China is loosing its once-taken-pride-in identity and blindly adopts the Western life style. Attempting to stern awareness on China’s brain washed generations, Chinese visual artist Pok U Chan speaks about the way the communist system uses the lack of confidence and knowledge of the people to persuade them into a new identity brand: consumerism.
Ctrl+C Ctrl+V
There’s a contemporary war happening in China: fragmentation, cultural earthquake, twist, ambiguity, ambivalence. A single stick is easy to break, but a thicker bunch is more difficult. I want Chinese to be stronger. When you experience one thing for long, you get used to it. But upon changing your angle of perception, you start thinking more. Living in the UK, I could see better what happens in China. It felt difficult for me to think while living in Macau. Chinese identity trade mark will soon be endangered. My family made me think of Chinese-ness.
Nowadays, Chinese fashion considers that what makes you white is what makes you beautiful. Thus people do not have enough courage to accept their own minds. “The paradise is loosing confidence”, to quote one of the thinkers I admire. And I am disappointed with the attitude in the country. I truly believe that “what we give to the future are the choices we make today”. But we seem to settle to take on a Ctrl + C Ctrl + V attitude.
I feel Chinese have blind faith in modernity. This is the impression that I get when I see them destroying the city to raise “modern” buildings. For example the Olympic construction: the government sponsored it, without demanding any trace of Chinese architecture. The real communication with the world comes when we learn to admire other culture, and not copy it.
Child, you need to be rich!
You can see the Chinese minds still suffering from the Cultural Revolution. Mao said tradition was crap, so it had to be thrown out. Today, Chinese don’t know or cannot believe their history. “Child, don’t believe your history. You need to be rich!” The Chinese cannot see what they have inside anymore. This prevents them from knowing who they really are and it somehow becomes easier to be fond of material things. They have blind faith in everything. They look for energy outside to make them feel strong instead of searching inside for who they are. If you don’t believe your culture, how can you improve who you are?
When you’re in a society where everybody is telling you “You need to be rich! You need to be rich!” you start thinking that you really do. Maybe the fast pace of the way things are going is to blame for people not having time to think and for their preferring to buy ready-served identities. I believe a war is happening: the inner war. Chinese tradition and open statement vs. the culture import results in clashes of ideas.
White skin - the new standard
A book on Chinese film development reads that my people have “little memory and sentiment for the past… They use foreign aesthetics to establish their existence and worth. China is a fascinating social laboratory where a once levelled society is reordering itself into different classes.” And they resort to luxury brands, white skin, and Western style for that purpose. I wonder why they can’t put their energy into what is ours. We have a great history and valuable traditions. In the past, the white skin was the make up for actors staring in Chinese operas. They were regarded as a low social class. Now, white skin symbolizes wealth.
Whatever Mao said, it was the standard. He was portrayed as the God and I think Chinese had blind faith in him. But it is a Chinese habit to have blind faith in something because they do not know which way to go. The brands apply the same politics. Owning a brand product is advertised as owning happiness and being rich. So they will try make you think $ = happiness. Chinese must be self conscious first.
Mao means fashion
In my work, I mixed Mao, MacDonald and Mickey Mouse. They mean fashion. Mao was treated as a king. So is Mickey in Walt Disney. So is MacDonald clown in the fast food industry. There are equal in rank.
Chinese consider their tradition a fashion. What really brings me sadness is the fact that Chinese don’t believe their culture anymore. Youth tend to forget their traditional festivals. They will celebrate it if one is heavily advertised. Just for social reasons, not for the sake of keeping the tradition alive.
After seeing my work, some of my friends told me I couldn’t go back home. But I hope that my work can give the Chinese a new perspective on their routine.
Photography with the courtesy of the artist. To see more of Pok U Chan work, please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/13511967@N04/
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