Observer Network: Recently, some companies in the promotion of the use of "squinting eyes (slanty eyes)" element of advertising creativity, causing netizens to be more intense feedback and discussion, if the "three squirrels" caused the first wave of public opinion may be that it did not anticipate, Mercedes-Benz in the case of public opinion hotspots have been generated, still go their own way, in your opinion, why did Mercedes-Benz appear at this time node such an operation?
Lu Xiao: In fact, in the recent public discussion, a lot of the analysis is very good, and many articles go back to the portrayal of Chinese by British colonialists in the 19th century, including the image of Fu Manchu, and Bruce Lee's exposure and resistance to this ugliness at that time.
First, it is a question of aesthetic standards; second, this aesthetic conflict has existed for a long time, but it is sporadic, scattered, and frequent, and has not aroused such concentrated attention and discussion from the public. The operation of Mercedes-Benz and three squirrels is not "sudden" to attract attention, but has a big background and system, I mentioned a problem in the preface to the previously published monograph "Brand Empowerment International Boutique Brand Strategy": the dual equilibrium of Eastern and Western ideas and cultures.
On this issue, I would like to make two points.
The first point of view is that in the hundreds of years since modern times, the West has gradually established ideological and cultural dominance on a global scale on the basis of colonialism and industrialization.
The West invaded and colonized the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Southeast Asia and other areas that were traditionally dominated by Eastern ideology and culture, until after The Second World War, these areas appeared in the context of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and gradually achieved independence, but this was a superficial independence in sovereignty and administration, especially in ideological and cultural, they were still colonized.
But at the global level, there are indeed two ideological systems in the field of culture, the East is the other pole that cannot be ignored and denied by any observer, and the lineage of thousands of years is real, and no one can cut off and eliminate it. Modern China has been in a backward state for more than 200 years due to backwardness and beating, and this ideological system, whether good or bad, has always been in a weak state, because hard power is not good, we then publicize the advanced of this culture, there is no convincing force, there is no follower, this is a very realistic problem, since the "May Fourth", we have been reflecting on this ideological and cultural system.
The stop loss point of this state is the founding of New China in 1949, which has appeared in the world with a new look. Although the economic strength is not good, we are back on our feet as a sovereign independent state. The saying "stand up" is very vivid, maybe we have a thin foundation, a bad state, weak wind, facing many difficulties, including many countries to contain us, do not want us to stand up, but we do stand up. Maybe the West was strong at that time, and there were many people standing, but as the leader of the Eastern system, we got back on our feet, which is completely different from when we didn't stand up.
Subsequently, after the arduous struggle of the first thirty years, we laid the foundation for national defense and industry, and after more than forty years of reform and opening up, we developed rapidly with economic construction as the center, and gradually stood up politically, militarily, and economically, but culturally, we still did not stand strong as a representative of the Eastern ideological system. Therefore, "Chinese people have stood up" is a systematic project, which has stood up politically, stood up economically, stood up culturally, stood up at the material level, and stood up at the spiritual level.
The second point of view is that the current point in time is indeed pregnant with the qualitative change of "the great change that has not occurred in a hundred years", and many people do not understand this sentence deeply enough.
The West has been strong for hundreds of years, the East has been weak for hundreds of years, and this pattern has been undergoing subtle changes, and there has been a process of one way and another, and in fact it has developed towards a balanced state of development of Eastern and Western civilizations. Previously, when the East was weak, although many things also happened, we were not sensitive, at least our public was not sensitive, and with the enhancement of the strength of the East and the increase of the volume, many people's psychological level changed, and naturally became very sensitive.
This sensitivity is not the sensitivity of the industry, but due to the improvement of the comprehensive strength of the political and economic aspects of oriental civilization, the improvement of public cognitive ability, resulting in the awakening and sensitivity of the general public. It is particularly noteworthy that this sensitive voice is young people, post-90s and post-00s, they do not have so much historical baggage, do not have the inertia of thinking left over from the past, and older people may have seen it long ago, thinking that what happened this time is the same as before, commonplace, and should be so. But now young people do not have these experiences, see this phenomenon feel very surprised, because from the perspective of a normal person who looks at the world, from the perspective of a normal person born with a simple aesthetic, being portrayed as such an image will have a feeling of being attacked, and they ask, why accept an image that does not belong to me? Why take on something you shouldn't?
