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Four Weeks of Soft Power

Political philosophy

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Chinese Philosophy (PHIL 434)

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Gonzaga University

Academic year: 2017/2018

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Four Weeks of Soft Power: China’s Influence on a Foreigner

Abstract: The topic of this essay is “My perception on China as an international player—Seeing from within Shanghai.” In this narrative, I plan to explain why and how the largest city in China is on the forefront of the world stage in multiple different ways and areas. China is itself is a rapidly growing world power that is still modernizing, but in many ways has already overtaken multiplother countries in certain areas. Shanghai in recent years has been noted for its involvement as ae major port city, and currently stands as the world’s busiest container port. This city is known to

be the most popular in the world, and the presence of foreign and western companies is ever present wherever you turn. Shanghai puts China on the global map by establishing itself as a major regional and global business hub where different countries come to conduct their own foreign affairs.

The city of Shanghai, China rests in a crucial position of the delta of the Yangtze River, and is often considered to be China’s most “open” city that connects it with the rest of the modern world. Often considered the financial, social, and economical hub of China, this city of over 25 million people as of 2019 it is the center of China’s commercial world and is widely known to be one of the country’s most important cities. Coming from a city like Atlanta on top of being a foreigner, Shanghai was incredibly intimidating to me in terms of size, demographic, and influence. Although the “western marker” upon the city is prominent in almost everywhere I go within the city limits, it is still ultimately geared towards the majority demographic, which happens to be the Han Chinese ethnic group. The very foundation of China’s influence geographically and within the western world is changing so rapidly that it seems I hear about the country in some way, shape, and form almost every day. Upon arriving in the city myself and learning of its vast and expansive history, I began to understand why the city attracted everyone from all fabrics of life like locals from the country side, to students thousands of miles from home hoping to experience life in the world’s biggest city. This vast metropolis was not always so open and accepting of the outside world. Shanghai in Transition by Jose Gamble states, “From the early 1950s until the early 1980s contact with foreigners and knowledge of the world beyond the borders of the People’s Republic was extremely limited and strictly regulated.” 2 This was a result of the Cultural Revolution and Chairman Mao Zedong’s influence within the country. In terms of politics, Shanghai like almost all governing institutions within the Peoples Republic of China is structured within a parallel party

2 Routledge, 2003. search-ebscohost-com.libez.lib Gamble, Jos. Shanghai in Transition : Changing Perspectives eorgiasouthern.edu/login?and Social Contours of a Chinese Metropolis. London: direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=136587.

government system. It is also considered one of the most expensive cities within mainland China to live. Upon exploring Shanghai more within the weeks of my stay here, I have realized that the city and its subtle soft power influence upon foreigners like me will have a lasting effect even after returning to my home. Multiple multi-million-dollar western corporations have extended branches or even headquarters within the city. Large companies with huge Western Influence such as Linkedin, Evernote, Airbnb, and Coca-Cola have made Shanghai their home in the East. Other companies that are familiar to the western vernacular are splashed everywhere, such as Apple, Samsung, Disney, multiple different fashion companies like H&M, Nike, Sephora, and popular fast food chains like McDonalds, and White Castle. Also, China has seemingly mastered the art of convenience in using app’s like Wechat and Alipay to make life and modern day to day interactions with the city and environment as easy as ever before. While in America we have several social media and payment apps such as Apple Pay, Paypal, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. But in Mainland China and a growing amount of East Asia, the mobile app’s Wechat and Alipay have taken the shopping experience to another level. Both app’s had rather humble beginnings, but have easily both become one of the most recognizable app’s throughout Asia, if not the world. WeChat, originally called “Weixin” quietly entered into the mobile world by social media Tencent, whom was also responsible for the then huge QQ messenger app. By March 2012, the app had 100 million users and shortly afterwards its name changed from the Chinese Weixin to its name today, WeChat. Every year from that point, WeChat grew more and more influential throughout the world. Then finally in April 2017, WeChat Pay arrived to the WeChat and purchasing simple things such as groceries, fast food, and similar goods and services

a mainland China Bank account or card. As a foreigner that realizes the convenience of WeChat and WeChat pay, this gives me an incentive to open up a Chinese bank account, pooling my resources into the economy. WeChat’s sister like app Alipay has similar but more extensive features than WeChat. It has the same payment system with the use of barcodes, but Alipay provides many more services. For example, DiDi, a popular ride hailing company similar to Uber in the United States can be used and payed for through AliPay. Ian Fraser from Raconteu talks about the convenience of Alipay and WeChat and how they are “light years” ahead of the rest of the world. He states “Imagine Facebook bolted on to email with a built-in payment platform for splitting bills among friends: that is Tencent’s WeChat. Or Amazon, with its own payment system that lets you send money to friends using only their phone number: that is Ant Financials Alipay,” 3. For foreigners like me, I found it increasingly difficult to find ways around WeChat and AliPay. As most places of business still accepted cash (kuai is the Chinese form of currency), going to the ATM multiple times of the week became a normal occurrence. Waiting in lines and struggling to discuss prices with the more than obvious language barrier for different things became tedious, and I found myself quickly becoming jealous of seeing the average citizen show a barcode and instantly having their item of choice payed for. Mobile Payments are quickly becoming the staple for purchasing things in Asia, as a good number of credit and debit cards from abroad are being deemed “non-usable”. Within just China alone, WeChat and Alipay boast “a 93% penetration of all the Mobile payment population” 4. With the overwhelming success of these “Power House

3 Accessed July 11, 2019. raconteur/finance/alipay-wechat-china-payme Fraser, Ian. "Alipay to WeChat Pay: Chinese Payments Are Lightyears Ahead." Raconteur. September 26, 2018. nts. 4 2019. walkthechat/the-cross-border-payment "The Cross-border Payment War of WeChat Pay and Alipa-war-of-wechat-pay-and-alipay/." WalktheChat. February 27, 2019. Accessed July 11,

Apps”, they have covered so many aspects of social life that smaller competitors stand almost no chance of success.

job within the city is becoming increasingly harder. They state, “We can see this trend clearly during our daily work. In the past

couple of years there have been fewer and fewer positions from international companies, and many of our contacts in such companies, who used to be based in Shanghai, have moved to cities out of China, like Singapore or Hong Kong,” 6. With this in mind, it makes relocating to Shanghai a difficult decision. With China already being the most populated country in the world, boasting a population of over 1 billion people, it makes me wonder if any foreigner uprooting themselves and moving to a new country is worth it. Shanghai’s soft power upon the outside world is an enticing and exciting force that brings new people into the country every day, and it has been truly an experience for me as a rising adult in this modern world.

6 24, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2019. scmp Zuo, Mandy. "Can Shanghai Really Be as Attractive to Foreignerm/news/china/society/article/2130871/shanghai-wants-s as Hong Kong?" South China Morning Post. April you-can-it-really-be-attractive-foreigners-hong.

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