During the XX century, Japan and China have made a huge breakthrough in all fields of their nations’ lives. After having remained isolated countries for centuries, these countries have come up to those developed and left many of them behind, which have taken them only a few decades. Thus, when talking about the Chinese and Japanese phenomena, three main questions arise: how this Eastern wonder has happened, what Chinese and Japanese global power look like today, and what we can expect from these two countries in the future. This review is focused on giving an idea about possible answers for them.
Globalization has become the central issue in the discussion of the evolution of modern civilization. When the countries open their borders, television and the Internet broadcast information flows regardless of the kilometers of land and ocean, it seems that the cultural differences are now living their last days. However, McDonald’s employees in the uniform decorated with the national ethnic prints, which can be seen in many countries of the World, lead to the idea that the swan-song of local cultures has not sounded yet. Global goods, services, and cultural tendencies rarely penetrate the local culture in their authentic form: as a rule, they fuse with those local.
This process has been given the name of glocalization, which means fusion of globalization and localization, says Samir Dasgupta in his (2004). In other words, instead of being suppressed and faded, local cultures seem to be enriched with the global trends, dissolving them like soil dissolves a fertilizer and bears fruit. The development of Japan and China is an eloquent example of modern glocalization.
The extent of the Chinese economic wonder can be easily described employing a few figures: yet in 1978, the sum of the values of Chinese exports and imports was nearly 11 percent of the country’s income; today China has become the largest exporter and the second-largest importer of goods in the World (45 percent of GDP in 2009). The poverty rate has diminished from 53% in 1981 to 2.5% in 2005 (China Economy). Yet in 2007 Dirk Lammers from The Associated Press carried out a one-week journalistic experiment which implied avoiding buying Chinese goods; the experiment failed (Lammers, 2007). However, the reason for this boom seems to be not limited by the economical dimension itself.
Today the whole economic science does not understate the importance of the cultural component when analyzing the development of a national economy. Yet Max Weber who worked at the border of the XIX and the XX centuries tried to explain China’s centuries-old economic lag employing referring to the statements of Confucianism. The merchants, according to Confucius’s ideas, had the lowest position in society: they worked for their benefit and did not contribute to the prosperity of the whole community (Wasserstrom, 2010).
This gives birth to several hypotheses about what has changed in China nowadays and helped to overcome Confucianism’s “prescription”: the first and most obvious explanation is that during the communistic period, the influence of religion in China has diminished. The second possible explanation is China’s geographical and informational isolation: the country had neither natural resources nor the possibility to import them permanently or compensate for this shortage employing technology. The third hypothesis lies completely in the cultural dimension, but also has a right to exist: the Chinese nation has understood that trade is not only about personal benefit; “merchants” can contribute to the well-being of the whole nation, stimulating the growth of the national economy and increasing the living standards for every citizen.
Governmental regulation is also a factor that cannot be omitted when talking about Chinese economical evolution. The Chinese nation has been always more collectivistic than individualistic, which means that the community appreciates collective interests higher than personal ones and performs strong interconnection between the individuals (Gannonand Rajanandini, 2010). The concept of communism is rather consonant to this phenomenon, and there is no wonder that the communistic governmental regime has been more widespread among the collectivistic nations, such as those of Asia and Eastern Europe.
Communism is likely to have created the Chinese joint effort which has led to the certain effect of synergy. However, the economic aspect of governmental regulation seems more important in terms of triggering the Chinese economical wonder: the economical reform started in 1978 and lasted for two decades. It provided a certain balance of public and private sectors, as well as popular and unpopular decisions, which turned out to be optimal for the Chinese economy (Zhongmin, 2009).
However, it is impossible to omit to discuss China’s approach in export, which seems to be a perfect marketing strategic decision: instead of trying to compete with the developed countries in terms of technology and high quality, the Chinese manufacturers focused on selling cheaper alternatives to the Western goods. Time has shown that this production’s competitive advantage consisting of low price is crucial for a lion’s share of consumers all over the World, and the Chinese goods have captured the international markets.