The works of "contemporary artist" Yue Minjun were auctioned for high prices in 2017
This kind of inner feeling of young people has been stimulated in the context of the era of "unprecedented changes in a hundred years" and in the process of dynamic game between the East and the West, especially in the Internet era, their voices can be amplified and more easily resonated. If in the previous historical stages, even if someone felt this way and made such a sound, it might be obliterated and could not resonate with more people.
Observer Network: Probably in Bruce Lee's time and environment, the sound he made didn't have the same echo as it did at the time, but now, we see a lot of analytical articles mentioning Bruce Lee, which seems to be an echo that transcends time and space.
"I think the United States should show the real oriental culture, you see brothers, in American dramas, Chinese are long braids like monkeys jumping, being chased by Americans fast, and the eyes are squinting, I think this is very outdated." 」
--Bruce Lee
Lu Xiao: Bruce Lee confronted this conflict in the 1960s, when he stood in the cultural center of the most powerful country in the Western cultural system as an Orientalist, arguably standing in the middle of the whirlpool, deeper than we feel today. At that time he was able to make such a sound, and I think it can prove two points, first, that he is not confused; and second, that he is very courageous.
Footage of Bruce Lee's 1971 interview
At that time, the Chinese who went to the United States, including a large number of people of other ethnic groups around the world, became dependents, and their first step was to transform themselves 100% according to the cultural image designed by the West (for a certain nation); the second step was to be transformed, and then to influence his mother culture in turn with the image of his own transformation. The first step is to be assimilated, and the second step is to become a tool.
To observe Bruce Lee by such a yardstick, first of all, he is not confused and refuses to conform to the same stream; second, he has the courage to speak out. Although some overseas Chinese are not confused and do not conform to each other, they choose to be silent when they consider their own survival and interests, which is the common state of many overseas Chinese, according to my observation, most of the first generation of overseas Chinese are not confused, but the second and third generations are not sure.
Of course, there must have been Chinese people who chose to speak out in the past, but Bruce Lee, as a public figure, has more opportunities and platforms to speak, and the views he expressed in the interview can be recorded by the camera, which may not have aroused much attention or repercussions at the time, but after nearly half a century, it was discovered by clear-eyed people, which produced a resonance across time and space in the context of "unprecedented changes in a hundred years".
Observer.com: But today, Bruce Lee commented on things that were "outdated" at the time, and there are still people doing it.
Lu Xiao: Yes, for example, these overseas advertising companies find some Chinese girls to shoot, and some parties shout injustice, in my opinion, this is a bit of a bit of a clear pretense, didn't the parties themselves feel it at that time? He may pretend to be confused in order to earn this money, this is a personal choice, such a job, some people are willing to do it, some people are not willing to do it.
If we go deeper, when Japan invaded and occupied China, it also co-opted the cultural circles, and some people chose to give in to cooperation, and some people chose not to yield. Of course, we must advocate national integrity, but it is impossible to ask everyone, when things come to everyone, each person has his own choice.
But in this day and age, I feel that this choice has become easier, not more difficult.
Observer Network: Probably as you said, in the process of changing times, the consequences that this kind of thing may bring to individuals or businesses have also changed, and some people may not have expected such serious consequences.
Lu Xiao: Yes, some people who pay attention to observation have realized that the times have changed, but for the public, cognition still needs a process, or everyone's consciousness is different. Maybe everyone does not have such a deep understanding in their specific fields of work, and now there are more and more awakened publics, and there is such a rapid dissemination tool as the Internet. Especially if there is no epidemic and no trade war, the process of this change may not be so fast, and now there are so many explicit events to touch everyone, objectively accelerating the process of public awakening and the rise of Chinese culture.
Observer Network: If we talk more specifically, why does such a thing happen to multinational companies like Mercedes-Benz and private enterprises like Three Squirrels?
Lu Xiao: In fact, it is related to the supply chain system of their advertising creative industry, and the origin of this industry is the wave of practitioners who are influenced by Western cultural values that we just talked about, who have learned advanced things in the West, but have not made choices and screenings, accepted the assimilation of the West, and have fully accepted the role of being a tool to vilify China. They lack Bruce Lee's height of awareness, sensitivity and courage.
Of course, this can not only blame the advertising creative team, the ultimate gatekeeper of the brand image is the company, these companies in the Chinese market, first of all, there must be empathy as Chinese, post-90s, post-00s can make value judgments according to common sense, the company's public relations team has no perception, which can not blame others.
