The alt. right specializes in rage baiting, it's kind of their thing and plays into the whole "Dark Enlightenment" internet culture, from which they sprung. If you paid attention to internet activity back in the 90s and 00s, you'll realize the rise of forums like 4chan went hand-in-hand with the emergence of the alt. right and MAGA crowds. They're basically Nazi cosplayers.
Chinese Soft Power and Media Discussion and Updates
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AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I can see the people that argue China should value and pursue the Western version of soft power is all about wanting to be liked by Westerners. So this video is what the Chinese should be doing. Look at how Bassem Youssef easily bats back what hardballs Piers Morgan throws at him. Piers Morgan doesn't like eating what he and his kind dishes out.
These are the same hardballs they throw at China and Chinese if they choose to can send them right back because why? Westerners are hypocrites in everything they point the finger at where they're in no position to judge. And why do the China not do this? Because it's counter-intuitive to their goals. This is only going to get Westerners angry and if you're looking to be liked and want to live in peaceful co-existence, you're not going to want to get them angry. That's the West's advantage because they're not looking to be liked or wanting to live in peaceful co-existence with you. They want you to know your place being forever obedient to them without challenge. What is the purpose of this then?
Like I said in my previous post in here, the Chinese have to learn how to counter. If you don't want violence, this the way to do it. Like I said before, Westerners have to get burned in order for them to learn not to do it. If they can't win arguments and start looking like fools against you, that's when they think twice and not do it. When you can run circles around a Westerner and they can't counter argue, you what happens? They'll either avoid you because they don't want to look like a loser before you or some will actually switch sides and be sympathetic because in the end Westerners see as most important looking like they're on the winning side. That's real soft power.
And how can Westerners avoid all this? Don't point your hypocritical finger in the first place. If you noticed, the West will champion things where they weren't the ones being wronged. It's someone else's cause they will embrace. It's because they're a criminal against the people they're trying vilifying so they have to champion someone's else "victimization" in order to lessen their hypocrisy. Guess what? There are more of their victims around the world where you can adopt their pain...
The Chinese should be learning how to argue like Bassem Youssef. This should be standard with Chinese journalists going up against their Western counterparts. They should be requesting for interviews with noted China critics in the West and if they don't give interviews, then you do what the West does. You give their answers for them. I always hear from Americans what I'm thinking like they say I'm part of a secret invasion army for the CCP. They'll tell you what others are thinking to fit their agenda and not because you actually said it. If Westerners won't grant interviews because they want to avoid hardball questions, then Chinese should fill in the answers for them for what they're avoiding. That's what they do and that's what the Chinese should be doing to them. That's how you play the game.
I don't think Hitler picked the name "national socialism" randomly without good reason. He really was doing socialism in the sense of redistribution of wealth. His 'innovation' was the idea that not everyone who lives in Germany was actually German. Once you set that condition then taking the wealth from 'non-germans' and distributing them to Germans in a nationalist way follows. That's why his followers were so fanatical - they were actually benefitting economically. Sadly with far right rising in the world this line of thinking is making a return.
CPC doesn't tolerate that type of thinking, hence why 皇汉 is looked at in a critical way by the state and if they ever do anything more than memeing online about Ming dynasty they're going to get a taste of that iron fist of socialism. If you think about it, conceptually 皇汉 is actually han separatism just like any other type of ethnic separatism.
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I hate loan translations of Chinese concepts (and other words) so much. I cringe every time I see ""involution"" instead of juan or neijuan.
赢学 is yingxue, not "winology"
This is actually a legit soft power discussion. My take on this is case by case. For unique concepts that requires differentiation from superficial similar ideas in English then I prefer just straight Pinyin, eg loong instead of Chinese dragon. For newly invented concept then I prefer something closer to a translation, eg running dog, winology.
For 2026 my secret hope in this area is for "dimensional strike" meaning an overwhelming attack using superior technology to catch on.
Oh yes it's actually a very legit discussion. The use of calques vs transliterations is quite important for soft power
I am quite extremist with regards to this. Let me grab you my list
- 卷/内卷 is juan/neijuan, not involution
- 法宝 is fabao, not magic weapon
- 饺子 is jiaozi, not dumplings
- 小笼包 is xiaolongbao, not soup dumplings
- 烧烤 is shaokao, not Chinese bbq / Chinese skewers
- 杀手锏 is shashoujian, not assassin's mace
- 拉面 is lamian, not hand pulled noodles
- 美图 is meitu, not "beautifying image"
- 富二代 is fuerdai, not "second generation rich"
- 太子党 is taizidang, not "princeling"
I've actually seen jiaozi used. Rare, but I've seen it.
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Imagine some cool shit in wuxia is translated to "18 Palm Attacks to Defeat Dragons" which I actually see a lot in translated web novel. Nobody translate "rasengan" or "kamehameha". They are just some name of some cool stuff.
I don't think that you're being extremist at all. The English language is fine with words like ramen, katana, and kimono, so why should it be different for Chinese words? Right now, I see China having a roughly similar cultural footprint in the Anglosphere as Japan in the '70s. The acceptance of Japanese culture got a big boost in the '80s and we're seeing the initial waves of the same thing for China right now. To be fair, Chinese cultural acceptance does have to overcome a couple of big hurdles that Japan didn't have to deal with, but at the same time, China is simply much stronger than Japan ever was so it's only going to be a matter of time.
It is a problem that the Anglosphere is very familiar with translating Chinese terms and names whereas Japanese ones are more likely to get romanized. I think there are two elements in play here. The first is that romanized Japanese just rolls off the English-language tongue a lot more easily pinyin does, and the other is one of familiarity. To illustrate the latter, just look at common words like mandarin and joss. These aren't even Chinese words, but everyone acts as if they are.
