Chapter 31 Chapter 12 Local Culture in Globalization

——The Cultural Revolution is about to begin in 999. In my book Lexus and the Olive Tree, I try to describe the forces that led to the globalization of the world at the end of the 20th century, and the impact of globalization on economics, politics, geopolitics, environment and culture.After the first edition was published, some readers complained to me that I did not go further than I did in Lexus and the Olive Tree, on the impact of the flattening of the world on global culture in the 21st century.I admit not to have gone any further in this regard because I haven't had enough time to think about it.This updated version gives me the opportunity to catch up on this work.

The flattening of the world has indeed had surprising, important, and specious effects on world culture. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the process of flattening the world has accelerated rapidly, and many people have also become quite worried, worrying that "globalization means Americanization."Such worries are not unreasonable, because the world is full of American manufacturers and service providers, American brands and American filmmakers, American singers and actors, American clothing designers and American fast food chains.They had the best vantage point to be the first to taste the benefits of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the flattening of the world.Inevitably they will use the flat world to sell American culture, and no matter how tenaciously local distinctive clothing, language, food or music hold their own, people will eventually worry that their own cultural traditions may be easily eroded.In this protracted struggle, American culture seemed destined to win.Globalization has grown an American face, with an American expression, full of American taste.

All these changes will have an impact on globalization in the form of "American cultural imperialism".Many around the world claim that unless we take serious steps to protect our native cultures and natural environments, American-style globalization will, in the coming decades, wipe out the cultural, ecological, and animal ties that took tens of billions of years to evolve around the world. diversity. As I have explained in previous chapters, the flattening of the world has not reduced the dangers to the environment. However, as far as culture is concerned, we have reason to believe that the process of world flattening will not necessarily lead to the assimilation of various cultures.

Indeed, rather than the assimilation of cultures by competing platforms in a flat world, their potential to diversify the world to an unprecedented degree is more powerful. Why?Mainly because people have the ability to "upload". "Uploading" can make local culture an integral part of globalization.Many people around the world now have tools to create or upload their own unique things: local news reports, their own opinions, their own music, their own videos, their own photos, their own software, their own encyclopedias, their own dictionary.All these behaviors converge into a powerful force, which protects and strengthens the unique style of native culture.The flat world competition platform provides you with the opportunity to present your local culture to the world.That means you're no longer limited to just downloading Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.No, no, no.You can now write your own songs, create a blog in your favorite language, put it on a blog site and share it with others.

You can now also use an inexpensive computer camera and the video-editing software that comes with Microsoft's operating system to shoot and make video productions and upload them online.The most popular video in the world today isn't a Big Mac, it's a pizza. What is pizza?Pizza is a piece of dough sprinkled with various small foods and seasonings. The small foods and seasonings sprinkled in different cultures are different, so pizzas with different flavors can be produced.For example, Japan makes sushi pizza, Bangkok makes Thai style pizza, and Lebanon makes mezze pizza.Competitive platforms in the flat world are like the dough for pizza.It allows cultures to adjust their tastes to their liking, which will become more and more commonplace.

At the same time, fast-growing developing countries like China and India have acquired the ability to innovate without immigration.This means that there are increased opportunities for indigenous cultures to be preserved and flourished.A young Indian engineer no longer has to stand in long lines outside the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, begging to be granted a U.S. visa. He or she doesn't have to give up his or her ethnic clothing, ethnic food, ethnic music, and own family to go to Minnesota alone in order to get a decent engineering job at 3M USA.This is good news for the preservation of indigenous Indian culture.Culture is inseparable from the environment in which it lives, and more and more people can survive in a flat world at home, and even have more opportunities for development.In the competition between the forces that promote cultural pluralism and those that promote cultural assimilation, the former becomes stronger.

Moreover, even those who had to leave their country for the West—particularly Europe or the United States—were able to take advantage of the flat world to retain many of the characteristics of their native culture.Even if they live thousands of miles away in a completely different cultural atmosphere, they can use the Internet to read the news of their country, can communicate with relatives and friends through Internet calls at almost no cost, and can watch Internet or satellite TV from Cairo and Kolkata's daily news (in both Arabic and Hindi), both forces remain unique and convergent as strong.

