Written by Zhao Gu Gammage (Haverford College), Student at CET Shanghai, Spring 2024
Recently, a bill proposing TikTok sever ties with its Chinese owner or be banned in the US passed in the House and sparked heated controversy. Despite this recent example of the US’ skeptical sentiment towards China, I’ve found China’s sentiment towards the US is quite the opposite. From the cosmopolitan Shanghai to the historic Xi’an, China embraces America and American culture.
In Shanghai, where I attend classes and intern at a local museum, the American influence is quite apparent. People don Yankees caps, watch Dune (in English), and listen to Taylor Swift. Malls, often several floors and always busy, are filled with American brands. China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by the CCP, prints headlines that promote mutual benefit, such as China-US Need to Keep Faith With Win-Win Cooperation and Science Pact Sees Benefit for China, US.
A four-day program trip to Xi’an aided in understanding China’s relationship with the US. In Xi’an, once a stop on the Silk Road and the country’s former capital, KFCs inhabit Chinese-style buildings. While walking along the ancient city wall, skyscrapers loom in the distance.
In touring the Geely electric vehicle manufacturing center in Xi’an, I observed every stage of car assembly, from constructing the metal frame to testing the wheels. Geely, the Chinese car company that bought out Volvo in 2010, is at the forefront of producing the cheap electric cars that are causing concern for the US. The factory tour gave me a glimpse at how exactly China’s electric vehicle production works, as well as how China can produce these vehicles with such ease and on such a large scale.
The Xi’an trip, sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was a tangible example of how the Chinese government actively promotes American studying abroad in China, part of Xi Jinping’s plan to welcome 50,000 American students in the coming years. During the trip, a two-person camera crew recorded us to create a video promoting our host university in Xi’an, Shaanxi Normal University, and American study abroad in China.
From only a few months in the country, I’ve been surprised by just how much American culture influences China. I had assumed that China harbored the same skepticism that the US harbors to China, but in talking with local Chinese people, including my roommate, I learned many young people in China look up to the US. I met one young woman who wants to attend graduate school in the US and another who wants to visit New York City. They were shocked when I read American newspaper headlines about China to them.
While bonding over the latest Ariana Grande album provides a comfortable cultural bridge for Americans, the amount of influence that American culture has and continues to have on Chinese culture is impossible to ignore.