[First published June 20, 2014Lonsdale Avenue, the main shopping street in North Vancouver, looks completely different from when I was a kid. Back then, It had a hardware store, a shoe store, a book store, a stationery store. All long gone. Of course there were several Chinese restaurants, but nothing more exotic than that. Other stores came and went -- remember the muffin craze, followed by the big cookie craze? Now, Lonsdale is coffee houses, sushi places and restaurants and stores operated by people from the four corners of the earth. I'm sometimes mystified by the appeal of some cultural imports. Could you persuade North Vancouver teenagers to eat tapioca? You can if you're selling them bubble tea.
Point is, North Vancouver is no longer a British-WASP enclave. Cultures and cuisines mix and mingle up and down the street. And this has come about because of globalization and shopping malls and big box stores and changing immigration policies. It's not all good, it's not all bad, it just is.
Now try a thought experiment. Imagine if your kids listened to -- to take an example -- Persian music. And they admired Persian movie stars and singers. Imagine if they wore only Persian styles of clothing, or t-shirts with jumbled Persian phrases on them, or designs that included the Persian flag. And they wished they had eyes like the Persians and some even had plastic surgery to achieve that Persian look. Imagine if they abandoned playing street hockey in favor of Persian sports and hobbies. And they thought Persian movies were better than North American movies. And they planned to major in Persian at college. And wished they could go to Persia. And of course the kids regarded Persian food as a special treat. And private and public schools couldn't hire enough native-speaking Persians to fill the demand for Persian lessons.
Point is, North Vancouver is no longer a British-WASP enclave. Cultures and cuisines mix and mingle up and down the street. And this has come about because of globalization and shopping malls and big box stores and changing immigration policies. It's not all good, it's not all bad, it just is.
Now try a thought experiment. Imagine if your kids listened to -- to take an example -- Persian music. And they admired Persian movie stars and singers. Imagine if they wore only Persian styles of clothing, or t-shirts with jumbled Persian phrases on them, or designs that included the Persian flag. And they wished they had eyes like the Persians and some even had plastic surgery to achieve that Persian look. Imagine if they abandoned playing street hockey in favor of Persian sports and hobbies. And they thought Persian movies were better than North American movies. And they planned to major in Persian at college. And wished they could go to Persia. And of course the kids regarded Persian food as a special treat. And private and public schools couldn't hire enough native-speaking Persians to fill the demand for Persian lessons.
And imagine if your talk show hosts and singers and newscasters copied the the hairstyles, wardrobes, mannerisms, and vocal style of Persian shows. And imagine that millions of people liked to watch Persian TV shows on the internet. Imagine if, instead of the traditional Western wedding, young people were getting married Persian-style. And they wanted to buy Persian furniture for their apartments. Imagine if having only Persian wording on a package of cookies was the baker's way of signalling that it was a high-quality item which was more expensive and better than regular cookies.
Advertisement for children's play area Wouldn't that feel strange? I think -- no matter how crazy-committed we Canadians are to multiculturalism, and no matter how difficult-to-impossible it is to discuss immigration and culture without being accused of racism -- I think that sooner or later, Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians would start to fret out loud about Canada's cultural sovereignty.
I am of course, talking about China and the West, not Canada. Last year, China's president, Xi Jinping, promised a "great renaissance (also translated as 'revival') of the Chinese nation." Appeals to Chinese nationalism will inevitably include promotion of Chinese culture. It appears that many within the highest echelons of the Chinese government want this renaissance to include some cultural push-back. I surmise that taking English out of the university placement exam and banning popular TV shows like the Big Bang Theory, are two examples of this pushback. Let's see what else happens.
I am of course, talking about China and the West, not Canada. Last year, China's president, Xi Jinping, promised a "great renaissance (also translated as 'revival') of the Chinese nation." Appeals to Chinese nationalism will inevitably include promotion of Chinese culture. It appears that many within the highest echelons of the Chinese government want this renaissance to include some cultural push-back. I surmise that taking English out of the university placement exam and banning popular TV shows like the Big Bang Theory, are two examples of this pushback. Let's see what else happens.
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