中国文化为何不像日韩文化一样在西方广为人知？外国网友们各抒己见
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@YetkhaPakoAson
20:18 I like Chinese culture.
I am from Nepal.
We border China and India.
We know each and every thing about India including the fact that Chief minster of Tamil Nadu is MK Stalin.
We know such obscure fact about India.
But gun to my head, I cant tell you name of 10 Chinese cities.
China is so mysterious, so isolated, so foreign, so different universe.
Though I can hop on my motorcycle and go to China in 6 hours.
As a Nepali I can cross the border at Araniko Highway and go to border side market of China known as Khassa but not further than that but I can enter China.
Yet I know next to nothing about China.
So yes I do wanna know about China.
我喜欢中国文化。
我是尼泊尔人。
我们与中国和印度接壤。
我们对印度了解极深——甚至知道泰米尔纳德邦首席部长是MK·斯大林（MK Stalin）这种冷知识。
但你拿枪指着我头，我也说不出10个中国城市的名字。
中国太神秘、太封闭、太遥远，仿佛另一个宇宙。
尽管我骑摩托车6小时就能到中国。
作为尼泊尔人，我可以从阿尼哥公路过境，去中国边境集市“喀萨”，但不能深入。
我对中国几乎一无所知。
所以我真的想了解中国。
@KrishnaWashburn
Here's a proposition: I bet that for a lot North American people, much of their knowledge of Chinese culture comes from the Kung Fu Panda movie series -- which was really popular in China itself!
我提个观点：我打赌，很多北美人的中国文化知识其实来自《功夫熊猫》系列——而这部片子在中国本土也超级火！
@danielfredel4193
I think the act of performing historical theatrical performances is akin to keeping artifacts and records in a museum. Regardless of actual demand, there is a public utility to persevering historical styles of performance in the same way as there is for persevering records or cultural artifacts. It's important to keep history alive for future generations.
我认为，表演传统戏剧的行为，本质上类似于在博物馆保存文物和档案。无论当下是否有市场需求，保存这些历史表演形式都具有公共价值——就像保存历史文献或文化遗存一样。为后代留住历史，至关重要。
@albertmiller2electricbooga897
I feel like we don't see as much appreciation for any culture that's under a dictatorship (especially communist) in the west compared to liberal countries because anyone who appreciates their culture too much would be regarded as a bit of a traitor or sympathiser. I remember a bit of confusion over Aus PM Kevin Rudd being fluent in Chinese, and I feel like if a US presidential candidate was fluent in Russian there'd be the same suspicion, and the same goes for 'appreciating' dictatorship's cultures in some other ways like movies or music、
我觉得西方对专制政权（尤其是共产主义国家）的文化欣赏较少，部分原因在于：如果谁太推崇这类文化，会被视为“叛徒”或“同情者”。我记得当年澳大利亚总理陆克文会说中文还引起过一些困惑；如果美国总统候选人会说俄语，肯定也会被怀疑。同样，欣赏这类政权的文化产品（如电影、音乐）也会招致类似偏见。
@TracyII77
I think one of the reasons Chinese culture is not as well known is due to the role Hong Kong and Taiwan have served in spreading Chinese culture. Neither of these places necessarily reflects the culture of Mainland China even though they do share a lot. It would be like England serving as the cultural representative of Australia or Canada.
我觉得中国文化在西方不够知名，部分原因是香港（特区）和台湾（地区）长期承担了传播“中国文化”的角色。但这两个地方的文化并不完全代表中国大陆——这就像是让英国代表澳大利亚或加拿大的文化一样。（个人看法：其实应该是科技进步造成文化传播的先后，比如录放机，先在美国然后日本之后是香港（特区）台湾（地区），音像店这东西加快了文化传播的速度，然后又是手机……）
@emilymiller7827
China is super cool, you start reading about something recent and a couple of minutes later you're looking up the recent background of it 4000 years ago
中国超酷的！你本来只想查点近期的事，结果几分钟后就在翻四千年前的背景了。
@luciannelea50
back when i still used tiktok, i used to get the "ancient Chinese how to" videos all over my fyp all the time. it would essentially just be someone showing the painstaking processes of how people used to make silk, makeup, etc in ye olden days. very cool and interesting
以前我还用 TikTok 的时候，首页老刷到“古代中国人怎么做XXX”的视频——比如展示古人如何费力地制作丝绸、化妆品等等。既酷又有趣。
@jclau3616
12:14 The writing system, as I learnt it, evolved from the oracle bone scxt according to archeological evidence, and it was created from Cangjie as in myths. However, it is this emperor that is the first to implement in unifying the writing system (the scxt) of the "Sinosphere", which, back then, there were many variations of each character in that dynasty. In fact, he also unified the currencies, measurements in that era too.
关于文字系统：据我所学，汉字从考古证据看起源于甲骨文，神话中则归功于仓颉造字。但真正首次统一“汉字文化圈”书写系统的是秦始皇——当时各诸侯国文字差异极大。事实上，他也统一了货币和度量衡。
@thelusogerman3021
Chinese is easy to read - with practice it becomes kind of like recognizing obxts/faces it's kind of automatic sometimes you don't even have to read the character, you look at it and ir just clicks. Writing is harder though
中文其实读起来不难——练多了就像认人脸或物体一样，几乎是自动识别的。有时候你甚至不用“读”字，看一眼就懂了。不过写起来就难多了。
@Jombozeus
Peking Opera is still culturally important and popular among older folks. It’s basically the same as Western operas in that sense.