But this leads to another important problem, today's entire "mainstream" creative system, from the chain of training to production, are following the Western cultural value system, if the practitioners themselves do not have a certain degree of skill, do not think about this problem, do not have a certain accumulation of experience, they can not come up with a set of things that are both Chinese and positive energy.
In the field of culture, "modern" and "Western" should be decoupled, and the image of modern Chinese aesthetics and values should be a positive image, not a negative or vassal image, and a tool deliberately distorted and solidified by the West cannot be in turn implanted into the construction process of China's mainstream aesthetics, and finally define China's "mainstream".
What I want to say is that, first, modern China's own image standards must represent both the positive aesthetics of mankind and the aesthetic consensus of Chinese, and cannot be defined by others; second, at present, China is very weak in this field, our own forward output capacity is too small, this aesthetic must have a large number of physical carriers, which is related to the cause I am now promoting, China has international standards of enterprises, products and services, is the bearer of this aesthetic, this process, The gradual development and growth of brand enterprises that take the road of international boutique brands in China is the same process.
Observer Network: Maybe it's also a battle process?
Lu Xiao: I think it is a game process, because after all, the global market is currently an open market. In fact, the West does not deliberately bully China specifically, they are like this to other peoples in the world, this is an extension of Western cultural thought and energy, when it comes to China, if China is empty in this field, other people's established views and mature tools will naturally come in and occupy.
In this field, many problems are cognitive problems, perhaps we ourselves do not realize that the cognitive process has created a gap, in the reform and opening up for more than 40 years, we are making up lessons in the economic field, some have entered the world's first camp, so we are facing Western suppression. But on the other hand, in the process of building spiritual civilization and cultural values, although we still have some traditional things to adhere to, the construction of spiritual civilization integrated with China's modernization process is still very lacking, and there are far more lessons to be made up than in the material aspect, because it is impossible to produce immediately in this regard.
Contemporary Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) "Zhouzhuang Morning Market"
Observer Network: I personally have a long-term observation in this regard, that cultural changes lag behind economic and technological changes for a period of time, maybe more than a decade.
Before I learned in an interview, to tell the Chinese story well, or to do a good job in media communication, many times rely on theoretical tools to support, but many economic practices are definitely ahead of the refinement of economic theory, and the extracted economic theory to be accepted by the public, but also need a process, so this aspect may indeed take a lot of time.
Lu Xiao: What you are talking about is an objective law, and on the basis of this law, I am now a theorist, a practitioner and promoter of this theory, and I will make corresponding countermeasures according to the current state of affairs, because the relevant game between China and the West has begun.
In the early stage of reform and opening up, China in the global economic division of labor to do the bottom support, carrying a large part of low added value, labor-intensive, high pollution, high energy consumption work, more than 40 years, we have gradually upgraded, climbed to the upstream of the industrial chain, and gradually moved towards high added value, the pursuit of structural optimization and high-quality development. In fact, we have touched on the interests of the developed countries of the West, challenging the makers and biggest beneficiaries of the rule system of Western civilization and industrialized society.
Originally they cut a piece of cake for China, but Now China wants to cut a better cake on the basis of this piece. Why would China do this, but Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries dare not do it, because they are vassals, and it is not their turn to make rules, but can only passively accept. China is a big country, China does not accept the rules and distributions formulated by the West, and the East and the West are the two poles of human culture, and the game process is thus generated.
China has now put forward the idea of a "community of human destiny", which is put forward by our Eastern civilization, not the West, and the development of the West is based on the plundering of other nationalities as vassals, but the thinking of the East has not been like this since ancient times, Zheng He did not plunder anyone in the West, but promoted normal trade exchanges, mutual benefit and mutual benefit, so after the idea of "community of human destiny" was put forward, it received great repercussions in the world. But this touched the vested interests of the original rule-makers, so it was normal for China to rise up and attack it, to be contained, suppressed, scandalized, demonized, and so on, because two boxers had already gone into the ring, and in the process of the game, China had not yet grown to be on an equal footing with the other side, and in the process we had to solve two practical pressures, one was to grow, and the other was to suppress the other side.
Now we have greatly improved our hard power in politics, national defense, science and technology, economy, etc., and we are also aware of the problems of soft power, and we have proposed a path of high-quality development, but what kind of image China wants to shape itself into has not yet taken shape.