Of course, the Americanization trend in the process of globalization remains a powerful force.It cannot be underestimated by anyone. But, in any case, in the more than 10 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, globalization has not necessarily led to people gradually seeing, speaking, singing, dancing, and thinking like Americans. By chance, I heard for the first time the views of an Indian-born expert on the issue of "the impact of globalization on local culture". He is Indrajit, Secretary General of Asia Media Communications Corporation.Banerjee. September 11, 2005, Indrajit.Banerjee speaks to Felix of The Straits Times in Singapore.Shao said in an interview: It is a phenomenon that no matter where people are scattered in the world, people will use today's global media network to pay more attention to their local news, traditions and friends.When Shao introduces his interview with Banerjee, he refers to the "globalization of local cultural participation" as "inverted globalization".In addition to global media coverage of Asia, local "native" media is also going global.This phenomenon of "globalization of native cultural participation" is caused by the strong demand for local news and information among the Asian diaspora (especially Chinese and Indian diasporas around the world).

Banerjee holds a doctorate in communications from the Sorbonne in Paris and is currently teaching at a university in Singapore. In an interview with The Straits Times, he said: "It is widely believed that globalization in Asia is going to be Anglophone, but that's not the case. You can start international newspapers, international broadcasting channels in local languages ​​for expats. .” This is what I mean by “globalization of local culture participation.” It is not that the world surrounds us, but the local wants to go to the world. Today, there are many TV stations in the United Kingdom and the United States whose programs are all in Chinese, all in Spanish, all in Arabic or all in Japanese.Banerjee added: "If you have a country with a population spread all over the world, you can effectively broadcast via satellite platforms to small groups scattered around the world. If you add up these small groups, you have a huge global market. .”

Shao pointed out that Zee TV, India's largest entertainment network, has blazed the trail for other Indian TV channels in Asia.Banerjee said: "Zee TV has a very clear Indian market, which is the Indian diaspora. Its programs are in Hindi.For Zee TV, competitiveness is absolutely not a problem, and it does not need to consider audiences in other languages ​​at all. He also said: "Of course, in the near future, Asia will also become a major producer of media content, which will be a very meaningful development."For a long time in the past, Asia mainly imported programs from the West.And now, because we've grown up and matured, our media experience has grown.This, combined with Asia's own rich cultural heritage, will make this region of great potential a center for programming deals.

