為什麼中國缺少江南Style
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It can take the uninitiated a minute to realize that “Gangnam Style” is satire. When the absurdly infectious single by Korean pop star PSY appeared in July， the video had all the hallmarks of earnest K-pop： highly engineered dance routines， over-the-top styling， and the Technicolor production values honed by Seoul’s hit-making industry， which my colleague John Seabrook describes in the magazine this week in his piece，“Factory Girls.”
But the most important thing that “Gangnam Style” has is a sense of humor about itself. Its satire made it a viral phenomenon with three hundred million views on YouTube， surpassing and mocking the earnest K-pop products， and thus proving， as Seabrook says， that “cultural technology can only get you so far.”
In China， the Gangnam phenomenon carries a special pique. It has left people asking， Why couldn’t we come up with that？ China， after all， dwarfs Korea in political clout， money， and market power， and it cranks out more singers and dancers in a single city than Korea does nationwide. Chinese political leaders are constantly talking about the need for “soft power”—they have dotted the globe with Confucius Institutes to rival the Alliance Fran aise， and they have expanded radio and television stations in smaller countries that might be tired of American-dominated news. Last year， the Communist Party even declared culture a national priority and vowed to produce its own share of global cultural brands.
So， should we expect a Chinese Gangnam soon？ Don’t count on it. “PSY is a satirist， making fun， and having fun，” said John Delury， an expert on China and Korea who teaches international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul. “Korea tends to have more irony and satire in its comedy than China， and there aren’t the impediments to exporting things that question or poke fun of Korean society， politics， etc. And I think somehow people all over the world feel invited to join in， despite a huge cultural difference， when someone from a foreign place is making a bit of fun of themselves. That’s inviting. But China， especially acting in its official， soft-power capacity， is only comfortable exporting things that show off the greatness of its ancient civilization or economic development. That’s not terribly inviting.”