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Media reports use “kitsch” to describe China’s 60th National Day parade: Why?

 

As I stood in a retail store in Seattle, I glanced at my BlackBerry Curve to get a summary of news headlines.

I spotted one describing the grand parade in the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1 to mark 60 years of communist rule.

The Associated Press story carried this topper about the Beijing celebration: “Communist China marks 60 years with tanks, kitsch.” 

China has changed dramatically in its 60 years under its communist leaders. The economy has surged. More people have better lives, including home and car ownership, traveling to other countries and sending their kids overseas for college.

As analysts pointed out to the media, the parade’s spectacle of floats, soldiers, military equipment and fighter jets was geared toward a domestic audience. It pumped people’s pride.

Of course, the entire world watched – including analysts in capitals around the globe. 

But kitsch? Was that the most accurate word to use in this context?

Dictionary.com defines it as:

something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste.

China is not the United States. I acknowledge that.

It can be an incredibly trying experience for those who constantly push for transparency.

And there is no doubt that there is a host of pressing issues that need to be discussed and resolved. That is why dialogue and diplomacy remain relevant.

But the country’s leaders and people have a different history than Western nations.

Chinese leaders and ordinary people there might define what is glorious or beautiful differently than those who live in Manhattan or Washington, D.C.

So, using the word kitsch illustrates a gap in understanding the mindset of how many in China view their country.

China has gone from a universally-recognized weak position – one in which foreign countries invaded and occupied – to one that hails, as Reuters and the AP reported, as the world’s third largest economy.

I base my views not only on the fact that I’m Chinese American and have traveled and studied there.

My analysis stems from long discussions with friends, talks with my wife, books that I have read and insight from professors who have studied that country for years.

Rest assured: When I meet Chinese citizens who have a misperception of the United States, I try to shed as much light as possible for clarity.

I raise these issues because in order to make progress on the world stage, we should try to understand how others view their own countries so that we can have a common starting point when we talk.

It can be difficult.

Exactly, then, what was kitschy about the parade?

Certainly, that large group of military women in red skirts, who were marching in white boots and holding heavy weapons, is typically not seen in a U.S. parade.

Neither are huge amounts of people waving red flags. Songs about “Ode to the Motherland” usually are not heard in the west. U.S. leaders do not address people as “comrades.”

People in China might not consider these examples to be kitsch.

By using the word kitsch, there is a risk that people in the United States – who have never traveled to China, studied its history - will be left with an impression that gaudy, showy, tawdry, cheap, low and base should be associated with the world’s most populous country. 

That really is the opposite of what China’s leaders have always wanted.

Think face and reciprocity, a more equal footing in the 21st century.

Kitsch also hints at being strange, something out of the ordinary.

In the context of this parade, it carries a bit of that “Ha, ha! Look at how those strange people celebrate!” sentiment.

Overall, though, I should say that the AP article included important dates and issues since 1949.

If we are talking about strange occurrences, I suspect that some Chinese might be puzzled by the collapse of major U.S. banks and the housing crisis since last year.

They might want to know why people borrowed so heavily to buy a home and why the banking and mortgage industries allowed it, given the risk.

Keep in mind, too, that U.S.-China relations need a strong foundation, despite differences.

As of earlier this year, China held more than $1 trillion in U.S. debt, as The New York Times reported.

It seems that as we see countries, such as China and India, emerge on the global stage, we question a bit of our own standing as a nation.

Feeling the sting of one of the worst recessions in the past 50 years doesn’t help build true economic confidence, either.

Using the word kitsch also negates the fact that global competition will increase in coming years. Hopefully, cooperation and opportunities will arrive as well.

If possible, we should be getting ready through education, research, development, language studies, technology and capital.

What if U.S. economic power diminishes and China and India surpass it?

If that happens – and I have no crystal ball – the word kitsch will not be a top word in our minds.

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show recently broadcast a segment with a theme about a country’s place in the world.

I leave you with the clip, which features correspondent Aasif Mandvi.

  

 

   

UPDATE: The New York Times has a story about some in Japan who are questioning whether China will become the world’s second largest economy by next year.

That would be five years earlier than expected in replacing Japan in that position, reporter Hiroko Tabuchi writes.

One analyst in the story raises the possibility that China could surpass the U.S. economy in 2039.