Your parents love it, you don’t as much but sometimes they take you to see one and you go “neat” and never think about it again. One of your friends is very into it for some reason but he’s kinda weird in general.
京剧在老年人中仍有文化地位和人气，这点和西方歌剧差不多。
你爸妈很喜欢，你不太感冒，但他们带你去看一次，你会说“挺有意思”，然后就再也没想过。你有个朋友莫名特别痴迷，但他人本来就有点怪。
@aronastron9538
i know many Chinese culture stans, but Chinese culture is just not packaged in the same consumer friendly way that other asian cultures are presented in. so if someone is into Chinese culture, they're knowledge is a lot more esoteric and tends to come with a higher "barrier to entry" when shared with others.
also, beijing opera sticks around because it appeals to a niche audience. it's also "high culture" so there's an academic interest in keeping it alive. so there is a dedicated audience even if its not catered to a general audience, but the general audience still respects it from a distance because it's "high culture." honestly, not too different from western opera.
我认识不少“中国文化粉”，但中国文化不像其他亚洲文化那样被包装成易于消费的形式。所以喜欢中国文化的人，知识往往更冷门，向别人分享时门槛也更高。
另外，京剧之所以能留存，是因为它吸引的是一个小众群体。它属于“高雅文化”，因此学术界有动力维持其生命力。虽然大众不常看，但出于对“高雅文化”的尊重，还是会保持敬意——这点其实和西方歌剧很像。
@goodlookingcorpse
Until recently, I vaguely had the idea that the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion were the same thing, which is roughly like thinking that World War Two and the Vietnam War were the same thing.
直到最近我才意识到，自己一直模糊地以为太平天国运动和义和团运动是同一回事——这差不多等于把二战和越战当成一回事。
@joshentheosparks7492
I've been entrenched in Chinese culture for 15 years, and I live outside of Boston.
我沉浸在中国文化里已经15年了，目前住在波士顿郊外。
@goodmoringful
I think it was WW2 and European colonization. China in WW2 was out gunned, and was technologically backwards behind the Japanese. During the opium war, China also lost to an advanced British navy. I think these events added a lot of PTSD to the Chinese psyche. They knew that to become a more advanced country they had to study Western schools of thinking and implement them into China. This is also why simplified characters were introduced, to not just educate masses of people but to strive for the future and survival of the Chinese nation.
我认为是二战和欧洲殖民造成的。二战时中国装备落后，科技远不如日本；鸦片战争时又败给了先进的英国海军。这些经历给中国人留下了深刻的心理创伤。他们意识到，要成为强国，就必须学习西方的思想体系并将其融入中国。这也是简体字被推行的原因之一——不仅是为了普及教育，更是为了民族的未来与生存。
@arthuruppiano3211
As a result of taking several Mandarin courses in college, I was exposed to a fair bit of Chinese culture, and I personally appreciate it a lot. As you touched on, I think geopolitics is the main reason why Chinese culture hasn't had quite the same purchase in North America as Korean or Japanese culture; the fact that Korea and Japan were invaded and occupied by American forces in the mid-20th Century forced an "opening up" and encouraged cultural exchange at a time when modern American culture was itself taking shape, whereas mainland China was distracted by its own internal conflicts and then shunned by the West until the 1970s.
Anyway, some pieces of Chinese culture that I particularly like are moon cakes, xiangqi/Chinese Chess, and the animated series Scissor Seven (highly recommend).
大学时上了几门中文课，接触了不少中国文化，我个人非常欣赏。正如你提到的，我认为地缘政治是导致中国文化在北美不如韩日文化受欢迎的主因：20世纪中期，韩国和日本被美军占领，被迫“开放”，并在美国现代文化成型期就展开了深度文化交流；而中国大陆则深陷内乱，之后又被西方孤立，直到1970年代才重新接触世界。
顺便分享几个我特别喜欢的中国文化元素：月饼、象棋、还有动画《刺客伍六七》（强烈推荐）！
@TheAlexSchmidt
Chinese writing existed long before Emperor Qin Shi Huang but he was the one who created its modern form, although later emperors did try to make their own modifications some of which stuck.
汉字早在秦始皇之前就已存在，但他统一并规范了其书写形式，奠定了现代汉字的基础。虽然后世帝王也曾尝试修改，但只有少数改动被沿用下来。
@AmericanLoner
I got to visit China in early 2019 with a group of people from my high school. It was a really good time, and if geopolitics were what they are right now, I would love to go back. The people were very friendly (minus the surprisingly high number of people taking pictures of us without asking, lol). Anyway, Chinese culture is really fun to immerse yourself in as an American because of how different it is from our own. Great video as always J.J.
2019年初我和高中同学一起去过中国，玩得特别开心。如果现在的地缘政治不是这样，我真的很想再去一次。当地人非常友善（除了很多人会不打招呼就对我们拍照，哈哈）。总之，作为美国人，沉浸在中国文化中特别有趣，因为它和我们的文化差异太大了。
@TheSugarholicProject
The fight to define Chinese Culture can also quickly become political, as "tradition" has often been used as a tool of populist nationalism or, in Falun Gong's case, a tool of right wing fearmonger. This discussion will ramp up in the next decades or so, as China and Chinese abroad fight for a clearer idea of what being Chinese really mean and what about the "traditional" culture we should change or keep.
