The Chinese New Year Global Phenomenon: Soft Power and Economic Clout
Is this “Far East” event becoming a globally celebrated one?
Only a few years ago, depending where you live, it might have been uncommon to spot Chinese New Year (CNY) decorations, related events, and exchanges of greetings.
Generally, the celebration had limited appeal and visibility beyond Chinatowns or places with a sizable presence of ethnic Chinese.
This seems to have changed.
China’s growth is indisputable, and depending on whom you ask, it may come with more pros or more cons.
This phenomenon is clearly connected with the growing global weight of the country along with the spending power of Chinese tourists and buyers, calling for strategies that cater to them.
Most people love celebrations, the surrounding atmosphere, as much as the leading up period. Christmas and Halloween might be the first two that come to mind to many; will CNY become the next “globally” accepted one?
Surely, both Christmas and Halloween are heavily commercialized, especially in countries where the religious and historical factors are not present.
But you don’t need to know their historical roots to celebrate.
Perhaps CNY will become known as a red-&-gold-infused, shopping-galore event. But some schools with Chinese or mixed pupils might be considering to include it in their lesson plan, briefly explaining the celebration’s features, as it already happens for Christmas and Halloween across Asia and beyond.
At some point, even non-Chinese people may start exchanging red envelopes.
Cultural appreciation (and permeation) is a tangible soft power source, the power to influence and persuade through attractive national features.
Surely, there will be resistance to CNY. This might come from traditionalists, but also because of geopolitical reasons, since it is hard nowadays to escape politicization and polarization whenever dealing with China.
But China is here to stay.
Governments and businesses all over the world are eager to know more about the country. Some may want to capitalize on this growing economic giant, some others feel the need to defend themselves. For these reasons, some will bow, some will accommodate and balance, and some others will resist, but it seems that all want to know more.
Beyond that, the post-pandemic recovery (whenever it will be) is expected to be heavily boosted by Chinese tourists and businesspeople, re-establishing a pre-pandemic trend.
Although for many this CNY will be limited to virtual greetings (and envelopes) with an ox on a red-and-gold background, the sheer number of non-Chinese people and organizations that would have never thought to pay their respects only a few years ago, but are doing so now, is already telling.
In the next few years, if anything, more and more people will go to shopping malls on a weekend sometime in January or February and start asking questions, out of curiosity, when seeing red lanterns and decorations paired with the zodiac animal of the year.
Internationally, whether CNY will eventually transcend its commercial nature or not is yet to be seen. Although the lucrative aspect could be good enough to many, the Chinese government might want to embed it in its charm offensive.
I did not experience first-hand how Christmas became a “global brand” (but we may have to thank Coca Cola for that), or why kids decided to embrace their nightmares on Halloween (shall we thank Hollywood in this case?) but it is not outlandish to foresee CNY as the first China-exported celebration to become global, if it isn’t already.
Even if taken as the Lunar New Year, a more politically-aware way to refer to CNY without giving the sole credit to China (as it is celebrated elsewhere), it would still represent one more tangible sign of the world moving East.
Asian Century or not, you don’t want to be found waiting.
