-winning pharmacologist, Tu Youyou. Of the 22,000 stories Tu was referenced in, 17,000 of them were favorable. Other subjects receiving praise from foreign media included the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China’s UN peacekeeping work, its medical assistance to African nations, and the withdrawal of Chinese nationals from Yemen.

Of course, the Xinhua report didn’t address what exactly constituted a “positive” or “neutral” article. The article also failed to mention which articles were among the most “negative”.

Also worth mentioning was Chinese cuisine which, out of 354,000 stories, received 54 percent positive and 30 percent neutral reports. After all, who could say anything negative about food that reveals your fortune at the end?

The post The Foreign Press Loves China, Just Ask Xinhua appeared first on The Nanfang.

The leader of a caste council advocating “honor killings” explains it as follows:

“To my understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to [rape],” said Jitender Chhatar, and “chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance, evoking an urge to indulge in such acts.”

As the article “explains”, people have blamed everyone and everything except the rapists themselves.

In the face of a serious lack of evidence, we can safely assume that “Chinese noodles” can’t be considered a legitimate cause of rape. But, how can one associate a well-loved food with sexual violence? And why Chinese noodles, and not Italian noodles?

First of all, when Indians refer to “Chinese noodles”, they’re likely not referring to the “chowmein” that Americans may enjoy as take-out. Instead, Indians are referring to the Maggi brand of noodles:

Maggi noodles, made locally by Nestle India, are tremendously popular in India and control 90 percent of the market share. That is, they did until Maggi noodles were banned by various Indian authorities last June, when they were discovered to contain abnormally high levels of MSG and 17 times the permissible level of lead.

While this sparked a national food safety scandal, it did not diminish the public’s hunger for “Chinese noodles”. While Maggi’s instant noodles disappeared, competitors stepped in to fill consumer demand. Unfortunately, rumors abounded that some of these products were counterfeit, and had not been regulated.

Undaunted, Nestle India is looking to re-enter the Indian market by year’s end, no doubt encouraged by the recent “We Miss You Too” social media campaign for the return of Maggi’s instant noodles.

Food safety is not the sole reason Chinese noodles are controversial in India. Not only are they being blamed for rape, Chinese food products are perceived as eroding traditional Indian values. The upwardly-mobile middle class is looking to convenient, pre-packaged fast food over hand-made meals that take several hours to prepare.

The idea that a wholesome diet is the foundation for a wholesome lifestyle leads us back to India’s national discussion on sexual violence. Indian state minister, Vinay Bihari, advocated for a meat-free diet, saying that, “People who eat more non-vegetarian food like chicken and fish are more inclined towards carrying out molestation and rape,” adding that meat eating “leads to a hot temper”.

What isn’t being discussed is the link between the noodles and China: they are not made in China, and have almost no association with the country. One possibility may be that the Chinese flavors are the most popular of all the Maggi instant noodle flavors, even though curry-flavored variants are available.

In the end, and despite the trillions of dollars China spends on soft power every year, it actually doesn’t matter: China is inextricably linked with instant noodles in India. And, as the national debate about India’s sexual violence continues, so too will Chinese culture come under fire, if only by way of guilt by association.

The post India’s “Rape Culture” Blamed on Chinese Noodles appeared first on The Nanfang.

As captured in the documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School by the BBC, the experiment tried to determine if doing things the Chinese way can turn around a British education system with lagging students. However, what mostly happened was a clash of cultures in which teachers and students complained about each other.

Many of the Chinese teachers complained about the undisciplined and unfocused nature of the British students. Science teacher Yang Jun was completely flummoxed when a teenage girl left the classroom in tears upon reading tabloid news about a boy band. “In China we don’t need classroom management skills because everyone is disciplined by nature, by families, by society. I found it difficult to understand such emotional behavior over a pop band,” said Yang.

Meanwhile, 15 year-old Rosie Lunskey also expressed frustration with her new Chinese teachers. “I’m used to speaking my mind in class, being bold, giving ideas, often working in groups to advance my skills and improve my knowledge. But a lot of the time in the experiment, the only thing I felt I was learning was how to copy notes really fast and listen to the teacher lecture us.”

But the controversy didn’t end there. The Chinese teachers also pointed their criticism at the UK social welfare system for causing apathy among its students.

