Is it true that young Chinese people love everything American?

[michaelf]

I've heard that the younger people in China, particularly the post-90s generation, all love everything to do with the United States - from McDonalds to the NBA and NFL, capitalism and republican democracy, and they eat cheese, and listen to rap music and all want to look like Miley Cyrus. Is this generally true or do people make more of a big deal of this than the reality would justify?

[ChTTay]

It's hard to generalize people in a country as big as China.

 

From my own personal observations and experiences, Chinese people have taken to western fast food quite well but it's not the same as in the West. They have done a pretty good job of changing the menus for local tastes. KFC just introduced a rice meal with chicken and vegetables as one way to try and win back customers after all the scandals they've had. I remember coming to China in 2009 and found it crazy McDonalds sold prawn balls WITH the tail sticking out of the deep fried balls.

 

Equally, a lot of High School and University males seem to like to play Basketball and watch it. Playing it is definitely very popular. Everyday at my University the outdoor courts had people playing, regardless if there was snow or not.  For all the guys that like basket ball though, there are probably more who don't like it that much. Maybe they just play it because their friends do. If you go to a badminton court here there are many, many people who seem to love Badminton. For example, a local court is often so booked out you need to plan 2 weeks in advance if you want to play. American football has hardly any footing in Chinese sports. There is a SINICA podcast on this topic if you're interested.

 

In terms of dressing, no Miley Cyrus's that i've seen ... barely any 'hip hop' type of guys either. I can't remember seeing any.

 

Capitalism. Who doesn't love living above the poverty line, right?

 

Cheese. A lot of my students don't like it unless it's on something in a small-ish amount like when it's on a hamburger or pizza. Equally, there idea of 'cheese' is usually plasticy burger cheese with little flavor.

 

So, if speaking generally, some Chinese people do like a lot of stuff that has come from America. But it's not any kind of 'Murica-Mania' over here, far from it i'd say.

[liuzhou]

When you ever read or hear that "all" people do "something", you can be pretty sure it isn't true. Some do, many don't.

 

Basketball is very popular but not because it's American. I'm sure many of the people playing it don't even know or care where it originated (Actually, it was invented by a Canadian - although he was in the USA at the time). 

 

Western fast food places such as KFC and McDs are fashionable, but you wouldn't recognise much of the menu - it has been sinocised. However, they have been hurting recently after some food scandals.

 

Chinese pop music is MUCH more popular than American. Canto-pop from Hong Kong and pop from Taiwan particularly.

 

China is a capitalist country. No matter how much they pretend otherwise. Few young people even understand what "democracy" really means.

 

Few people eat cheese.

[Mindmaxd]

Well not all and it also depends on the people and areas.east part are more than middle and west in China.

[maomao2014]

I think South Korean or Japanese things are more popular for Chinese young people. 

[LiMo]

I've heard much the same as maomao (hey, I live in London too

 

Perhaps American stuff was popular in the nineties or early noughties but I think the current fad is K-pop/K-drama type stuff. To delve deeply into that ever so vivid and oh so representative pool of evidence that is anecdote, a girl I know is heavily into K-pop, she's part of a dance group, has dyed her hair orange, and dresses in pseudo-hip hop American rapper style clothes, wears hats baseball caps that say "BOY" on them, and has the heights of all the hottest male K-pop stars pencilled in on her wardrobe door.

 

I'm not judging, she's very nice (although she seems to disdain British tea  )

 

Further to that "evidence" I've also heard from other people that South Korean stuff is really popular in China at the moment.

[maomao2014]

@LiMo nice to meet you here

[Johnny20270]

Might be the fact that USA is the most dominant country in the world. Dunno.

 

I do find it pretty sad when some Chinese people are overly pro-American and acting like they are straight out of the Bronx. One guy near me looks like a Chinese version of vanilla Ice (Vanilla 冰) or when a western guy goes all completely OTT native in China, quoting Confucius every 5 seconds.

 

Find your own identity, not someone else

 

I cringe when I hear a western person overly using 哎哟 

[liuzhou]

 

she seems to disdain British tea

 

British tea? From the tea plantations in Kent, no doubt.