Wait 10 years and Shanghai will show you what is the cultural capital of the universe
No. I’m sorry that’s just not happening. Not as long as so much of Chinese cultural products exist entirely for internal consumption.
Edit:
Right now if I’m going to consume Chinese media I have to seek it out, and I have to put in some effort if I want to consume it in a way that is legible to me as a person who does not speak Mandarin. If I want to see a thing that is entirely up its own ass about new york I have to turn on the TV, and I am not in America.
And even if that changed tomorrow, there would still be entire generations (In fact, every living generation) that grew up with and were influenced by American media and not Chinese media and it would take years upon years just to change that, and again that is assuming that tomorrow I would turn on the TV or the radio or turn on a popular streaming service and the first results would be Chinese media.
I’m sorry that’s just not happening. Not as long as so much of Chinese cultural products exist entirely for internal consumption.
Not now, but I did say in 10 years.
First, Shanghai is not so much Chinese, but an international city. It is the most Westernized city far beyond anywhere else in China.
What makes NYC the cultural hub is not that it is the epitome of American culture (you can find more authentic American vibes in any Southern city), but that it is an international city made up of enclaves of immigrants who brought their own culture into the mix.
Like NYC, Shanghai is the financial center of the nation. Comparing Shanghai to other major Chinese industrial cities, say Zhengzhou in Henan, is like comparing NYC to, say, Atlanta. Very different vibes.
And like NYC, the rent and property prices are way beyond what most young people can afford, and the people there have a smugness not seen in other cities except for maybe Beijing and Hangzhou, though not at the level of New Yorkers yet.
Second, Shanghai already has the ingredients for becoming an international cultural hub, but it needs time.
How do I know this? First, we need to ask, what is it that makes NYC a cultural hub? I’ve mentioned above that it has a lot of immigrants of diverse backgrounds, but as a metric of cultural centers, NYC has international cultural activities that you simply cannot find in the vast majority of the cities in the world outside of their own places of origin.
This is going to sound funny, but bear with me: let’s say I want to learn a niche African tribal dance (just an example, it can be any form of international cultural activity), I can easily find an expert teacher in NYC. Believe it or not, these days you can similarly find them in Shanghai. You simply cannot find similar dance studios with such world-class teachers in most cities in the world. That’s what makes these cities candidates for international cultural hubs.
It is true that Shanghai does not yet have the immigration numbers compared to NYC, but the shifting in geopolitical power in the coming decades can change that. China does need to relax its immigration policy, and the recent K visas for foreigners can help, but the most important part is that the basic ingredients are already there.
What Shanghai will always lose out to NYC though, are all the stolen artefacts from other cultures and civilizations that you find in the Met.
No. I’m sorry that’s just not happening. Not as long as so much of Chinese cultural products exist entirely for internal consumption.
Edit: Right now if I’m going to consume Chinese media I have to seek it out, and I have to put in some effort if I want to consume it in a way that is legible to me as a person who does not speak Mandarin. If I want to see a thing that is entirely up its own ass about new york I have to turn on the TV, and I am not in America.
And even if that changed tomorrow, there would still be entire generations (In fact, every living generation) that grew up with and were influenced by American media and not Chinese media and it would take years upon years just to change that, and again that is assuming that tomorrow I would turn on the TV or the radio or turn on a popular streaming service and the first results would be Chinese media.
Not now, but I did say in 10 years.
First, Shanghai is not so much Chinese, but an international city. It is the most Westernized city far beyond anywhere else in China.
What makes NYC the cultural hub is not that it is the epitome of American culture (you can find more authentic American vibes in any Southern city), but that it is an international city made up of enclaves of immigrants who brought their own culture into the mix.
Like NYC, Shanghai is the financial center of the nation. Comparing Shanghai to other major Chinese industrial cities, say Zhengzhou in Henan, is like comparing NYC to, say, Atlanta. Very different vibes.
And like NYC, the rent and property prices are way beyond what most young people can afford, and the people there have a smugness not seen in other cities except for maybe Beijing and Hangzhou, though not at the level of New Yorkers yet.
Second, Shanghai already has the ingredients for becoming an international cultural hub, but it needs time.
How do I know this? First, we need to ask, what is it that makes NYC a cultural hub? I’ve mentioned above that it has a lot of immigrants of diverse backgrounds, but as a metric of cultural centers, NYC has international cultural activities that you simply cannot find in the vast majority of the cities in the world outside of their own places of origin.
This is going to sound funny, but bear with me: let’s say I want to learn a niche African tribal dance (just an example, it can be any form of international cultural activity), I can easily find an expert teacher in NYC. Believe it or not, these days you can similarly find them in Shanghai. You simply cannot find similar dance studios with such world-class teachers in most cities in the world. That’s what makes these cities candidates for international cultural hubs.
It is true that Shanghai does not yet have the immigration numbers compared to NYC, but the shifting in geopolitical power in the coming decades can change that. China does need to relax its immigration policy, and the recent K visas for foreigners can help, but the most important part is that the basic ingredients are already there.
What Shanghai will always lose out to NYC though, are all the stolen artefacts from other cultures and civilizations that you find in the Met.
well that’s not happening anytime soon