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“If you wanna know what China’s gonna do, best pay attention to the Shi San Wu!” Thus begins a three-minute music animation video explaining China’s thirteenth five-year plan. Economic policy is rarely the stuff of internet sensationalism, but this short clip is so bizarre at so many different levels that it’s got the world-wide web abuzz.
Americans are notoriously ignorant of events beyond their borders. Yet its news media, whose job it should be to inform the people, is just as culturally benighted. Most commentators on this side of the Pacific don’t know what to make of this video, but their analyses are mainly based on one of two clichés about China that are oft repeated in the American media.
The first cliché is that of the bumbling bureaucracy. After Xinhua News Agency (China’s official press agency) posted the video on Twitter Tuesday evening, Rob Schmitz of Nashville Public Radio asked: “Why did Xinhua think this would appeal to foreigners?” He then posed this question to the founder of a think tank that monitors the Chinese media, who gave him the answer he was looking for. “It just doesn’t quite work,” he concluded.
The second cliché is that of communist revolution. Ed Flanagan of NBC News wrote that the video’s “catchy tune and wacky images” reminded him of the Schoolhouse Rock! videos from the 1970s. But he ends his report by noting that the video “was created by Revival Road Workshop,” which he describes as a media company specializing in propaganda films. A number of other commentators picked up on the sinister name “Revival Road” and its alleged connection to the Chinese Communist Party.
In the American media, knowledge of Chinese language and culture doesn’t seem to be an essential skill for those who report on the world’s largest nation. For example, “Revival Road Workshop” may be what you get when you plunk the production company’s Chinese name into Google Translate, but a better rendition would be “Fuxing Road Studio,” in reference to a major thoroughfare in Shanghai’s fashionable French Concession. That is, the studio’s name is meant to convey style, not subversion. (And the “Shi San Wu” video certainly has plenty of style!)
To his credit, James Fallows at The Atlantic did his homework on Fuxing Road Studio, even unearthing a couple of other videos the company has produced. However, he also repeats a comment made on other sites that seems to impugn the studio’s production quality. Although he admits he doesn’t know Chinese, he claims that the singers in the video repeatedly mispronounce the Chinese word for five as “oo” instead of “woo.” In fact, wu is pronounced “oo,” not “woo.” I pointed this out to Fallows in an email I sent to him last night, but I’ve yet to receive a reply.
The most insightful analysis of the video I found among the American media was Matt Sheehan’s piece in the Huffington Post. Sheehan understands this and other recent videos put out by the Chinese media as an effort to educate foreigners about the new social and cultural realities of modern China. He describes the video as “a catchy and positive spin on complex events connecting China and the U.S., all in a snackable, social media-ready package.”
Sheehan puts the “Thirteen-Five” into proper historical perspective. He notes that some of the early five-year plans, such as the one that led to the Great Leap Forward, were unmitigated disasters for China. However, more recent plans have undergirded China’s phenomenal economic growth over the last three decades. He also points out a fact that seems lost to most American commentators. That is, China no longer has a communist command economy, and the five-year plans are mainly about developing energy resources and infrastructure.
The “Shi San Wu” video is a remarkable piece in terms of its rich cultural symbolism. I could write an academic paper analyzing the symbols in this work, and somebody probably will. But for now I’ll just focus on one item. At about 0:33, the singers converse: “It’s a huge deal.” “Like how huge?” “Huge!” Meanwhile, an image of a coyote, superimposed by a bear, superimposed by an elephant, flash on the screen. These obviously represent the U.S., Russia, and India. The singers continue: “Like China huge?” “Yeah, China huge.” “Wow, that’s really big!” Two hands bundle up the coyote, bear, and elephant and roll them off screen as a map of China slides into place. The visuals demonstrate just how big “China huge” is—bigger than any other country.
To my mind, the “Shi San Wu” video is a clever piece of advertising. The Chinese know the average American has a severely distorted view of their country. With grace and humor, this video portrays modern China as stylish, vibrant, and exciting. And yes, cocky too—the rooster is, after all, a symbol of China.
The “Shi San Wu” video works like the annoying commercial that repeats a dozen times during your favorite program. Days later you’re humming the tune and repeating the catchphrase to yourself. Now it’s gotten under your skin, slowing changing your attitudes.
China has the world’s largest population and second largest economy. Its middle class alone is double the population of the United States. We can never tame it, so we’d better find a way to get along with this restless dragon. Americans should wanna know what China’s gonna do. Best pay attention to the Shi San Wu!