India has a huge film industry and it also produces a lot of TV content.South Korea and Japan are strong in animation...I'm a firm believer that only a combination of places makes globalization interesting.The experience and content of each region should be presented, not a single program producer, and the world should not be dominated by one language, one cultural viewpoint, or one ideology. “India, for example, has developed into an outsourcing platform for game and animation design. When I visited these companies, one of the presidents said something to me that really touched me. Ashish, who works at Jadoo Works in the Bangalore area Kulkarni and Ku explained to me that India has a large number of traditional painters who could easily transition to computer graphics. Most of these artists are the children of Indian temple sculptors and painters. Kulkarni said: "We trained them to convert traditional techniques into electronic animation." However, in order to preserve their traditional Indian painting techniques, Jadoo Works also set aside a room for these painters to practice ethnic painting. These two technologies can enhance each other.A company like Jadoo Works that caters to the global market can provide the best and lowest cost painters at any time.But before the world became flat, there were no such companies in India.Now, a new generation of Indian painters has at least the chance to maintain and improve their craft without driving taxis for a living.Kulkarni said: "We now tell parents that if your child can draw up to grade 7, then you should consider a career in animation. That was difficult five years ago, but today, through a lot of coverage , we can persuade them to consider inheriting the skills passed down from their parents."I interviewed Kulkanee Deepak, a 28-year-old computer painter who works at Jadoo Works.Ganguly, he said: "My parents were both artists, my mother was a sculptor at home, and my father was a rug designer who designed Indian rugs. I grew up in the atmosphere, so I also entered this field. Before 3D (three-dimensional computer design) drawing method came to India, I had already started my animation career, but at that time I was just a 2D animation designer, engaged in Design work on classic animations in 2D. After a few years, when 3D was quietly taking off in India, I decided to upgrade my skills. I used to work in a small studio in Derry, and I used to watch movies like Star Wars and study the computer production of them.Then I got another opportunity to learn technology. "Globalization has enabled Ganguly to learn technology and sell his technology all over the world," he said. "Through electronic media, sharing becomes easy. We can easily get jobs here, and at the same time, we can easily distribute Our technology is transferred elsewhere. “Many critics see globalization as merely an expansion of capitalism, international brands, and fast-food box consumer values ​​that will crowd out warmth, comfort, regional prosperity, local industry, and local culture. Of course, in some times and in some places, globalization has Forces do produce some of the effects described above; however, globalization should be more than simply the expansion of capital and markets or the intensification of trade. It is not merely an economic A deeper and more complex phenomenon, involving many new forms of communication and innovation. The flattening of the world provides a global platform for the distribution of work, the dissemination of knowledge, and the sharing of entertainment.It is reasonable to worry that globalization will shatter traditional culture, but if we ignore its significance for enhancing individual capabilities and enriching cultural content, we will ignore its potential positive effects on human freedom and diversity.My point here is not that a flat world always enriches and preserves culture; my point is that it doesn't always destroy culture, which is something to think about when you hear critiques of globalization.The iron law of globalization is simple: if you think of it as all good or all bad, you won't get it.Globalization is a double-edged sword, with both positive and negative effects. It's about the global market, but it's also about the Internet and Google. We should not doubt that the flat world empowers both darkness and light.You can upload homemade pornography, narrow nationalist leanings, lies, intrigue, and nonsense, and you can spread that stuff more easily, faster, and farther on flat-world platforms. On September 19, 2005, "The New York Times" published an article about a boy in his teens, Justin.Berry's jaw-dropping cover story.He performed undressing, bathing, masturbating and even having sex in front of a webcam audience of more than 1,500 people who paid him tens of thousands of dollars.Ironically, they paid online through eBay's Paypal.com. For all these reasons, our task is not to jettison the platform, but to extract its best and discard its dross. At the time of this book's publication, Google already supports 116 different languages, ranging from Arabic and Zulu to several Chinese versions.The more easily people can communicate in their native languages, the more likely their languages ​​and scripts will survive, and the more likely people will use those languages ​​without feeling pressured to speak in English.Search is one of the 10 factors that contribute to flattening, and as search engines gradually expand to every corner of this flat world, the globalization of local cultural participation will also be strengthened. Even without the Internet, the flattening of the world will bring differences to different corners of the world.There are more radios, televisions, telephones and more travel and more trade in the world today.Princeton professor and philosopher Kwame was born in Ghana.Anthony.Appiah articulated this influence in an essay he wrote for The New York Times (January 1, 2006) titled "The Case for Pollution."By interviewing the Kumasi region of Ghana, which is where he grew up, Kwame.Anthony.Appiah cites multiple instances in which people on the African continent today, even the villagers, are not merely passive objects transformed by the West or the civilized world.Thanks to the help of globalization, they are active