The West and China engaged in Escalating Culture War

When I read an article that mentions China and the words WAR, I pay attention.

www.nytimes.com...

China’s President Pushes Back Against Western Culture

BEIJING — President Hu Jintao of China has said that the West is trying to dominate China by spreading its culture and ideology and that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the assault, according to an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine published this week.

.Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a major policy initiative announced last October would continue well into 2012.

The essay, which was signed by Mr. Hu and based on a speech he gave in October, drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating culture war. It was published in Seeking Truth, a magazine founded by Mao Zedong as a platform for establishing Communist Party principles.

President Hu Jintao has refered to this as a "culture war", but what frightens me is that cultural differences are often a foundation of how real wars are started.

“We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,” Mr. Hu said, according to a translation by Reuters.

International hostile forces? I find that a concerning statement.

“The overall strength of Chinese culture and its international influence is not commensurate with China’s international status,” Mr. Hu said in his essay, according to another translation.

“The international culture of the West is strong while we are weak,” he said.

I do not live in China, but I have studied it quite a bit. As a "westerner" I find their culture fascinating, but in no way weak. That is an unusual statement made from a President of a country. I see this as another push at the censorship of information for the Chinese people. We live in a world today where information is everywhere, and readily accessable to a large percentage of the world, but a few places such as China are still trying to censor that information.

China has had many political and cultural problems in recent years, and although they progress in areas of technology, personal freedoms are still surpressed. As a westerner I see no harm in "exchanging" cultural information. I find many of the ideas and philosophies of Chinese culture enlightening, just as I do western culture. I do not see it as a strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, simply as the evolution and development of our world.

I think the President is most likely pandering to hardcore Communists,in the Communist Party policy magazine.
China is becoming more Westernized,then America is.

There are 4.5 million cars in Beijing, compared with fewer than 500 in 1990, and that number will jump to 7 million by 2015. A class of super-rich Chinese is being created, and they revel in conspicuous consumption. One restaurant in the financial district has on its menu a bottle of Lafite Rothschild 2000 for 30,800 yuan—almost $5,000. When a restaurant has difficulty moving wine, it raises the price; people want to spend more.

There are consequences to this lifestyle, and the Chinese have to look no further than America to see what will happen if they don’t curb their energy appetite and address the growing gap between rich and poor. Just as Americans are fascinated by China, a similar fascination exists in China about our lifestyle, our cars, homes, popular culture, and air conditioning—but not our political system. One woman out for an evening stroll around Houhai Lake in Beijing with her 16-year-old daughter laughingly described the Chinese system as “communism Westernized,” and that seems to suit the Chinese people. Their standard of living is rising, their cities are safe, and they are able to feed themselves, which is an achievement in itself when there are 1.4 billion people in the country.

Challenges for China's Westernized Communism,As prosperity rises, the country must learn from America's mistakes.


S&F

I'm not all against "culture segregation", mostly when one has been taken over by corporations and has nothing to do with the history and interests of its people. The internet is cross breeding cultures which results in Western kids trying to relate to things they don't actually understand and losing their own identities. As for western culture, it isn't 'cool', most of it is fake and plastic.

I do understand, however, that some products of each culture can become universal but the core of each shouldn't be diluted.

Ironically enough, I am a half Chinese Canadian.