Preserving Culture in the Face of Globalization

In the late 1970s, when China opened up its economy to the world market, almost all Chinese wore the traditional blue or gray Mao jacket and few consumer goods were available. Instead of cars, the wide boulevards of Beijing were dominated by the quite whistling sound of thousands of bicycles.

However, now things are different. On 29 August 2004, the final night of the Athens Olympics, many Chinese stayed up into the early morning to watch ‘spectacle of China’ on TV by Zhang Yimou, the country’s best known director. The show had been expected to extol the cream of Chinese culture. However, the event only combined many well known ‘Chinese symbols’ such as red lanterns, dragon dancing, kung fu, Peking opera costumes, Chinese musical instruments, Oriental women in modified changshan, etc. The consequence of this show was an immediate outcry nationwide.

In one hand, promoting globalization has invited more and more tourists into the state and created economic benefit. However, on the other hand, these random tourists have misled people's understanding of aboriginal culture and have destructed to the maintenance of the original cultural ecology.

How can China avoid the misunderstanding of its culture? China, like the rest of the wold, faces the challenge to retain its own cultural identity and correct national characteristics.