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What would a China-led world order look like, in cultural terms?
Its a hypothetical, so let's set aside the probability of such a future for the moment.
Part of what made the US so uniquely influential over the world was that its primary language is widely spoken across the world. And American books and movies feature events and histories from across the world. These two factors have allowed the US to transmit its culture and values far and wide. Americanism is now the de facto culture of the Western web, and it has shaped the cultures of countries as diverse as India, Australia, Israel, the UK, Philippines, etc. Hollywood, comics, animations even back in the rubber hose and classical Disney era, were very popular globally.
But right now, Chinese culture is largely closed off from the outside world. Chinese books and movies are mainly about China. Furthermore, few people outside of China speak Chinese. However, this might not necessarily be a barrier for China to project its cultural capital. Hong Kong films have been very popular outside China too. Kung Fu icons like Bruce Lee left a lasting impact on Hollywood. While this seems to have retreated as a trend in recent years, the mainland Chinese developer Game Science Interactive seems to be intent on marketing Black Myth Wukong to the global audience. And of course, there's Japanese anime and video games, Kpop and Kdrama that have penetrated into the western market despite lingual barriers. Films coming out of mainland China are targeted at the Chinese audience, so they'll likely maintain some form of insularity? The Battle at Lake Changjin and its sequel were extremely successful, easily held up by their massive domestic market. I think HK films will also increasingly rely on the Chinese market as the Kung Fu magic isn't quite working anymore.
Furthermore, if China does compete in cultural hegemony, would the US finally be forced to roll back on its own excesses re wokeism? Or would China continue to be inward looking and be content with its economic weight, and the US would remain the cultural hegemon?
More xianxia webnovels, more sci-fi and more Genshin Impact-esque games. Thematically, more science, male heroism and order.
Xianxia/Cultivation has been taking off for some years now in male-dominated places like royalroad, spacebattles and progressionfantasy on reddit. We've got Westerners with their own takes on the themes (sects, vast power differences, showing face) like Will Wight's Cradle series. I particularly liked Reverend Insanity. Long, somewhat edgy but rational, excellent worldbuilding, plot and thematic content. It got cancelled by some state apparatus for being too individualistic and anti-social, or possibly due to author jealousy. This state focus on order is a running theme.
I think there's a Chinese predilection towards old-school science fiction that we no longer hold. One of the secondary themes of the Three Body Problem series is that environmentalism is a misanthropic plot to weaken humanity and leave it vulnerable to alien invaders. Technology is great, it's the source of power, sovereignty and all good things. You wouldn't see a heavyweight Western novel with that perspective - environmentalism is too holy to be questioned. There's also the lone male hero who takes ultimate responsibility (something in common with xianxia perhaps). If the Chinese are in charge, science and engineering might become sexy again. The Wandering Earth was one of their biggest films, again a testament to engineering and planning.
On that point, I'll also raise Dyson Sphere Program. Steam game, Chinese developer. You are an uploaded human in a robot body who gets sent out to build industrial infrastructure across the galaxy, bootstrapping dozens of Dyson Spheres where uploaded humanity dwells. It's a very cheerful, pretty, fun game that I thoroughly recommend. The interpretation I get from it is like Thiel's 'definite optimist' concept: 'We are making utopia according to plan'. If you compare to Factorio, there's no environmentalist angle. The eventual, as yet unimplemented, enemies are motivated to suppress you before you get too threatening rather than aliens who hate you for ripping up their planet.
And finally we have Genshin Impact, the most popular Chinese cultural export. Cute girls killing monsters in an upbeat, pretty world. The American equivalent is probably GTA or possibly Skyrim (primarily singleplayer open world but with some multiplayer capabilities), which is the exact opposite. Order vs Chaos, Beauty vs Grunge. Western RPGs focus more on player freedom, Genshin is more about immersing you in this happy, pretty place.
I think the US would have to make some concessions on wokism. I assume people heard about the Chinese fellow who promised to use AI to whitewash the upcoming little mermaid movie. I'm astonished this didn't get discussed more given the intersection between AI and race politics. Maybe I'm just a goldfish and forgot about it.
https://meaww.com/halle-or-ariel-disney-fans-spark-outrage-as-ai-scientist-whitewash-halle-bailey-with-a-white-woman
I guess the Chinese are more technophilic than we are currently simply because they've been alive to witness their country become an economic and technological contender with the West.
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