定义“中国文化”的斗争很快就会变得政治化，因为“传统”常被用作民粹民族主义的工具——比如XX功就曾利用传统文化进行右翼恐吓宣传。未来几十年，随着中国本土及海外华人不断探讨“到底什么才算真正的中国人”“哪些‘传统’该保留、哪些该改变”，这类讨论只会愈演愈烈。
@MrMuel1205
I do find it interesting how compared to Korea and Japan, Chinese culture doesn't appear to have the same level of resonance for Westerners, not withstanding that China essentially is to the East what Rome is to the West. I play a Chinese-made game, Honkai Star Rail, and I've noticed that despite it being entirely produced in China it is popular among Western players to play the game in the Japanese dub. I can only assume this is due to some tendency of Western audiences raised on anime to conflate all Asian "nerd" culture with Japan.
我觉得挺有意思的是，相比韩国和日本，中国文化似乎没能在西方引起同等共鸣——尽管中国之于东方，就如同罗马之于西方。我玩一款中国游戏《崩坏：星穹铁道》，注意到尽管它完全由中国制作，但很多西方玩家却选择日语配音。我猜这是因为从小看动漫长大的西方观众，习惯性地把所有亚洲“宅文化”都当成日本的。
@clifforddean232
China needs a comeback in the 80's to early 90's, kung-fu and Chinese food was everywhere and if a city was worth anything, they had their own China town. The art work, karate, Bruce Lee to Brandon Lee, every western had a China man that owned herbal medicine. China town in Vancouver is a marvel of its own and a dream trip for me.
I would like a Native American culture video, it gets confusing with all the different tribes across America and Canada. Same with the French, America has French quarters and we have Quebec but apparently not related to France.
中国需要重回80年代到90年代初的那种辉煌——那时功夫片和中餐无处不在，只要一个城市有点分量，就一定有自己的唐人街。那些艺术、武术、从李小龙到李国豪，每部西部片里都会有个开中药铺的华人。温哥华的唐人街本身就是个奇迹，一直是我梦想的旅行地。
另外，希望你能做个关于北美原住民文化的视频。美国和加拿大的部落太多，搞得很混乱。法国文化也是——美国有法语区，我们有魁北克，但据说跟法国本土其实关系不大？
@royliu1409
As someone born in Beijing, I've only been to a Peking opera once when accompanying an American tourist. And I've been to more opera than Peking opera. Some older folks used to listen to them on the radio in the park but I don't know a single person of my age or my parents' age who would voluntarily listen to it, I don't think anyone particularly likes it and the common attitude is 'it's something worth protecting but not worth watching'. People would rather listen to modern music infused with some traditional elements.
作为一个在北京出生的人，我只看过一次京剧，还是陪一位美国游客去的。我去过的西方歌剧反而比京剧还多。以前有些老人会在公园里用收音机听京剧，但我认识的人里，无论是同龄人还是父母辈，没一个会主动去听。大家普遍觉得：“这东西值得保护，但不值得看。” 人们更愿意听融合了传统元素的现代音乐。
@ewantaylor2758
I think that politics is probably the main reason China doesn't have as much influence on the west as other Asian countries. But I think another reason might be that orientalism isn't fashionable anymore. In the past people loved Chinese culture but specifically while viewing it as something ancient, magical and mysterious, but looking at Asia that way today is seen as either racist or at least disrespectful. And other Asian countries have developed more rapidly over the past century China has had a more complicated time, so more of Chinese culture is still the more ancient and traditional things. and since having a mythologized orientalist view of China is rarer now and looked down upon, it's harder to appreciate those ancient things than it is to appreciate more modern things, where other countries have an edge.
我觉得政治可能是中国在西方影响力不如其他亚洲国家的主要原因。但另一个原因或许是：“东方主义”现在已经不时髦了。过去人们热爱中国文化，但往往是把它看作某种古老、神奇又神秘的东西；而今天，这种看待亚洲的方式要么被视为种族主义，至少也被认为不够尊重。
此外，过去一个世纪里，其他亚洲国家发展更快，而中国经历了更复杂的历程，所以如今对外展示的中国文化仍以古老传统为主。既然那种神话化的“东方主义”视角如今既少见又被批评，人们就更难欣赏这些古老元素，反而是现代文化更容易被接受——而这正是其他国家的优势所在。
@jack.h99
The Chinese flute is pretty iconic but music played with the erhu just hits different. Look it up and you'll know what I mean.
中国笛子确实很有标志性，但二胡演奏的音乐完全是另一种感觉。去搜一下你就懂我意思了。
@frankunderbush
I'd conclude the lack of Chinese cultural spread over the last 100 years to 3 main reasons:
1. As mentioned in the video, due to warfare, famine, and poor management, China has been piss poor until the past couple of decades. It really doesn't help with the creation or spread of cultural products. When you're starving or having your roof blown off, you're not thinking about how to decorate a Minion with Chinese symbols.
2. The general bad reputation of the country/communist party cannot be overlooked. At a national level, many countries (especially Western countries), have had varying hot-cold relations with the PRC since its establishment. Their leaders tended to have strategic reasons to work with or against China for various trade and military goals. At the individual level, I truly believe most people are too dumb to look past the "communist party" name and heavily associate an equivalence with the Soviet unx. These two luke-warm if not outright disgusted viewpoints toward China tend to steer people away from looking beyond the surface. The lead-up to the Beijing Olympics showed that it is possible to break this barrier, but with great cost and difficulty.