Mandarin teacher Wei Zhao said cuts to the welfare system will motivate students to learn. “Even if they don’t work, they can get money, they don’t worry about it,” said Wei. “But in China, they can’t get these things so they know ‘I need to study hard, I need to work hard to get money to support my family’. If they (the British government) really cut benefits down to force people to go to work, students might see things in a different way.”

Widely available on the internet in China, the BBC documentary caused a lot of discussion among Chinese netizens who looked upon their own experiences with the Chinese education system. Here is some of what they said:

舞者的武者：
Looking at it from another aspect, Chinese students are better able to suffer in silence than students in the UK. 

HHHHHH学院:
It’s like as though by using English-style teaching, the results are supposed to be more innovative. This is just a bunch of crappy students trying to find excuses, and it’s hilarious.

好大一只_蚊：
Actually, I really like the Chinese education system. If it were to become as open and free as the UK system then I think it would turn to rubbish, exploiting the nation’s welfare system.

瓜田澄思：
After the documentary aired, a person from the UK made a post on Twitter saying the vast majority of the students in the film have self-discipline problems, have trouble with comprehension, don’t respect the authority of teachers, and are a disgrace to the UK by losing face. This comment said the UK education system has spoiled these children rotten. If the future of their country is within the hands of these people, then a catastrophe is awaiting. The Chinese and UK systems of education are completely different from each other, and yet they both give rise to a similar concern that they both don’t work.

See Also: 8,000 Chinese Students Expelled from US Schools as They Struggle to Adjust

斯坦福桥的BlueSky：
Chinese and Western education systems each have their own pros and cons, and it’s hard to distinguish who is better or worse at whatever. But there is one thing that is for sure, and that is no matter which system they’re in, lazy people will always be losers!

徐欣V：
It really is just as the teacher said, we don’t have any way to learn the same way as UK students due to the way the things are right now in China. The pressure upon Chinese students to compete with each other is fierce. The population is high. If you don’t work hard, you will get eliminated.

十多年熬一锅粥：
Comparing the two to each other, it’s not a bad idea to use the strengths of others in order to make up for your own shortcomings. So if I were to have incorporated farming techniques as part of my education, I would have become the worst of all students.

古三界：
One way is to perform rote memorization, the other is individualized teaching. One way is to cultivate students to become obedient slaves, the other is cultivate their hobbies and interests.

斑马先生随行笔记：
Many people say that there’s no use to learning mathematics. They say, ‘Do you need to use algebra when buying vegetables?’ I just want to tell these people that upon learning mathematics, you won’t even need to look at the price of vegetables anymore.

大西北的吕先生：
To all the people who say that the Chinese education system has failed, I have to tell you that all the people that have passed through this system will go on to become the cornerstones of society. It may even be that they will become the leaders of China will come from these so-called failed education system. At that time, what are you going to do? Are we all going to die, then?

小小鹿汤圆：
I don’t understand why there are so many Chinese criticizing their own education system as being completely worthless. Other countries find merit and redeeming quality in our education system. Why can’t we be more tolerant and friendly towards our own country?

静夜之轩：
Many of the scientists in laboratories across the USA are from China. Does this not dispel the awful notion that Chinese people are not innovative? The Chinese education system is one where short-term gains can not be met. Even if you were to put US teachers into Chinese high school classes, one week would not be enough time to make an impact upon these students. As well, through the examination you can establish a sturdy base of knowledge as well as providing a way to achieve good results.

forever辰洋：
I don’t know if Chinese-style education in the UK would be at all effective, but I do know that UK-style education practiced in China would be completely useless.

哈哈公主o：
All of a sudden, I feel as though the Chinese-style education isn’t all that bad anymore.

o阿硫克o：
I feel relieved upon reading through the comments. A lot of people seem to understand, while those that don’t aren’t ever likely to understand, no matter which education system they come from. Lots of other countries are starting to study our education system. There will be those people who will invariably belittle and reject our way of learning. I completely believe that the future will belong to China.

allisonlian：
This kind of comparative test is significant. These two education models can increase their strengths through mutual advancement, and is worth exploring.

在自己的故事里成为强者：
Whatever suits the situation of their own country is best. The Chinese education system is not suitable for the UK, while the UK education system is not suitable for China.