agents of opportunity and acquisition—their relationship with the world is to absorb, adapt, transform, import, re-export and innovate. "Yes, globalization breeds assimilation," he wrote. "But globalization also threatens assimilation... When people talk about assimilation through globalization, what they're talking about is: Even here, those villagers will have a radio (although the programming language will be local); You'll be able to hear a discussion about Ronaldo, Mike Tyson or Tupac; you might find a bottle of Guiness or Coca-Cola (as well as Ghana's own good beer, Star or Club)." However, access to these things Does it make different regions more convergent?How much can you tell about people and Coca-Cola about their hearts?It is true that assimilated regions are less distinctive than they were a century ago, but this assimilation is mostly beneficial.More of them have access to effective medicines; more of them have access to clean water; more of them have access to schools.Another very common situation is that some regions lose their characteristics while not gaining these things. This should not be celebrated, but should be mourned.At the same time, no matter how assimilated, there will always be new forms of characterization: new hairstyles, new slang, even new religions appear again and again.No one can say that all villages on earth are becoming alike. The latest anti-convergence force is podcasting, a new tool for engaging local cultures in globalization. I had a brief glimpse of this phenomenon in October 2005 when I visited a small apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai.This small apartment is the headquarters of Toodou.com, the leader of Chinese podcasting network. 32-year-old Gary Wang "Our website already has 13,000 channels, and about 5,000 of them will be updated regularly," said the introduction. Born in Fuzhou, Wang Wei is a Chinese engineer with an American and French education background who founded Toodou. com, "Toodou" means potatoes in Chinese.On Tudou, any Chinese can create his own video or audio content, while others can register to get new content uploaded on the channel.The service is currently free, but Tudou will eventually charge a monthly subscription fee. "I want to create thousands of different channels maintained by ordinary people, and other people can visit and download content," Wang added. Computer, a video camera and a microphone. At the time of my visit, the most popular podcast on Tudou was a video of two 20-year-old Chinese girls lip-syncing a popular Cantonese rock song.“They got bored, so they went out and bought a video camera (you can get it for the equivalent of US$6 in Shanghai) and they used Microsoft Movie Maker (a software that comes with Windows XP) to make a video,” Wang Wei said. Their own 30-minute MTV-style podcast, which they ended up uploading to Toodou.com. In the first 3 months, the video was viewed 75,000 times. "It took them an hour to make the video and 15 minutes to edit it," said Wang Wei. The two girls, who call themselves "Douzi," now have their own online star club. Another of the most popular podcast content was created by two Chinese architecture students who lip-synced to the Houston Rockets (the team that China-born NBA star Yao Ming belongs to) Backstreet Boys song.A slideshow of real life in Shenzhen has been viewed 16,000 times, drawing mixed comments from netizens across China.When I visited, the 2nd most viewed podcast content was an underground rock band performing at a bar in Shanghai.Wang Wei said that the goal of Tudou, "is to connect Chinese people with their hobbies and their potential partners. We will have a huge content database, and we will share revenue with content providers." Wang Wei Added: "We built a platform where it was free to participate, and people would come in. When the tools get cheaper, the creative crowd will naturally grow." Yes, I know I'm a little ahead of myself.Fairly few people have seen an iPod these days, so most of the podcast content here is produced and watched (or listened to) on a PC. That being said, once the price of the iPod (audio or video) comes down, there will be a huge market for podcasts here.While a lot of podcast content is crap right now, the quality will definitely improve.A low barrier to entry for podcasting will intensify competition.Wang Wei first heard podcasts in 2004.After 13 months, he has one of the most popular podcast sites in China, with 100,000 registered users, 8 employees, 40 volunteers, and the support of 1 American venture capital.The site's news is disseminated for free through Chinese podcasts.At the time of my visit, the office/apartment he was using was rented at $500 a month, and some of his employees still live in it.The software that keeps Toodou.com running is almost all sourced from free, open-source resources on the Internet: an Apache web server software; a free Unix operating system FreeBSD; a free database system MySQL and a free programming language PHP. Wang Wei I wrote my own algorithm to run on Toodou.com.Wang Wei said that compared with the United States and Europe where he studied, in China "you can do 10 times the things with the same money... In Shanghai, my monthly living expenses are only 1,000 US dollars, and at the same time I can get in touch with the latest technology and all these servers -- everything you can find in the US is here." In China, low overhead and low barriers to entry have made the process of producing cultural content cheaper and more popular. This is why I am so confident that "the flat phase of globalization does not mean Americanization". Local cultures, art forms, styles, recipes, literature, images and ideas will participate more and more in globalization, and more and more Local content will become global. "We have different songs (from America), and we want to express different ideas, but the desire is the same," Wang Wei said. "We all want to be seen, to be heard, to be able to create the material we love, and to share it with others...People around the world will be able to gain knowledge and inspiration from the same technology platform, platform The technology is the same, but different cultures thrive on this platform. The soil is the same, but the trees that grow are different.”