Eight: Shanghai Blues (07-19-2022)
Recently, I discovered that Shanghai is the city with the most Art Deco buildings in the world. This is not a manifestation of a Chinese replica-city or neighborhood like Thames Town (in Shanghai) or Tianducheng, but rather a remnant of a brief era in Chinese culture and economy that allowed Western architects to build rather prolifically in China's largest city. The portions of Shanghai with a high density of Art Deco offices, hotels, and apartments have become a tourist attraction in earnest, and do strike a bizarre resemblance to some of Manhattan's older districts.
It's not unfair to say that China is America's biggest rival globally, although not its most bombastic or visible rivalry. China holds a significant economic grip on the United States, and despite claims of a weak or tenuous economy, continues to out develop the US and develop a larger share of soft power influence over the developing world. Americans don't really see the level of integration China has globally, even if they are well aware of the Made-in-China ubiquity of China's manufacturing sector. Chinese investments in Africa, South America, and throughout Asia, atop its prowess as a global trading player, without much of the imperial baggage the US's similar efforts have, make it a serious contender for world superpower. The fact that most wouldn't call China a superpower on the level of the US, besides the US's immense military spending (forsaking the efficacy of said military), is likely due to a Western need to gatekeep world power. Never in world history have Western historians ceded world influence to the East. Even in the eras of the Mongols and Byzantines, their significance in comparison to past or futures empires and powers is downplayed, or the true extent of their Eastern roots disregarded.
I'm from America. I was born and raised in a very typical American manner, eating typical American foods, engaging with American media, past times, and holidays. With growing exposure to the wider world, mostly thanks to the internet, it has become embarrassingly clear that America is compensating for its diminishing position as a world power by co-opting the methods of information dissemination to simply rewrite history and the present in its favor. Europe and Asia are both well aware of the power of American tech companies, and from them the ability of the US to spread and perpetuate its culture around the globe, potentially in ways harmful to local cultures and economies. Attempts to slow Americanization by way of social media, only the latest wave of American influence, like screen quotas and government promotion of traditional local cultural items, have been fought by the US in trade deals to the point of near nonexistence. However, this anxiety is mutual. Trump attempted to ban Tiktok and WeChat, specifically citing their Chinese roots and potential to allow the Chinese (or in acceptable terms for Americans, "Chinese Communist Party") to influence American youths. A far-left politico would call this sinophobia or thinly veiled anti-Asian sentiment, a right winger would call it victory over the creep of communism in the midst of the new Red Scare. A centrist would ramble on about its economic and social pros and cons without ever making a statement. Ultimately, it's just a nervousness about the true end result of the internet: the centralization of cultural and informational power into the hands of whichever governing body (or wealthy company) first seizes it.
American tech companies have a tendency to self-regulate in fear of loss of user base or government action to censor "dangerous" content, be it fringe political beliefs or common sentiments that challenge the US government's continued hegemony. Chinese tech companies have the "censorship" built in, as their government's so-called "lack of free speech" is explicitly rather than implicitly enforced. Americans hysterically react to reports of Chinese social media moderations, ignoring the identical actions taken in their own country.
I've never been to China, and I'm often met with shock and disbelief when I tell people it's top on my list of world destinations. I'm entirely serious when I implore people to name one bad thing China does, following with the caveat that it cannot be something the US also does. Surprisingly, the actions of these two countries, despite their seeming opposite nature, are near identical. Of course, this identical effort and mission is the source of their rivalry, but when reading of times when Western, including American, architects were widely influential in China [see footnote], it creates a yearning for a future where Americans and the Chinese could place aside their anxieties about power and influence, and cooperate to become a dual superpower, collective hyperpower, and share the otherwise inaccessible local cultures that define each country. Americans are already addicted to Tik tok, Americans have long enjoyed (Americanized) Chinese Food, the Chinese are addicted to KFC, McDonalds, Subway, and Starbucks, and have long enjoyed Hollywood productions. All that is needed to join these two enormously powerful nations is a small push, and the understanding amongst their people that they have more in common than they think. And maybe an Art Deco revival could come with this, no?
footnote: Now that I think about it, there's a good chance the Art Deco buildings in Shanghai are the result of the Sphere-of-Influence quasi-colonial stuff that occurred at some point in China, which I learned about in high school and just now remember. If so, this doesn't reflect very positively on the West and America, but I'm going to live in a blissful ignorance where this happened because of free trade or something cool like that.