A Little Perspective on the News

In a recent article on NPR, the impact of Chinese demand on the global wine market caught my eye. As a participant in a faculty trip to China, I was struck by the commonalities between the Chinese and ourselves. My exact words (preserved by our P.R. department) was, "For me, our journey to China was filled with the realization that the desires, goals, and concerns that shape life in the United States are facing the Chinese. Yes, their language and culture are different. Yes, they are still doing it by hand (the agrarian life is alive and well), but if you looked you could see that they are living the industrial revolution. The brands you know, they know. The food you eat, they are acquiring a taste for. The stuff you want to buy (everything from raw materials to luxury goods) they want to buy."

So for me the story about the growth in demand for red wine screamed western influence. I checked myself however and shot a note over to a China expert. Since I work at a school, I actually know a China expert. Yusheng Yao looked the story over and gave me his take.

"No doubt about it--the introduction of western concepts of luxury. On the other hand, Chinese have a tradition of conspicuous consumption among the rich, even if it went against Confucianism. But the taste for Bordeaux was definitely developed by the newly rich who admire the Western lifestyle."

A quick response, but it complicated by assumptions about the impact of economic growth in China. The gap between reality versus assumption concern China is an important one. There is a complex process of cultural and economic evolution taking place in the China, but that transformation is not divorced from history. The Chinese experience offers plenty of historical antecedents shaping current patterns. On the other hand, the impact of western interaction is perhaps amplifying some elements of established culture.