History 466

Primary document:
Life Magazine: inside China

http://books.google.com/books?id=MEAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=Mao+ping+pong+initiative&source=bl&ots=vCCMOcIKxM&sig=9grF0fWhXTzSAR83YPJC4oCs6r0&hl=en&ei=xPeVTbHtNM2cgQetlJyuCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEwQ6AEwCA

Primary Source: http://hongkongfoodblog.blogspot.com/

Anna, the author of the blog, writes about her life, her consumption and her habits in regards to eating. She also refers to many small mom and pop restaurants that she frequents. After more research, I can further elaborate on what I would like to do with this topic of “food.”

The outlet of food and restaurants (especially smaller ones) allow the chinese people to embrace individuality through consumption. The most important primary source I think will be the use of blogs throughout this paper. Blogs will be exceptional in providing insight into their lives and their freedom to write and most importantly to EAT!

But juxtaposing consumption of Chinese cuisine against other aspects of their society that are more closely monitored, one is able to see true self-expression and individuality emerge.

Comments? Thoughts?

So everyone, perhaps this is a little too late.

Today I was looking at the syllabus, reflecting if you will…I noticed something I neglected to notice before, sadly enough. I realized that we as members of the Hitory 466 are supposed to  blog AND comment on 2 blogs WEEKLY not including QQC’s and when we’re told to comment. FAIL ON MY PART. Epic fail at that…So here I am, blogging for the first time “on my own” 2 weeks after the halfway point of the semester. Better late than never I suppose, right? I am also going to email this post to Dr. Fernsebner in hope that I can blog about 10 times a week on my own to account for my massive deficit…

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions for drastically improving this undeniable shortcoming on my part? Please…give me something here.

Anyways….the article I found “interesting” can be found here: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-japan-inflation-2011-3 

As a country we have been recently talking about the tragic earthquake in Japan. One of the first things that came to my head was “What’s going to happen to China?”

And so now…here we are. It is apparent that China now has a massive problem on its hands as a result of the earthquake in Japan. According to this article…China will either be faced with:

1. An extreme “up-tick” in demand. OR

2. An extreme “downtown” in supply.

Though the outcome is not necessarily all in China’s hands….I think it will be interesting to how China’s government and perhaps more importantly China’s people will respond to what just happened in Japan.

Anyways, wish me luck with this, I need it.

Meg

Quote:
“One of the central figures of consumer culture is that through it shoppers differentiated and treated as individuals via so-called commodity self; identities and consumer profiles are melded and desires stimulated and directed by the guiding hand of advertisers…party pedagogical advertising has continued to pursue its goals of presenting a narrative of Chinese history and the primacy of the party in that history, for the purpose of the direction and the containment of the public.”

Question:
My question regarding this reading deals with advertsiign for the mom and pop business. It is obvious that major companies and the Party certainly dominate the advertising scene, but how do local businesses get their name out? are they limited to a sign outside the shop, or can they advertise more broadly? Also how much of this local advertising is regulated/ must be approved by the state?

Comment:
I think this quote presents an interesting perspective of advertising in China. Here we see the rise of a consumer culture, where individual identity is a paramount. However, what must be realized is that though individual wants and needs will be allowed as long as it doesn’t degrade or take away from the party’s overall plan to promote itself.

Quote:
“One of the central figures of consumer culture is that through it shoppers differentiated and treated as individuals via so-called commodity self; identities and consumer profiles are melded and desires stimulated and directed by the guiding hand of advertisers…party pedagogical advertising has continued to pursue its goals of presenting a narrative of Chinese history and the primacy of the party in that history, for the purpose of the direction and the containment of the public.”

Question:
My question regarding this reading deals with advertsiign for the mom and pop business. It is obvious that major companies and the Party certainly dominate the advertising scene, but how do local businesses get their name out? are they limited to a sign outside the shop, or can they advertise more broadly? Also how much of this local advertising is regulated/ must be approved by the state?

Comment:
I think this quote presents an interesting perspective of advertising in China. Here we see the rise of a consumer culture, where individual identity is a paramount. However, what must be realized is that though individual wants and needs will be allowed as long as it doesn’t degrade or take away from the party’s overall plan to promote itself.

Quote: “It was a period in which the individual, increasingly freed from subservience and fealty to the party-state, discovered the heady delights of individual identity, of feeling special because he or she was being appealed to through advertising rather than simply propagated through the state.” [1. Gereme R. Barme, In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture: CCP and Adult PRC (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999); 238.]

Usually when we think about advertising here in the United States, we think about annoying commercials, random billboards on the highway, and random infomercials for irrelevant things. These things are a part of our everyday consumer lives, and it is just something almost every person is used to seeing or hearing. Advertising is not something we give a second thought to. I thought it was interesting that the Chinese people appreciated advertising of consumer products. They were so used to having the state use advertising to spread propaganda and practically boss them around. Now with consumer advertising, the people probably felt sought out by the advertisements, that these advertisements “wanted” the attention and business of the people and didn’t necessarily demand it, like the state propaganda advertisements probably did.

I also think its interesting how Chinese found individualism through product advertising. While it may seem that this new emergence of an advertising consumer product culture pushed out state propaganda, this new advertising culture made it easier for state propaganda to infiltrate, pushing its ideas and ideologies on the Chinese through consumer products and also through the emergence of “public service announcements”. Was this just by accident? Or did the Chinese communist party purposely allow for a more consumer products based advertising culture so they could more easily and inconspicuously assert the party’s own ideologies without the the Chinese people directly noticing it? Do the Chinese people realize the government’s own propaganda through the consumer culture? And if they do/did, how much will that affect consumer advertising culture in China (will it increase or decrease the Chinese desire if they think consumer product advertisements are just subtly stated state propaganda)??

Quote: “It was a period in which the individual, increasingly freed from subservience and fealty to the party-state, discovered the heady delights of individual identity, of feeling special because he or she was being appealed to through advertising rather than simply propagated through the state.” [1. Gereme R. Barme, In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture: CCP and Adult PRC (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999); 238.]

Usually when we think about advertising here in the United States, we think about annoying commercials, random billboards on the highway, and random infomercials for irrelevant things. These things are a part of our everyday consumer lives, and it is just something almost every person is used to seeing or hearing. Advertising is not something we give a second thought to. I thought it was interesting that the Chinese people appreciated advertising of consumer products. They were so used to having the state use advertising to spread propaganda and practically boss them around. Now with consumer advertising, the people probably felt sought out by the advertisements, that these advertisements “wanted” the attention and business of the people and didn’t necessarily demand it, like the state propaganda advertisements probably did.

I also think its interesting how Chinese found individualism through product advertising. While it may seem that this new emergence of an advertising consumer product culture pushed out state propaganda, this new advertising culture made it easier for state propaganda to infiltrate, pushing its ideas and ideologies on the Chinese through consumer products and also through the emergence of “public service announcements”. Was this just by accident? Or did the Chinese communist party purposely allow for a more consumer products based advertising culture so they could more easily and inconspicuously assert the party’s own ideologies without the the Chinese people directly noticing it? Do the Chinese people realize the government’s own propaganda through the consumer culture? And if they do/did, how much will that affect consumer advertising culture in China (will it increase or decrease the Chinese desire if they think consumer product advertisements are just subtly stated state propaganda)??