“The visible dynamic of globalization is economic integration while the invisible one is the integration of values, the integration of democratic and global values.”
Yu Keping, Director, China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics, Beijing University.
Hangzhou’s western business have been getting on my nerves lately. By that, of course, I mean that globalization has gotten the best of Hangzhou; indeed, the best of China.
People like to talk about how multinational companies adapt to suit different cultures, like how McDonalds serves more chicken in China because chicken is a staple food. Thomas Friedman talks about “glocalization,” or global localization, where a culture absorbs foreign ideas and melds them with its own traditions. A scholar named Arif Dirlik says that capitalist modernity has had to “interiorize cultural difference” as a part of its “constitution.”
Nice thought, Tom. Good talk, Arif. I just had a Pumpkin Spice latte at Starbucks.
“The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere… In one word, it creates a world after its own image.”
Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, The Communist Manefesto.
Today, I woke up and went to Starbucks (Xing Ba Ke) for breakfast. After a morning teaching English at liu gong ren, I then walked to Paradise (a western restaurant by the Hyatt) for a hamburger lunch. Spending the afternoon seeing sites around town, I met some friends at a Dairy Queen for ice cream. Dinner consisted of niu rho mian, or beef noodles, which was my only culturally-appropriate ingestion on the day. Later in the evening, some other friends asked if I wanted to join them at Haagen-Dazs; I declined the offer – I’d already had ice cream. I guess tomorrow I’ll visit some other American staples: maybe TCBY, KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, or McDonalds. Maybe I’ll buy something at the Nike or Adidas stores; or, if I’m feeling wealthy, I’ll ride over to Armani, Versace, or Louis Vuitton. Maybe I'll buy a Porsche or a Maserati at the nearby dealership. Thirsty? Have a Coke, or a Sprite, or a Nestea. How about a Fresca? Click on the above picture at the Starbucks and you will see a Haagen-Dazs to the left and a Ferrari Factory Store across the street.
On Thursday, we’ll leave for Beijing. On Friday, we’ll climb the Great Wall. And on Saturday, I’ll wear my new T-shirt: “I climbed the Great Wall of China.” I suspect we’ll all buy coffee at the Starbucks inside the Forbidden City. INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN CITY!
How sad is this? What kind of cultural experience is this? Where are the Chinese consumer companies, the agricultural centers, the real stores and shops that real people patronize? Maybe I just don’t know where to find them; in fact, it’s very likely that I just don’t know where to find them. Sure, the noodle shops, the bike repairmen, the cigarrette stores, the laundry dry-cleaners; they're all here. But damned if everybody in this town doesn’t know that there are 6 Starbucks, and can’t give precise directions to each of them.
This entry is not intended to serve as an unadulterated rant against all things capitalist, and it is not to imply that my time in China has set me on course with Chairman Mao. It is, rather, to say this: these companies are not adapting themselves to suit the values of the context. They are moving in, setting up shop, and proceeding to transform the popular definition of what is acceptable in the community. Because of these companies, people’s orientations are recast to include, and even to place priority on, the new businesses and their attendant products. Ultimately, then, people allow the business to become acceptable within their current values systems, and consistent with their views of what is right with the world. Starbucks didn’t change one bit when it came here. It dropped in, and people watched as successful (read: wealthy) westerners patronized the shop. And people mimicked. So here I am, in China, where you can buy a full breakfast for 40 cents and tea is part of the cultural heritage, and people are perfectly comfortable paying $3.50 for their pumpkin spice lattes. Good luck finding traditional green tea at Xing Ba Ke.
Frustratingly, I realize that this is much more a display of my own lack of discipline than it is an account of westernization in China. When I go out, I am drawn towards the convenience and comfort of these familiar things; and I’m now irritated that they’re here for me to patronize. I’m discouraged by my own inability to expand my comfort zone when the choice is present – or to know where to look to find an option. And I exact that frustration on the booming industry of western restaurants and products in Hangzhou. Over the next few weeks, I will be intentional about avoiding these places to a reasonable extent – they’re the last thing that I will want to remember from my time here.
Nevertheless, the conversation about globalization is still a very real one – and it’s not just me that is focused on these western establishments. The entire place seems to now be oriented this way – particularly among young people. Scholar Walden Bello talks about attempting to “re-embed” the economy into society, rather than letting the economy drive the society, so that culture and values will take precedent to business and profits. Smart guy. He looks to find a way to allow cultures to develop while still preserving their own unique rhythms, values, and strategies. Good luck.
Ultimately, though, I realize that a $3.50 latte will not dramatically affect the traditional values systems and designations in China. People will still care for and honor the elderly, look out for one another as they conduct themselves, and seek success in cooperation with each other. People will still live with their grandparents, respect those who work hard and study hard, and for the most part they will live as frugally as is socially acceptable. Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore) focuses on social values in "the family, the extended family, the clan, [which] has provided a kind of survival raft for the individual," no matter economic or political change, over thousands of years. Also a smart guy (a dictator, sure, but a smart one). Joseph Schumpeter wisely noted that “social structures, types and attitudes are coins that do not readily melt.” Go figure, another smart guy. Values and established cultures are firm but malleable, requiring great heat and pressure for change, and they do not easily change by a few years of influence from a few multinational corporations – even Starbucks.
So what difference does my pumpkin spice latte make? Honestly, not much. But if our spending reflects our priorities, and the Chinese people are willing to pay 9x what they spend for breakfast on a drink flavored by a vegetable they likely couldn't pick out of a lineup, then they sure have some interesting priorities. And so do we, by the way. How much do I pay for coffee? And what's a vanilla leaf look like?
Ultimately, we realize that it's the small things that amalgamate to effect gradual, but hugely transformative, change. So my latte doesn't matter. But 1.29 billion lattes?
"For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.” That Ben Franklin – he really was a smart guy.