L翘翘：
When I was younger I preferred the foreign education system, but now I find myself increasingly in favor of the Chinese system. Some people say that the Chinese education system doesn’t encourage innovation. A person who recently took the gaokao said the questions have all been reformed and don’t ask for the rote answers that were common a few years before. Now, the teacher tells us we should ask if we don’t understand something, and is more prone to discussing things with us. Students who are cultivated to be modest, understanding, and respectful of the authority of teachers will most likely become people who respect the older generation and follow order.

Related:

• Teacher in Foshan sends group text message to parents calling students “trash”
• 70 Students In Shanghai Caught Using Stand-ins To Take Their CET English Exams
• Chinese Spending Big Bucks On Housing In The Name Of Their Children’s Education

The post Chinese React to a Disastrous Experiment of Putting Chinese Teachers in a UK School appeared first on The Nanfang.

Beijing’s Olympic bid was supported by a delegation that included basketball star, Yao Ming, and rising hockey prospect, Song Anding. Although crowds cheered and waved flags in support of the bid, there didn’t seem to be as much netizen support as there was 14 years ago, when Beijing was awarded its first Olympic games:

三三胡子：
Here you are again, frickin’ using the sweat and blood of the common people just to give yourselves face. [angry.emoji]

流云_64814：
No idea how much taxpayers’ money they’re going to waste this time; no idea how much profit they’ll make from abuse and corruption.

cyjz80：
Numb. The people of China are weary at having to bid for all of these different sporting events. Numb! This has nothing to do with the ordinary people of China, and is just a huge waste of taxpayers money!

snailsnail1018：
Waste of time and money.

菜包子要加油：
What does a single dime of this have to do with me?

常州遥远：
A country bad at sports that thinks by holding the Olympic games it can raise its world standing. When the USA hosts the Olympic games, they make a profit, but when China hosts the games, they just burn (stacks of) money. And then when (China) gets hit with a (natural) disaster, it asks others for donations.

muscle贱贱：
This country is still ruled by the officials! History repeats itself.

黄花鱼的呐喊：
Waste of time and money. Here we go with another squandering of the public’s resources!!! [cry.emoji] [angry.emoji]

人称小武哥：
What is there to cheer about here?

文刀片：
With the application for the winter Olympic games successful, this again proves the mighty strength of China and its high position in the world. This will have a positive impact upon our country’s society, economy, politics, culture, and education among other areas. I heartily thank those hardworking workers and selfless Olympic staff members.

画圈圈的女鬼：
I don’t understand why other people are writing that this is a ‘waste of time and resources’

勿忘心安亦成彩：
Yes! We have succeeded!

xiaocici莹02：
So happy!!!!!

小小跟班班：
(directed towards the reporter who wrote the story) Did you prepare your draft in advance?

sese的浪味仙：
I saw the live broadcast [crying.emoji]

潇湘子_：
I knew (Beijing) would win because the (announcement) was broadcast live.

KumaQi熊麻麻：
China is terrific [heart.emoji]

周松_panda：
Bless our magnificent homeland.

汕头潮师新协会：
Looks like Beijing will have to roll out the “APEC blue” again.

-我一直都在-：
How come no one hugged Yao Ming (after the announcement)?

iamyu3307575161：
Beijing won’t be Beijing anymore. A complete mess!

Win4ever：
Waste of money, just burning taxpayers’ money.

淼淼微音：
Pity the masses; with no right to not support (the Olympic games), they have no choice but to back it.

小小sales：
Does this mean that we’re going to have to delay our retirement again?

我把小张吓飞了：
Excited!

水哥38154：
Has nothing to do with the common people.

(The following comments are in response to news that the air in Beijing will be cleaned up by 2022)

晴月12345：
Last year it was said that it will take at least 30 years to clean it up. Is this some kind of quickening?

特别不能用：
In fact, if he said that the probably will be solved by tomorrow, I’ll still believe him.

wkakawa：
Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, and Shandong will all suffer a calamity as a result.

漂泊的魷魚：
They made this same amazing boast for the ’08 games as well.

又蒙了：
Again they’ll make people in (neighboring) Hebei stop burning (fuel).

old杨_t9c：
Close or suspend factories, limit car use, shut down construction sites. But once the foreigners leave, it’ll be the (same) behavior again!

The post Chinese Netizens React To Winning The 2022 Winter Olympics appeared first on The Nanfang.