The field of culture and creativity can not be presented in vain, there must be carriers, these carriers are all industries and enterprises related to food, clothing, housing and transportation, such as Hongqi's cars, Huawei's mobile phones, we cite these national brands, because they have not only taken the road of high-quality development, but also present an advanced aesthetic image of the modernization and globalization of China's oriental civilization.
For those who create products and services in the name of Chinese brands and in the name of Chinese cultural values, we have to identify, and not all independent brands must have a positive effect on us. Some independent brands have been stolen for pillars, with a scandalous image for sales and promotion, there will also be a part of the market, some Westerners think that we are like this, this part of the market will resonate; some of them are brainwashed, assimilated, and in turn as a tool people, will also identify with and pay for it. But this part of the market must not be our real main market, Eastern civilization has its own value system, its own philosophical system, the More sensitive group of people in the Western vested interests are very jealous of this, they will use various ways to interfere with us, but let us passively accept or deceive us to accept, it is impossible.
Observer Network: This includes creating a market for these ugly things and giving them economic benefits.
Lu Xiao: Yes, especially in the field of contemporary art, it is the hardest hit area.
Any work that portrays The image of China positively is not taken seriously, and those who make a gray, ugly, and reflect the "problem" are applauded, because this is in line with the needs of the world's rulemakers, which is the state they believe China should present, so they will pay.
In 2007, Yue Minjun and his works appeared on the cover of Time magazine
This kind of game is the process of struggle at the peak of the ideological field, although there is no blood, but in a sense it is much more energetic than the struggle to see blood. In the process, they could not have amplified Bruce Lee's voice, but there was no need to wipe him out completely. They curbed his development and reversed his influence, which at the time was a higher-order strategy.
But with the advent of the "great change that has not occurred in a hundred years", the other side could contain one Bruce Lee at that time, and now it cannot contain thousands of Bruce Lee. On the contrary, without the awakening process of China's young people, Bruce Lee would be a tiny bright spot in the countless dust of the times. Under the circumstance that China's material base is extremely rich, it is impossible to be enslaved at the spiritual level.
Lu Xiao believes that it is a good thing for young people like Wuhe Qilin to stand up
Observer Network: But still need time? Need a process?
Lu Xiao: Yes, the field of Chinese contemporary art is collapsing, although some people speculate, but there are too few real masterpieces of the times. Although everyone has awakened and realized that ugly things are not OK, where is the beautiful things that can be accepted by the public?
This problem we have talked about before, that is, the "national tide" suddenly caught fire, this is not because the "national tide" has a strong value creation ability, but at least it is not ugly, although some traditions, some backward, but after repackaging and launching, the public still recognizes. This, unlike the awakening of many young people in our current incident who do not accept the vilification of symbols, is a different manifestation of the same trend. In the future, in the fields of electronics, automobiles, cultural creation, and clothing, if there are products or services that can take the boutique route, have high added value, and can carry positive aesthetics, there will certainly be many people with the ability to pay among today's young people.
This is the cause we want to promote in an all-round way now, it is not a single dimension, not a specific technical problem, not some creation at the material level, but a systematic, high-quality and high-value-added creation that opens up the material and spiritual levels, which is what we lack most now.
If we don't occupy this position, people will occupy it. This position is not only in the first-tier cities of beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, but also in all cities, towns, rural areas and the "Belt and Road", which is related to the common interests of 1.4 billion people and tests the common wisdom of 1.4 billion people.
Contemporary artist Cai Guoqiang's work at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Observer Network: Let me ask one more question, now Hanfu has gradually set off a trend, and Cao County in Shandong Has gradually risen as an industrial center. Do we expect the Hanfu tide to carry the mission of modernizing China's traditional clothing culture? Because the Western-style modern clothing we wear today was not modernized from the beginning, it has also undergone a process of development and evolution over hundreds of years.
Another interesting object of observation is Japan, because some of Japan's traditional costumes have been improved to become relatively modern and high-end Oriental clothing, can we learn from this process?
