“What does all this mean for scholars who work so hard to deflate this false conflation of westernization and modernization?”
Kelly Hammond, Ph.D. candidate in Chinese History at Georgetown University, wonders how a fizzy drink like Pepsi became the object that Chinese people rally around, whereas the other nationalities represented in the pre-2008 Beijing Olympics Pepsi commercial filming she was participating in had more “traditional” acts like cheerleaders, samurai drummers, Mardi Gras dancers, and sombreros. Sombreros!
Sound interesting? If so, be sure to check out the entire interview of Ms. Hammond by Micki McCoy on The China Beat concerning the former’s experiences being part of a Pepsi commercial filmed in Urumqi, Xinjiang China. Before you ask, the commercial featured a Chinese soccer team (sorry, football team) losing to a foreign team (apparently a multinational but non-Chinese mix) but eventually makes a comeback after Pepsi, of all things, brings all the Chinese fans together. Yeah, great China vs. Everyone dichotomy, eh? It’s a bit long but is full of interesting observations on modern conceptions of ethnicity and nationality in mainland China (or at least through the eyes of the Hong Kong people directing the commercial shoot).
Below, an excerpt (that includes the above quote):
I think the one thing that was important about this ad and how it was conceived was that each international group had their “traditional” mechanisms for exciting a crowd (of course, all this was as envisioned by the HK director): Americans had cheerleaders; Africans had drums; the Japanese also had a pseudo-Judo/samurai drummer; Brazilians had Mardi Gras dancers; Mexicans had ponchos, sombreros and mandolins; the South Asians had cricket bats. And, the Chinese had Pepsi. I think this posits the most interesting question that was raised for me at this shoot, which deals with the continued quest for modernity in China. And, more importantly, how Chinese people who drink Pepsi envision modernity. Unlike KFC, which is decisively Western in the eyes of people I have spoken to in China, there isn’t the direct association with Pepsi and the West (ironic, since they are owned by the same company). And, this idea that the Chinese people didn’t need any remnants of their traditional society—like the rest of the world—as they rallied together with the modern to overcome the international team was a theme I picked up on right away. Why did everyone else have some sort of “traditional” act to perform, whereas the Chinese only needed Pepsi? What does all this mean for scholars who work so hard to deflate this false conflation of westernization and modernization? And, where do the ethnic minorities fit into this equation? By purposefully excluding them and incorporating the minorities into the other “international” groups, I think the director sent a clear message—China is for the Han and we are modernizing without you.
The entire post is actually over a year old, having first been published in late 2008. Read it all here »
By the way, why this quote instead of her many other great quotes? Because I think there is indeed a difference between “Westernization” and “modernization”.
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