I do want to see where China goes with soft power.
I’m ashamed about the amount of my life I’ve wasted in Genshin and Where Winds Meet, but it still feels like the a lot of their cultural exports haven’t cracked the “just exotic enough for broad global appeal” that big-brand anime or K-pop have hit.
If nothing else, imagine they treat it with the same strategic importance they gave industrial dominance. There would be a room full of very stern and sincere Vice-Ministers for Waifu Development and Fanboy Accelerstion.
but it still feels like the a lot of their cultural exports haven’t cracked the “just exotic enough for broad global appeal” that big-brand anime or K-pop have hit.
Because China doesn’t give a shit about what Westerners think of their media. Most Japanese and Korean media, certainly the big name big budget ones, are very intentional and strategic about capturing the Western market because it’s part of their business model and they depend on Western revenue to get a sufficient return. I’m part of the Chinese diaspora and my parents have to VPN into China or rely on pirate reuploads hosted on YouTube or otherwise outside China just to watch their favourite shows because the Western entertainment market is irrelevant to the producing companies.
Same with games actually. Genshin and similar are specifically designed for the Western market and AFAIK isn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to the ecosystem of Chinese domestic games that you’ve never heard of because they don’t get marketed anywhere else. China really doesn’t give nearly as much of a shit about pop culture “influence” beyond its borders as most Western countries do.
I do want to see where China goes with soft power.
I’m ashamed about the amount of my life I’ve wasted in Genshin and Where Winds Meet, but it still feels like the a lot of their cultural exports haven’t cracked the “just exotic enough for broad global appeal” that big-brand anime or K-pop have hit.
If nothing else, imagine they treat it with the same strategic importance they gave industrial dominance. There would be a room full of very stern and sincere Vice-Ministers for Waifu Development and Fanboy Accelerstion.
Because China doesn’t give a shit about what Westerners think of their media. Most Japanese and Korean media, certainly the big name big budget ones, are very intentional and strategic about capturing the Western market because it’s part of their business model and they depend on Western revenue to get a sufficient return. I’m part of the Chinese diaspora and my parents have to VPN into China or rely on pirate reuploads hosted on YouTube or otherwise outside China just to watch their favourite shows because the Western entertainment market is irrelevant to the producing companies.
Same with games actually. Genshin and similar are specifically designed for the Western market and AFAIK isn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to the ecosystem of Chinese domestic games that you’ve never heard of because they don’t get marketed anywhere else. China really doesn’t give nearly as much of a shit about pop culture “influence” beyond its borders as most Western countries do.
They have quite a bit of work to do though, with all the slander they’ve endured.