3. China, despite its reliance on lots of foreign imports, is still very much a hermit kingdom, just not as extreme as something like a North Korea. Economy-wise, the regime has at various times shifted to focusing on domestic production fulfilling domestic needs - partially due to being burned in the past century, partially due to shooting themselves in the foot at times. Many of the tech products don't make it outside because the companies simply have enough of a market within China, AND they don't have to deal with fussy foreign regulations. ex. WeChat Pay & AliPay existed well over a decade before COVID, the West's payment systems are still ancient in comparison, but they don't have much of a reason to tread outside of China.
3a. Interesting anecdotal observation - a lot of middle class Chinese people, like Americans, don't have a passport and don't have any urge to leave the country. The country is big enough to have all the different sights and entertainment one can desire. This coupled with my point 2 of many foreigners not wanting to go to/learn about China, makes it more difficult for that cross-border cultural and human connection to happen.
Seeing so much Chinese cultural elements in neighboring countries is a testament to the fact that it can be and has been done in the past. There's no real reason why that can't happen again given how fast information exchange happens in the age of the internet. All the barriers IMO are artificial.
我认为过去一百年中国文化未能广泛传播，主要有三个原因：
1、如视频中提到的，由于战争、饥荒和管理不善，中国在过去几十年极度贫困。这种状况不利于文化产品的创作与输出。当你在挨饿或屋顶被炸飞时，根本不会想着怎么给小黄人贴上中国符号。
2、国家/***形象不佳不可忽视。在国家层面，许多国家（尤其是西方）自中华人民共和国成立以来，与中国的外交关系时冷时热，领导人往往出于贸易或军事战略目的决定合作或对抗。在个人层面，我相信大多数人太懒于思考，一听到“***”就自动联想到苏联。这两种冷淡甚至厌恶的态度，让人不愿深入了解中国。2008年北京奥运会前夕曾短暂打破这一壁垒，但代价高昂且困难重重。
3、尽管依赖大量进口，中国本质上仍是个“隐士王国”，只是不像朝鲜那么极端。经济上，政权多次转向以内需为主的模式——部分源于过去百年被伤害的经历，部分源于自我设限。许多科技产品不出国门，因为企业在中国国内市场已足够庞大，且不必应付繁琐的外国法规。例如：微信支付和支付宝早在疫情前就已存在十多年，西方支付系统至今仍显原始，但它们没有动力拓展海外。
附注：有趣的是，很多中国中产阶级和美国人一样，没有护照，也不想出国。中国国土辽阔，足以满足一切观光和娱乐需求。再加上外国人不愿亲自去中国了解中国（见第2点），跨境文化与人际连接就更难建立。
邻国大量保留中国传统文化元素，证明这种传播过去是可行的。在互联网加速信息交换的今天，没有理由不能重现。在我看来，所有障碍都是人为的。(***政党或名字 上下同)
@BagMonster
JJ entering his No Haircut Arc. I would also mention that Chinese culture is relatively less influential partially because they just haven't made as much effort to export it, even after they got rich. K Pop, for example, has has extensive backing from the South Korean state to improve their reputation abroad, while Chinese pop culture isn't even very influential in neighbors like Myanmar.
我还想补充一点：中国文化影响力相对较弱，部分原因在于即使富裕之后，中国也没怎么努力向外输出文化。比如K-pop就有韩国政府大力支持以提升国际形象，而中国流行文化甚至在缅甸这样的邻国都没什么影响力。
@FozzyBBear
Chinese cuisine has gone through some variations over time. The Western-style Chinese food was brought by miners and railwaymen in the late 19th century, and focuses on tenderized meats, with breading, and sauces, with rice or noodles and assorted local vegetables. In the 1960s home-cooking was virtually eliminated in China when everyone was forced to melt down their cooking pots and utensils and eat at commercial kitchens.
中国菜随着时间推移发生了不少变化。西式中餐是19世纪末由矿工和铁路工人带到西方的，特点是嫩化肉类、裹粉油炸、配酱汁，再搭配米饭或面条及当地蔬菜。而在中国本土，1960年代家庭烹饪几乎消失——当时人们被迫熔掉自家锅碗瓢盆，统一去公共食堂吃饭。
@hannah.b_765
My childhood best friend was a girl who was adopted from China. Her white parents took her to Chinese school once a week so she could connect to her roots and whenever I visited her she would tell me everything she learned and I was very fascinated by it.
There was also a children’s show that came on in 2008 called Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, and it was a like Chinese Dora. Taught kids about Chinese culture. I’d say those two things really got me into Chinese culture as a white girl, it always fascinated me because it was so different from western cultures, it made me open to cultures different than mine in general.
我童年最好的朋友是个从中国领养的女孩。她的白人父母每周送她去一次中文学校，让她连接自己的文化根源。每次我去她家，她都会告诉我学到的东西，我对此非常着迷。
2008年还有个儿童节目叫《你好，凯兰！》，就像中国的“爱探险的朵拉”，教孩子们了解中国文化。这两件事让我这个白人女孩从小就爱上了中国文化——它和西方文化如此不同，也让我对其他文化保持开放心态。
@luoleizhao5216
I wonder if the relative obscurity of Chinese culture will change from the rise of Chinese Video games. I feel like games like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, Arknights, etc. are the most significant Chinese cultural export to make it out of the country and become popular overseas. They're not explicitly "In-Your-Face Chinese" games, but I feel that does make them more approachable and less "exotic" or foreign, which could potentially make them more powerful as a cultural influence.
我在想，随着中国电子游戏的崛起，中国文化的相对“冷门”会不会改变？我觉得像《原神》《绝区零》《明日方舟》这样的游戏，可能是迄今为止最成功的中国文化海外输出。它们并非刻意强调“中国元素”，但正因如此反而更易被接受，不显得“异域”或陌生，或许也因此更具文化影响力。
20:18 I like Chinese culture.