Lu Xiao: My main point about the phenomenon you mentioned is that I don't support it, but I'm happy to see it come true. Because the original traditional Chinese costumes have been destroyed, to revive, it is necessary to reproduce first, to reproduce, there will be the current industry in Cao County, Shandong. The retro clothing industry has become bigger, "Hanfu" has become more mainstream, and then there will be young people studying how to innovate. I have promoted the high-quality development strategy for more than 20 years, and I have witnessed the innovation process in various fields, and it is possible to produce innovative results in the first step, but this requires a very high comprehensive quality, and the acceptance of the people must also have a process. The growth of the Hanfu industry, the next step is the modernization of Hanfu, just as the "national tide" is now popular, the next step is the "national tide" of high-quality products.
In the field of culture, there must first be a process of recovery, recovery to a certain base, produce certain economic benefits, be recognized by the public, and the next step is to advance with the times. This process, Both Hanfu and Guochao must go through.
I don't fully agree with the matter of reproduction, because reproduction is not innovation, it is a kind of regression to some extent, but in order to produce innovation, there must be a foundation, and the process of reproduction and repetition is an indispensable step. Because we are a big country that is constantly innovating and has a system of ideas that constantly improves itself, it is a good thing as long as it produces a replica.
Hanfu Industry in Cao County, Shandong Province (Screenshot of CCTV's "Economic Half Hour" program)
Second, you mentioned the issue of Japanese clothing, the situation in Japan is not meaningless, you can learn from it, but be vigilant. Because its reference significance is not all, but a part.
Japanese traditional clothing has a process of modernization, which was recognized, after the Meiji Restoration, because the Japanese "ship small good turn", became a vassal of the West, and produced a modernization effect as a vassal, enabling it to develop rapidly.
But in the underlying logic, Japan is a beneficiary of a vassal. It is an excellent vassal, at first as a vassal of China, through the Chinese system to compete with the West, after being defeated, it was turned into a vassal by the West, and then learned the advanced culture of the West, although it can be said that it learned the advanced nature of the East and the West, but there are also problems, because this is not the original japanese, but part of the ideological system of others, I do not deny that there is a positive side to this thing that Japan does, but it is not integral, root and bottom, just a part floating on it. This part has certain reference significance for China, but it is definitely not something we should copy, it is impossible to solve all our problems, our problems, but also our own solutions.
Speaking of the topic of Hanfu and guochao, I don't fully agree, but I don't deny that this process is only the basis of what we have to do, and with this foundation, we can take the second and third steps, so my attitude towards the national tide is "happy to see it come true, but I don't approve of it."
As for the question of Mercedes-Benz and the Three Squirrels, they are actually fully embracing the Western ideological and cultural system, including the parts that vilify China. In the process of high-quality development, first of all, we must emphasize being an independent brand; secondly, is the cultural values and aesthetics presented by the independent brand positive? Third, on a positive basis, distinguish between mass consumer goods and high-end consumer goods (boutique), which are two different consumer markets, and the high-end consumer market with high added value is the direction we want to occupy, but what is the high-level beauty in china's modern cultural values? Who's going to present this? That's a problem.
Now there are some "pseudo-Chinese brands" or "pseudo-Chinese boutique brands" on the market, they claim to be high-end independent brands, occupying the position of this concept, but in fact, there are two situations presented: one is ugly, that is, the "oriental high-level beauty" defined by the Western system to occupy this market position; the other does not have this skill to present the "oriental high-level beauty", can not achieve this precision, just a shoddy, but occupy the market position of high-end beauty.
According to my observation, at present, these two situations are still the mainstream of the market, and the products and services that can truly carry the positive cultural values of modern China are still very rare and will take time.
But this time process is not two or three hundred years, nor one or two decades, but in recent years there will be "changes", in all fields there will be such head enterprises to realize this problem, and then put into practice, and finally bigger and stronger, they will achieve huge economic benefits, while producing huge social effects, and Hanfu, national tide and other phenomena resonance, together constitute the general trend of the revival of the oriental ideological and cultural system.
But this process will not be done automatically by beating gongs and drums, because we have already stepped into the ring and are engaged in a game of tricks and tricks with the West, and at present, in the balance of strength, we have strong places and weak places, but overall there are more weak places.
As long as you don't get killed, it's an experience growth. I have been engaged in the cause of promoting the growth of Chinese boutique brands for more than 20 years, the effects and feedback generated by each time period are different, if there is no point in time today, if we have not done the previous work, if we have not experienced a lot of things, many people in our discussion today will certainly not understand, because there is no empathy.
Therefore, the real "great change in a hundred years" has arrived, and many things are resonating.
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