by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 12:14
Chinese have long since established a strong presence in the United States, having established Chinatowns throughout the country and otherwise bringing Chinese culture to the West.
Although this process began a long time ago, consider that China’s relationship with the West really only began in 1972, when US President Nixon visited China and re-established formal diplomatic ties, sparking a wave of change that continues to resonate today.
China Daily documented China’s “soft power” infiltration into the lives of ordinary US citizens by way of a convenient infographic:
Infographic: The Chinese elements presented in the day to day life of an average American
On September 22, Chinese President Xi Jinping began his first state visit to the USA. It has been 36 years since China and the United States re-established diplomatic relations and, in that time, both countries have been enriched by the other. The following infographic will better allow us to understand how Americans incorporate Chinese culture, or elements, into their daily lives.
When talking about China, what do Americans think of?
Do they only think of these things? No!
As China’s economy opened to the world, Americans became more familiar with Chinese culture.
Chinese cuisine became fashionable
Hot pot, noodles, dumplings, spring rolls, roujiamo (meat paste on unleavened bread), crushed cucumbers…Americans are having a love affair with Chinese food, and they just adore the hot and spicy!
Americans have learned, and can identify several Chinese national brands, such as Huawei, Haier, Air China, and DFM Automotive (above left).
The Chinese character for “good fortune” represents happiness, peace and prosperity (above right). Even though there are differences between Americans and Chinese, each nation’s citizens can appreciate, and even strive for a beautiful life.
Apart from this, what else is there? (left to right, top to bottom)
“Kung Fu Panda is so cute!”
“The Chinese are so amazing at ping pong!”
“The last time I ate hotpot in Chinatown, it was so spicy!”
“I learned several characters of Chinese calligraphy at the Confucius Institute! It’s so interesting~”
“That Mulan is so courageous. Chinese women are so beautiful!”
“Hey, can someone explain to me what ‘chunyun‘ means?” (“Chunyun” means “Spring Festival travel rush”, a busy time of travel in China analogous to the Christmas or Thanksgiving holiday travel in the USA)
“If I were to visit China, I want to see how big the Forbidden City is!”
“I’ve heard it has become fashionable to get Chinese characters for tattoos. I’ve gotten one too, but it seems like… is this wrong?”*
*(last picture in lower right) “女礻申” doesn’t mean anything in Chinese, because it’s a misspelling of “女神”, meaning “female goddess” or “beautiful woman”.
You can see the entire infographic in full here.
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https://thenanfang.com/us-americans-adopted-chinese-culture-daily-lives/