I am from Nepal.
We border China and India.
We know each and every thing about India including the fact that Chief minster of Tamil Nadu is MK Stalin.
We know such obscure fact about India.
But gun to my head, I cant tell you name of 10 Chinese cities.
China is so mysterious, so isolated, so foreign, so different universe.
Though I can hop on my motorcycle and go to China in 6 hours.
As a Nepali I can cross the border at Araniko Highway and go to border side market of China known as Khassa but not further than that but I can enter China.
Yet I know next to nothing about China.
So yes I do wanna know about China.
我喜欢中国文化。
我是尼泊尔人。
我们与中国和印度接壤。
我们对印度了解极深——甚至知道泰米尔纳德邦首席部长是MK·斯大林（MK Stalin）这种冷知识。
但你拿枪指着我头，我也说不出10个中国城市的名字。
中国太神秘、太封闭、太遥远，仿佛另一个宇宙。
尽管我骑摩托车6小时就能到中国。
作为尼泊尔人，我可以从阿尼哥公路过境，去中国边境集市“喀萨”，但不能深入。
我对中国几乎一无所知。
所以我真的想了解中国。
@KrishnaWashburn
Here's a proposition: I bet that for a lot North American people, much of their knowledge of Chinese culture comes from the Kung Fu Panda movie series -- which was really popular in China itself!
我提个观点：我打赌，很多北美人的中国文化知识其实来自《功夫熊猫》系列——而这部片子在中国本土也超级火！
@danielfredel4193
I think the act of performing historical theatrical performances is akin to keeping artifacts and records in a museum. Regardless of actual demand, there is a public utility to persevering historical styles of performance in the same way as there is for persevering records or cultural artifacts. It's important to keep history alive for future generations.
我认为，表演传统戏剧的行为，本质上类似于在博物馆保存文物和档案。无论当下是否有市场需求，保存这些历史表演形式都具有公共价值——就像保存历史文献或文化遗存一样。为后代留住历史，至关重要。
@albertmiller2electricbooga897
I feel like we don't see as much appreciation for any culture that's under a dictatorship (especially communist) in the west compared to liberal countries because anyone who appreciates their culture too much would be regarded as a bit of a traitor or sympathiser. I remember a bit of confusion over Aus PM Kevin Rudd being fluent in Chinese, and I feel like if a US presidential candidate was fluent in Russian there'd be the same suspicion, and the same goes for 'appreciating' dictatorship's cultures in some other ways like movies or music、
我觉得西方对专制政权（尤其是共产主义国家）的文化欣赏较少，部分原因在于：如果谁太推崇这类文化，会被视为“叛徒”或“同情者”。我记得当年澳大利亚总理陆克文会说中文还引起过一些困惑；如果美国总统候选人会说俄语，肯定也会被怀疑。同样，欣赏这类政权的文化产品（如电影、音乐）也会招致类似偏见。
@TracyII77
I think one of the reasons Chinese culture is not as well known is due to the role Hong Kong and Taiwan have served in spreading Chinese culture. Neither of these places necessarily reflects the culture of Mainland China even though they do share a lot. It would be like England serving as the cultural representative of Australia or Canada.
我觉得中国文化在西方不够知名，部分原因是香港（特区）和台湾（地区）长期承担了传播“中国文化”的角色。但这两个地方的文化并不完全代表中国大陆——这就像是让英国代表澳大利亚或加拿大的文化一样。（个人看法：其实应该是科技进步造成文化传播的先后，比如录放机，先在美国然后日本之后是香港（特区）台湾（地区），音像店这东西加快了文化传播的速度，然后又是手机……）
@emilymiller7827
China is super cool, you start reading about something recent and a couple of minutes later you're looking up the recent background of it 4000 years ago
中国超酷的！你本来只想查点近期的事，结果几分钟后就在翻四千年前的背景了。
@luciannelea50
back when i still used tiktok, i used to get the "ancient Chinese how to" videos all over my fyp all the time. it would essentially just be someone showing the painstaking processes of how people used to make silk, makeup, etc in ye olden days. very cool and interesting
以前我还用 TikTok 的时候，首页老刷到“古代中国人怎么做XXX”的视频——比如展示古人如何费力地制作丝绸、化妆品等等。既酷又有趣。
@jclau3616
12:14 The writing system, as I learnt it, evolved from the oracle bone scxt according to archeological evidence, and it was created from Cangjie as in myths. However, it is this emperor that is the first to implement in unifying the writing system (the scxt) of the "Sinosphere", which, back then, there were many variations of each character in that dynasty. In fact, he also unified the currencies, measurements in that era too.
关于文字系统：据我所学，汉字从考古证据看起源于甲骨文，神话中则归功于仓颉造字。但真正首次统一“汉字文化圈”书写系统的是秦始皇——当时各诸侯国文字差异极大。事实上，他也统一了货币和度量衡。
@thelusogerman3021
Chinese is easy to read - with practice it becomes kind of like recognizing obxts/faces it's kind of automatic sometimes you don't even have to read the character, you look at it and ir just clicks. Writing is harder though
中文其实读起来不难——练多了就像认人脸或物体一样，几乎是自动识别的。有时候你甚至不用“读”字，看一眼就懂了。不过写起来就难多了。
@Jombozeus
Peking Opera is still culturally important and popular among older folks. It’s basically the same as Western operas in that sense.
