Berkley Center

Globalization has clearly done a great deal for China. Beginning in 1978, economic reforms gradually increased China’s engagement with the rest of the world. This resulted in unprecedented growth and allowed hundreds of millions of people to escape from poverty. That being said, however, the country still faces an abundance of challenges: corruption, increasing wealth disparity, and human rights concerns, among others. China has achieved impressive progress thanks to its economic liberalization, but this advancement has certainly come at a cost.

Try as it might, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot reap the economic benefits of globalization while simultaneously isolating its citizens from new cultural, religious, and political traditions. Fancying itself as an alternative to the Washington Consensus, the CCP has repeatedly denounced Western culture, citing it as a threat to Chinese society. Hu Jintao addressed this issue last October at the sixth session of the 17th National Congress of the CCP: “Ideology and cultural fields are the focal areas of the hostile forces’ long-term infiltration efforts.”

Political rhetoric aside, globalization has facilitated huge changes in China. A particularly interesting illustration of this change is the somewhat contradictory relationship between Chinese society and Western culture. While the CCP does not reflect the views of the general public, I have noticed a general sense of cultural superiority amongst the Chinese people. At the same time, however, there is a puzzling idealization of certain aspects of Western culture.

China has a very long collective memory, and the historical basis for its sense of Sino superiority dates far back into the age of the emperors. Many point to the host of technological and intellectual advancements that originated in China, and the fact that foreign invaders adapted to the Chinese culture rather than imposing their own, is used as evidence for Sino superiority. China in Chinese is Zhōngguó, which literally translates to "Middle Kingdom," reflecting the notion that China is the center of the world, the only civilized culture that existed. Sino supremacy remained China’s official stance until the “Century of Humiliation” and the fall of the dynastic period, which was marked by continuous imperial invasions by American, European, and Japanese adversaries.

Today China is experiencing power and prestige once again, and I have noticed a slight sense of superiority among many of the people with whom I’ve interacted; it’s not so much a bombastic arrogance, but rather an casual and matter-of-fact presumption of Chinese primacy. For instance, there was one student who, until he traveled abroad, legitimately believed that the entire world considered Mao Zedong to be the most renowned figure in human history. Looking at the world maps in my classrooms, I noticed that the alignment is different; on Chinese maps, China sits in the very center. The Chinese public subscribes to a sense of self-appreciation that is implicitly agreed upon yet rarely vocalized.

While this attitude is widespread, many aspects of Western culture are idealized as symbols of status and beauty. As I walked through my local mall, which caters primarily to Chinese customers, I noticed that the majority of advertisements, both for foreign and local stores, featured Western models. Even the ads that depicted Asian models mirrored Western facial features: large eyes, pronounced noses, and colored contacts. Less than a week later, I received an email offering part-time employment to male and female foreigners. The job, which involved promotion for a furniture store, required no previous experience; the only requirements were “Western looks.” It paid RMB 150 per hour, which translates to over $20 and is ridiculously high pay in China.

I talked to some friends and Chinese students about the offer, but no one seemed surprised. They told me that large eyes, light skin, and a pronounced bridge of the nose were considered beautiful by Chinese standards. These were the features common among Chinese celebrities and models, yet it still seemed a bit odd to me. Chinese culture is generally a much bigger fan of itself than it is of the West, but it simultaneously assesses beauty according to Western norms. The country’s economic growth has provided those who aren’t born with these features with the means to purchase them.

Cosmetic surgery in China was basically nonexistent in the 1980s, used only in cases of physical deformity. Today, however, it is a $2.5 billion industry, and China now ranks third in the world for plastic surgery after the United States and Brazil. While there are foreigners drawn by lower prices who undergo surgery in China, the vast majority of these surgeries are performed on Chinese citizens. Eyelid surgery is by far the most popular procedure, and nose jobs come in at a distant second. Many of those surveyed claim they got the surgery to increase their chances of finding a spouse, accelerating their career, or both. Status and beauty are an extremely important in China, and I found it ironic that so many people are paying for Western-looking features in an attempt to advance in Chinese society.

There are a variety of explanations for this situation: cultural imperialism, the negative effects of the media, and materialistic consumerism brought on by economic liberalization and access to Western products. In all honesty, I cannot begin to explain the roots beneath the idealization of Western standards of beauty, especially in a society that is so confident in the quality of its own culture. What I can say, however, is that it further illustrates the all-encompassing nature of globalization; it cannot be segmented, nor can governments pick and choose where and how globalization will affect their societies.

There are obviously more concerns in China beyond changes in the standards of beauty and an increase in the number of plastic surgeries. At the same time, however, these phenomena illustrate the extent to which the open flow of information, people, and products has influenced China’s culture. I can agree with the CCP on one thing: the West has most definitely affected Chinese society. But it hasn’t been in the form of long-term, strategic infiltration efforts aimed at undermining the country’s heritage. Rather, it is the natural result of China’s international engagement; you cannot sever the political and cultural effects of globalization from the economic ones. One could say that this is the cost of becoming a world power. And political rhetoric cannot change that.