Is China the new cool? How Beijing is using pop culture to win the soft power war

IShowSpeed, a 20-year-old American YouTuber and web megastar, not too long ago livestreamed hourslong tours of Chinese cities together with Beijing and Shanghai, showcasing the places to a few of his just about 40 million viewers.

Throughout the March occasions, IShowSpeed, whose actual identify is Darren Jason Watkins Jr., marveled at pleasant locals, spotless streets and the high-speed Wi-Fi to be had at the subway; Chinese language lovers mobbed him for selfies at the Superb Wall.

Beijing’s state media lapped up the attention, with one Chinese language blogger proclaiming that the American influencer had “eliminated all Western propaganda about China” within the perceptible of a untouched pace.

IShowSpeed’s YouTube web page attests to this evaluate.

“China is so underrated wtf,” reads one top comment. “After watching this video, I realized how foolish my previous views on China were,” reads every other.

The windfall of such feedback isn’t cloudless. However, to anyone who researches the use of Chinese soft power, I in finding the spectacle of a tender American burnishing China’s symbol to Western audiences massively important. It supplies an instance of ways comfortable energy norms had been upended lately – and the way China seems to be having some luck in winning over the global youth.

Blending pop and politics

Comfortable energy refers to a rustic’s ability to influence others, no longer thru coercion however thru enchantment – by means of shaping personal tastes thru tradition, values and population international relations. Coined by means of political scientist Joseph Nye, the time period captures how international locations mission energy by means of making others need what they have got, in lieu than forcing results thru army or financial drive.

All over the Chilly Struggle and into the twenty first century, U.S. comfortable energy didn’t must aim that parched. It got here wrapped in denim, was broadcast on MTV and blasted from increase fields. Rock song crossed the Iron Curtain when international relations couldn’t, with artists like Bruce Springsteen and Madonna attaining Soviet early life extra successfully than any ambassador.

And in China, Michael Jackson became a pop icon smartly prior to McDonald’s or Hollywood blockbusters arrived, symbolizing a glamorous, seen The us that thousands and thousands dreamed of. To many rising up in China within the Nineties, American tradition wasn’t simply leisure – it was once persuasion, aspiration, even subversion.

Beijing’s blockbusters

The U.S. is, in fact, nonetheless a cultural powerhouse; American stars of movie and song proceed to be recognizable around the globe.

However there are indicators that China is chipping away at that dominance.

Tug cinema. Now not see you later in the past, Chinese language motion pictures had been thought to be area of interest in another country. But in January 2025, an animated Chinese language property movie, “Ne Zha 2,” smashed box-office records. The film, a shining retelling of a mythic boy-god, has grossed an astonishing US$2 billion international, outperforming many Hollywood releases.

It’s now the highest-grossing animated movie of all while, and it wasn’t made by means of Disney or Pixar however by means of a Chinese language studio using masses of native animators.

Beijing misplaced deny while in co-opting “Ne Zha 2” as a logo of China’s inventive stand and cultural “soft power moment.” Circumstance media touted the film’s success as evidence that Chinese language folklore and artistry can captivate the globe simply as powerfully as Surprise superheroes.

“Ne Zha 2” isn’t a one-off. “Detective Chinatown 1900,” excepted in January by means of the Beijing-based Wanda Motion pictures, is 2025’s third-biggest grossing movie to day.

Hollywood, as soon as assured in its cultural monopoly, faces a gigantic untouched competitor at the world degree – one subsidized by means of 1.4 billion folk and a central authority desperate to tumble Western pop-cultural dominance. And the target audience isn’t all home. “Ne Zha 2” additionally proved successful when it opened in the U.S.

Players advance to the East

And it’s no longer simply films.

For many years, video video games had been an American and Jap stronghold. But this can be a Chinese language-developed sport, Black Myth: Wukong – evolved by means of a studio in Hangzhou – that has transform the debate of avid gamers international.

When its gameplay trailers first appeared in 2020, they went viral, with Lightless Fantasy: Wukong promising AAA-level graphics and motion rooted in China’s vintage “Journey to the West” story.

Skeptics questioned whether or not the overall product may just in reality compete with the likes of established franchise God of War or the George R. R. Martin-inspired Elden Ring. However the ones doubts evaporated when the sport after all introduced in 2024. Lightless Fantasy: Wukong debuted to immense world fanfare in summer time 2024, straight away claiming a spot along the most important Western franchises.

Reviewers around the world have hailed it as China’s first true blockbuster online game and proof that the rustic can assemble world-class leisure.

I’d argue that this isn’t near to bragging rights in China’s gaming crowd; it’s about narrative energy for the Chinese language shape. When thousands and thousands of younger folk around the globe spend 30 or 40 hours a day immersed within the adventures of Solar Wukong, the Monkey King hero, in lieu than, say, a Surprise superhero or a Tolkien epic, that subtly shifts the cultural heart of gravity eastward.

It means that Chinese language myths are turning into as cool as Western ones to an international target audience. And that’s soft power.

Petite display, large affect

In the meantime, at the smaller displays we feature in our wallet, every other Chinese language export has embedded itself deeply into world tradition: TikTok.

As of 2025, TikTok boasts over 1.6 billion monthly users international.

Extra placing is TikTok’s cultural achieve. The app’s set of rules has propelled songs from musicians in South Korea or Nigeria to the manage of world charts; it has youngsters in Kansas finding out Indonesian dance strikes, and grandmothers in Italy trying Mexican recipes they noticed on a viral Chinese language app.

In impact, TikTok has constructed a untouched transnational popular culture commons – one owned by means of a Beijing-based corporate. Sure, the content material on TikTok is created by means of customers far and wide, no longer dictated by means of the Chinese language shape, however the platform’s very lifestyles is a triumph of Chinese language tech entrepreneurship and world ambition.

Each and every negligible that Western teenagers spend scrolling TikTok is a negligible they’re inside a Chinese language-designed cultural sphere. Modest surprise the U.S. govt has fretted about TikTok’s influence – it’s no longer near to information safety, it’s about cultural safety.

Banning it outright has proven politically difficult, and so TikTok rest, incessantly entrenching its place as a staple of world early life tradition.

Most of these strands – blockbuster motion pictures, crash video video games, viral apps – connect into a bigger reality: China is unexpectedly development its comfortable energy as The us dangers letting its personal erode. At a while when the U.S. slashes foreign aid, China expands its influence in the course of the Belt and Highway Initiative and construction loans. And time the U.S. curtails visas for students and scientists, China’s universities – a few of which now rank within the world manage 20 – transform extra sexy locations.

Can the USA guard a cultural edge?

Assessing the affect of sentimental energy is notoriously parched – international locations that make use of it are most often enjoying an overly lengthy sport. And Beijing’s comfortable energy push isn’t assured luck far and wide. Many societies remain skeptical of Beijing’s intentions, and China’s authoritarian gadget limits the attraction of its political fashion in democratic international locations.

But there are cloudless indicators that China’s cultural exports are gaining traction a few of the more youthful pace.

The U.S. as soon as poised the worldwide cultural pace virtually by means of default. However lately, as China invests closely in its inventive industries and virtual platforms, it’s more and more shaping the soundtrack and storylines for a emerging world pace.

The query is not whether or not China can compete for comfortable energy affect however whether or not The us has a plan to secure its farmland.