Your parents love it, you don’t as much but sometimes they take you to see one and you go “neat” and never think about it again. One of your friends is very into it for some reason but he’s kinda weird in general.
京剧在老年人中仍有文化地位和人气，这点和西方歌剧差不多。
你爸妈很喜欢，你不太感冒，但他们带你去看一次，你会说“挺有意思”，然后就再也没想过。你有个朋友莫名特别痴迷，但他人本来就有点怪。
@aronastron9538
i know many Chinese culture stans, but Chinese culture is just not packaged in the same consumer friendly way that other asian cultures are presented in. so if someone is into Chinese culture, they're knowledge is a lot more esoteric and tends to come with a higher "barrier to entry" when shared with others.
also, beijing opera sticks around because it appeals to a niche audience. it's also "high culture" so there's an academic interest in keeping it alive. so there is a dedicated audience even if its not catered to a general audience, but the general audience still respects it from a distance because it's "high culture." honestly, not too different from western opera.
我认识不少“中国文化粉”，但中国文化不像其他亚洲文化那样被包装成易于消费的形式。所以喜欢中国文化的人，知识往往更冷门，向别人分享时门槛也更高。
另外，京剧之所以能留存，是因为它吸引的是一个小众群体。它属于“高雅文化”，因此学术界有动力维持其生命力。虽然大众不常看，但出于对“高雅文化”的尊重，还是会保持敬意——这点其实和西方歌剧很像。
@goodlookingcorpse
Until recently, I vaguely had the idea that the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion were the same thing, which is roughly like thinking that World War Two and the Vietnam War were the same thing.
直到最近我才意识到，自己一直模糊地以为太平天国运动和义和团运动是同一回事——这差不多等于把二战和越战当成一回事。
@joshentheosparks7492
I've been entrenched in Chinese culture for 15 years, and I live outside of Boston.
我沉浸在中国文化里已经15年了，目前住在波士顿郊外。
@goodmoringful
I think it was WW2 and European colonization. China in WW2 was out gunned, and was technologically backwards behind the Japanese. During the opium war, China also lost to an advanced British navy. I think these events added a lot of PTSD to the Chinese psyche. They knew that to become a more advanced country they had to study Western schools of thinking and implement them into China. This is also why simplified characters were introduced, to not just educate masses of people but to strive for the future and survival of the Chinese nation.
我认为是二战和欧洲殖民造成的。二战时中国装备落后，科技远不如日本；鸦片战争时又败给了先进的英国海军。这些经历给中国人留下了深刻的心理创伤。他们意识到，要成为强国，就必须学习西方的思想体系并将其融入中国。这也是简体字被推行的原因之一——不仅是为了普及教育，更是为了民族的未来与生存。
@arthuruppiano3211
As a result of taking several Mandarin courses in college, I was exposed to a fair bit of Chinese culture, and I personally appreciate it a lot. As you touched on, I think geopolitics is the main reason why Chinese culture hasn't had quite the same purchase in North America as Korean or Japanese culture; the fact that Korea and Japan were invaded and occupied by American forces in the mid-20th Century forced an "opening up" and encouraged cultural exchange at a time when modern American culture was itself taking shape, whereas mainland China was distracted by its own internal conflicts and then shunned by the West until the 1970s.
Anyway, some pieces of Chinese culture that I particularly like are moon cakes, xiangqi/Chinese Chess, and the animated series Scissor Seven (highly recommend).
大学时上了几门中文课，接触了不少中国文化，我个人非常欣赏。正如你提到的，我认为地缘政治是导致中国文化在北美不如韩日文化受欢迎的主因：20世纪中期，韩国和日本被美军占领，被迫“开放”，并在美国现代文化成型期就展开了深度文化交流；而中国大陆则深陷内乱，之后又被西方孤立，直到1970年代才重新接触世界。
顺便分享几个我特别喜欢的中国文化元素：月饼、象棋、还有动画《刺客伍六七》（强烈推荐）！
@TheAlexSchmidt
Chinese writing existed long before Emperor Qin Shi Huang but he was the one who created its modern form, although later emperors did try to make their own modifications some of which stuck.
汉字早在秦始皇之前就已存在，但他统一并规范了其书写形式，奠定了现代汉字的基础。虽然后世帝王也曾尝试修改，但只有少数改动被沿用下来。
@AmericanLoner
I got to visit China in early 2019 with a group of people from my high school. It was a really good time, and if geopolitics were what they are right now, I would love to go back. The people were very friendly (minus the surprisingly high number of people taking pictures of us without asking, lol). Anyway, Chinese culture is really fun to immerse yourself in as an American because of how different it is from our own. Great video as always J.J.
2019年初我和高中同学一起去过中国，玩得特别开心。如果现在的地缘政治不是这样，我真的很想再去一次。当地人非常友善（除了很多人会不打招呼就对我们拍照，哈哈）。总之，作为美国人，沉浸在中国文化中特别有趣，因为它和我们的文化差异太大了。
@TheSugarholicProject
The fight to define Chinese Culture can also quickly become political, as "tradition" has often been used as a tool of populist nationalism or, in Falun Gong's case, a tool of right wing fearmonger. This discussion will ramp up in the next decades or so, as China and Chinese abroad fight for a clearer idea of what being Chinese really mean and what about the "traditional" culture we should change or keep.