London-based political consultancy firm Portland Communications released a ranking of 30 countries that compares their soft power resources through six different categories: government, culture, education, global engagement, enterprise and digital. As part of the study, over 7,000 people in 20 countries were polled throughout the world.

Despite its good intentions, China ranked last, with the report saying much of the success China has been able to achieve has been undone by its policies on censorship, restrictions of personal rights and freedoms, and its foreign policy.

It’s not for lack of trying, though. China has set up thousands of Confucius Institutes, established the Xinhua news agency throughout the world, and held international events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. For China, the price of soft power is not cheap. According to Chinese foreign policy expert David Shambaugh, China spends around $10 billion annually on “external propaganda”.China spends around $10 billion annually on “external propaganda”. And when including economic policies and investments like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or the “Belt and Road” initiative, this sum jumps to $1.41 trillion.

So with all the money being spent, why is China still so sorely lacking in soft power?

Shambaugh describes the inability of China to launch an international charm offensive: “While China’s economic prowess impresses much of the world, its repressive political system and mercantilist business practices tarnish its reputation.”

Portland Communications said China’s political system “has not kept pace with the nation’s economic dynamism”, to which public polls show a lack of trust in China to “do the right thing in global affairs”. These opinions are reflected in China ranking last in the “government” and “digital” categories.

And yet, China looks to improve its soft power in other ways. In a New Year’s speech last year, President Xi Jinping said China “needs to build its capacity in international communication, construct a communication system, better use new media and increase the creativity, appeal and credibility of China’s publicity” in order to strengthen its soft power.

A 2010 People’s Daily Online op-ed also looked at soft power, saying that it can be achieved by “preventing giant foreign media agencies from monopolizing the right of voice, enabling foreign people to hear the voice of China and popularizing actual and outstanding Chinese culture”.

That sounds like it will cost a lot of money. However, as pointed out by Portland Communications, one country is making huge advances in soft power this year, and they’re not spending a dime to achieve it. India wasn’t on the Soft Power 30 yet, but was praised by Portland Communications for its advancements in soft power that were mostly due to its new leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was lauded for his use of digital tools as he has launched several initiatives on social media. In fact, Modi’s Facebook page is cited as having the most engagement out of any world leader.

It may seem strange for China to spend so much money on something just to get such little return. But the People’s Daily Online suggests, the reason why soft power is so expensive is because you have to pay for it:

China needs to take all kinds of measures to educate the world about China so they can love it.

Maybe the problem isn’t the amount being spent, but the message.

The post China Ranks Last in Soft Power, Despite Spending Billions to Buy It appeared first on The Nanfang.

The China Cherry Blossom Industry Association held a press conference in Guangzhou to say that both Japan and South Korea are wrong, and that the origin of the Yoshino cherry blossom tree is in fact China itself. Acting director of the association He Zongru referenced a Japanese cherry monograph to prove that Japan didn’t have cherry trees at all originally; he said they were introduced from China during the Tang Dynasty. “Simply put, cherry blossoms first originated in China before being developed and brought to Japan, and has nothing to do with South Korea,” said He.

He asserts that the origin of the cherry blossom tree is very important to each of the countries involved because they are a source of that country’s soft power. “As Chinese, we have a responsibility to let everyone know of this history,” he said. Zhang Zuoshuang with the China botanical institute emphasized China’s international role in developing the cherry blossom tree. Out of the 150 wild varieties of cherry blossom trees, China has 50.

However, He and his supporters may have missed the point of contention in the feud between Japan and South Korea. While there are several varieties of cherry blossoms, the feud is over origin of the Yoshino, a unique species of cherry tree noted for its distinctive and beautiful flowers as well as the way the tree propagates. Producing no seeds of its own, Yoshino cherry trees are grafted from existing ones in a cloning process that makes each of them siblings to each other.

The feud over the origin of the Yoshino appeared to have ended in 2007 when the Japanese Yoshino cherry and Korean King cherry, the two trees native to their respective countries, were shown to be two separate and distinct species. However, the King cherry of South Korea is still thought to be the same as the Yoshino cherry, meaning the debate rages on. There’s no debate in China, though. Chinese people were asked “Where do cherry trees come from?” in a Sohu poll and an overwhelming majority, 86 percent, said “China”.

The post China and Japan Go to War… Over the Origins of the Famous Cherry Blossoms appeared first on The Nanfang.