定义“中国文化”的斗争很快就会变得政治化，因为“传统”常被用作民粹民族主义的工具——比如XX功就曾利用传统文化进行右翼恐吓宣传。未来几十年，随着中国本土及海外华人不断探讨“到底什么才算真正的中国人”“哪些‘传统’该保留、哪些该改变”，这类讨论只会愈演愈烈。
@MrMuel1205
I do find it interesting how compared to Korea and Japan, Chinese culture doesn't appear to have the same level of resonance for Westerners, not withstanding that China essentially is to the East what Rome is to the West. I play a Chinese-made game, Honkai Star Rail, and I've noticed that despite it being entirely produced in China it is popular among Western players to play the game in the Japanese dub. I can only assume this is due to some tendency of Western audiences raised on anime to conflate all Asian "nerd" culture with Japan.
我觉得挺有意思的是，相比韩国和日本，中国文化似乎没能在西方引起同等共鸣——尽管中国之于东方，就如同罗马之于西方。我玩一款中国游戏《崩坏：星穹铁道》，注意到尽管它完全由中国制作，但很多西方玩家却选择日语配音。我猜这是因为从小看动漫长大的西方观众，习惯性地把所有亚洲“宅文化”都当成日本的。
@clifforddean232
China needs a comeback in the 80's to early 90's, kung-fu and Chinese food was everywhere and if a city was worth anything, they had their own China town. The art work, karate, Bruce Lee to Brandon Lee, every western had a China man that owned herbal medicine. China town in Vancouver is a marvel of its own and a dream trip for me.
I would like a Native American culture video, it gets confusing with all the different tribes across America and Canada. Same with the French, America has French quarters and we have Quebec but apparently not related to France.
中国需要重回80年代到90年代初的那种辉煌——那时功夫片和中餐无处不在，只要一个城市有点分量，就一定有自己的唐人街。那些艺术、武术、从李小龙到李国豪，每部西部片里都会有个开中药铺的华人。温哥华的唐人街本身就是个奇迹，一直是我梦想的旅行地。
另外，希望你能做个关于北美原住民文化的视频。美国和加拿大的部落太多，搞得很混乱。法国文化也是——美国有法语区，我们有魁北克，但据说跟法国本土其实关系不大？
@royliu1409
As someone born in Beijing, I've only been to a Peking opera once when accompanying an American tourist. And I've been to more opera than Peking opera. Some older folks used to listen to them on the radio in the park but I don't know a single person of my age or my parents' age who would voluntarily listen to it, I don't think anyone particularly likes it and the common attitude is 'it's something worth protecting but not worth watching'. People would rather listen to modern music infused with some traditional elements.
作为一个在北京出生的人，我只看过一次京剧，还是陪一位美国游客去的。我去过的西方歌剧反而比京剧还多。以前有些老人会在公园里用收音机听京剧，但我认识的人里，无论是同龄人还是父母辈，没一个会主动去听。大家普遍觉得：“这东西值得保护，但不值得看。” 人们更愿意听融合了传统元素的现代音乐。
@ewantaylor2758
I think that politics is probably the main reason China doesn't have as much influence on the west as other Asian countries. But I think another reason might be that orientalism isn't fashionable anymore. In the past people loved Chinese culture but specifically while viewing it as something ancient, magical and mysterious, but looking at Asia that way today is seen as either racist or at least disrespectful. And other Asian countries have developed more rapidly over the past century China has had a more complicated time, so more of Chinese culture is still the more ancient and traditional things. and since having a mythologized orientalist view of China is rarer now and looked down upon, it's harder to appreciate those ancient things than it is to appreciate more modern things, where other countries have an edge.
我觉得政治可能是中国在西方影响力不如其他亚洲国家的主要原因。但另一个原因或许是：“东方主义”现在已经不时髦了。过去人们热爱中国文化，但往往是把它看作某种古老、神奇又神秘的东西；而今天，这种看待亚洲的方式要么被视为种族主义，至少也被认为不够尊重。
此外，过去一个世纪里，其他亚洲国家发展更快，而中国经历了更复杂的历程，所以如今对外展示的中国文化仍以古老传统为主。既然那种神话化的“东方主义”视角如今既少见又被批评，人们就更难欣赏这些古老元素，反而是现代文化更容易被接受——而这正是其他国家的优势所在。
@jack.h99
The Chinese flute is pretty iconic but music played with the erhu just hits different. Look it up and you'll know what I mean.
中国笛子确实很有标志性，但二胡演奏的音乐完全是另一种感觉。去搜一下你就懂我意思了。
@frankunderbush
I'd conclude the lack of Chinese cultural spread over the last 100 years to 3 main reasons:
1. As mentioned in the video, due to warfare, famine, and poor management, China has been piss poor until the past couple of decades. It really doesn't help with the creation or spread of cultural products. When you're starving or having your roof blown off, you're not thinking about how to decorate a Minion with Chinese symbols.
2. The general bad reputation of the country/communist party cannot be overlooked. At a national level, many countries (especially Western countries), have had varying hot-cold relations with the PRC since its establishment. Their leaders tended to have strategic reasons to work with or against China for various trade and military goals. At the individual level, I truly believe most people are too dumb to look past the "communist party" name and heavily associate an equivalence with the Soviet unx. These two luke-warm if not outright disgusted viewpoints toward China tend to steer people away from looking beyond the surface. The lead-up to the Beijing Olympics showed that it is possible to break this barrier, but with great cost and difficulty.
3. China, despite its reliance on lots of foreign imports, is still very much a hermit kingdom, just not as extreme as something like a North Korea. Economy-wise, the regime has at various times shifted to focusing on domestic production fulfilling domestic needs - partially due to being burned in the past century, partially due to shooting themselves in the foot at times. Many of the tech products don't make it outside because the companies simply have enough of a market within China, AND they don't have to deal with fussy foreign regulations. ex. WeChat Pay & AliPay existed well over a decade before COVID, the West's payment systems are still ancient in comparison, but they don't have much of a reason to tread outside of China.
3a. Interesting anecdotal observation - a lot of middle class Chinese people, like Americans, don't have a passport and don't have any urge to leave the country. The country is big enough to have all the different sights and entertainment one can desire. This coupled with my point 2 of many foreigners not wanting to go to/learn about China, makes it more difficult for that cross-border cultural and human connection to happen.
Seeing so much Chinese cultural elements in neighboring countries is a testament to the fact that it can be and has been done in the past. There's no real reason why that can't happen again given how fast information exchange happens in the age of the internet. All the barriers IMO are artificial.
我认为过去一百年中国文化未能广泛传播，主要有三个原因：
1、如视频中提到的，由于战争、饥荒和管理不善，中国在过去几十年极度贫困。这种状况不利于文化产品的创作与输出。当你在挨饿或屋顶被炸飞时，根本不会想着怎么给小黄人贴上中国符号。
2、国家/***形象不佳不可忽视。在国家层面，许多国家（尤其是西方）自中华人民共和国成立以来，与中国的外交关系时冷时热，领导人往往出于贸易或军事战略目的决定合作或对抗。在个人层面，我相信大多数人太懒于思考，一听到“***”就自动联想到苏联。这两种冷淡甚至厌恶的态度，让人不愿深入了解中国。2008年北京奥运会前夕曾短暂打破这一壁垒，但代价高昂且困难重重。
3、尽管依赖大量进口，中国本质上仍是个“隐士王国”，只是不像朝鲜那么极端。经济上，政权多次转向以内需为主的模式——部分源于过去百年被伤害的经历，部分源于自我设限。许多科技产品不出国门，因为企业在中国国内市场已足够庞大，且不必应付繁琐的外国法规。例如：微信支付和支付宝早在疫情前就已存在十多年，西方支付系统至今仍显原始，但它们没有动力拓展海外。
附注：有趣的是，很多中国中产阶级和美国人一样，没有护照，也不想出国。中国国土辽阔，足以满足一切观光和娱乐需求。再加上外国人不愿亲自去中国了解中国（见第2点），跨境文化与人际连接就更难建立。
邻国大量保留中国传统文化元素，证明这种传播过去是可行的。在互联网加速信息交换的今天，没有理由不能重现。在我看来，所有障碍都是人为的。(***政党或名字 上下同)
@BagMonster
JJ entering his No Haircut Arc. I would also mention that Chinese culture is relatively less influential partially because they just haven't made as much effort to export it, even after they got rich. K Pop, for example, has has extensive backing from the South Korean state to improve their reputation abroad, while Chinese pop culture isn't even very influential in neighbors like Myanmar.
我还想补充一点：中国文化影响力相对较弱，部分原因在于即使富裕之后，中国也没怎么努力向外输出文化。比如K-pop就有韩国政府大力支持以提升国际形象，而中国流行文化甚至在缅甸这样的邻国都没什么影响力。
@FozzyBBear
Chinese cuisine has gone through some variations over time. The Western-style Chinese food was brought by miners and railwaymen in the late 19th century, and focuses on tenderized meats, with breading, and sauces, with rice or noodles and assorted local vegetables. In the 1960s home-cooking was virtually eliminated in China when everyone was forced to melt down their cooking pots and utensils and eat at commercial kitchens.
中国菜随着时间推移发生了不少变化。西式中餐是19世纪末由矿工和铁路工人带到西方的，特点是嫩化肉类、裹粉油炸、配酱汁，再搭配米饭或面条及当地蔬菜。而在中国本土，1960年代家庭烹饪几乎消失——当时人们被迫熔掉自家锅碗瓢盆，统一去公共食堂吃饭。
@hannah.b_765
My childhood best friend was a girl who was adopted from China. Her white parents took her to Chinese school once a week so she could connect to her roots and whenever I visited her she would tell me everything she learned and I was very fascinated by it.
There was also a children’s show that came on in 2008 called Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, and it was a like Chinese Dora. Taught kids about Chinese culture. I’d say those two things really got me into Chinese culture as a white girl, it always fascinated me because it was so different from western cultures, it made me open to cultures different than mine in general.
我童年最好的朋友是个从中国领养的女孩。她的白人父母每周送她去一次中文学校，让她连接自己的文化根源。每次我去她家，她都会告诉我学到的东西，我对此非常着迷。
2008年还有个儿童节目叫《你好，凯兰！》，就像中国的“爱探险的朵拉”，教孩子们了解中国文化。这两件事让我这个白人女孩从小就爱上了中国文化——它和西方文化如此不同，也让我对其他文化保持开放心态。
@luoleizhao5216
I wonder if the relative obscurity of Chinese culture will change from the rise of Chinese Video games. I feel like games like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, Arknights, etc. are the most significant Chinese cultural export to make it out of the country and become popular overseas. They're not explicitly "In-Your-Face Chinese" games, but I feel that does make them more approachable and less "exotic" or foreign, which could potentially make them more powerful as a cultural influence.
我在想，随着中国电子游戏的崛起，中国文化的相对“冷门”会不会改变？我觉得像《原神》《绝区零》《明日方舟》这样的游戏，可能是迄今为止最成功的中国文化海外输出。它们并非刻意强调“中国元素”，但正因如此反而更易被接受，不显得“异域”或陌生，或许也因此更具文化影响力。