Another issue is often considered a certain trigger for the Chinese economical wonder: it is the Chinese people’s unique mentality, which is characterized by diligence, devotion, and unpretentiousness. Opponents mark that in this case, China should have shown excellent economic performance for centuries; nevertheless, this does not mean that this factor did not impact the overall picture; probably, when the whole bouquet of factors took place, the Chinese mentality contributed to the result.
However, regardless of what has had the strongest impact on China’s development, it is obvious that this country is going to strengthen its international position. China’s desire to host the World mega-events is rather eloquent in terms of reflecting its current position and intents for the future. In his (2010), Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom estimates the Olympic Games 2008 Opening Ceremony as that having reached the “dramatic new levels” (p. 88).
The Ceremony has been impregnated with the Chinese spirit, despite using modern Western technologies and involving Western directors, choreographers, and technicians. Recently a huge Shanghai World Expo 2010 has opened: the exhibition has occupied 5.28 square km and has been considered the largest fair in World history. As a rule, such events have been often entrusted to the developing countries that began to show a progressive rate of economic development; China fits the whole tendency, but the scale of these events has shown that this country claims to be more than rapidly developing the local economy.
It is rather interesting to compare Chinese history of success to that of Japanese. Japan is the country that has already conquered the title of the developed economy and gained a strong position on the international market. Japan faced numerous difficulties during the last two centuries: struggles against China and Russia on the border of the 1900s, and, finally, complete devastation after World War II. However, after the ruin, the whole nation put its effort to revive.
In (1994), Christine Genzberger estimates the Japanese postwar government as rather business-oriented. The author emphasizes the so-called “iron triangle”, which consists of businesses, bureaucrats, and politicians that cooperate to reach the common goals (p. 4). After the War, Japan staked on technology, and even its initial lack of scientific and innovative potential did not hinder it: the Japanese industry adopted Western achievements and applied them in manufacturing Japanese goods. Technology has become a factor that has helped Japan to develop despite its poor natural resources.
Considering the cultural dimension, it is necessary to mention that, compared to China, Japan has had a more diverse and business-oriented social philosophy. Besides Confucianism, such concepts as Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto influenced Japanese values. At the same time, Japan is considered to have adopted the Western concept of Scientific Materialism yet in the late 1800s (Genzberg, 1994).
The flexibility of the Japanese culture and its ability to absorb different ideas which might seem mutually exclusive has no precedent in the whole World. This fusion reflects some extent in the modern Japanese business culture which is well-known beyond the borders of the country. The Japanese business environment stays humanistic; however, it is not Western humanism that emphasizes the rights of an individual: instead, it focuses on humanistic interrelations between people. Despite collective benefit is more important than that person, there is still a place for a personality in the business world.
It is rather important to talk about the Japanese business culture when discussing its economic development. Despite this culture is somewhat different from that of Western, it nevertheless fits the requirements of the modern world and has influenced the Western theory of management. The humanistic concept of Japanese business relations has worked in two directions: firstly, it has helped to create effective corporate culture and management, which has improved the economic performance of the enterprises; secondly, it has assisted in developing products, which are rather innovative but stay user-friendly. The customer’s interests are the main issue for the Japanese manufacturers, even when it is talked about the most complicated technologies, and this peculiarity is a rather strong competitive advantage of Japan.
Thus, the history of China and Japan is a perfect illustration of how glocalization works. These countries perceive the Western tendencies, enrich them, and benefit. China has been already providing eloquent examples of how the global tendencies can be adapted to the local needs: while McDonald’s has been considered a typical establishment for teenagers throughout the World for a long time, the Hong Kong golden-arched establishments are already becoming “havens for retirees”, says James L. Watson in his (2006, p.196).
It is possible to assume which mechanisms of such adaptation will take place the most frequently in the nearest future: firstly, the global trends in culture will fuse with the local traditions and thus become more comprehensible for the local population. This has already happened to the Asian avant-garde cinema and visual arts, Japanese rock, and mass culture, etc. Secondly, the life cycle of global goods and services is prolonged when they reach other countries, as for some periods they are perceived as novelties.
Finally, the most powerful tool is the extension of the goods’ target audience and their adaptation to the Eastern communities’ realities: Mcdonalds’ admired by the Hong Kong elders is a good example. However, the tendencies mentioned above are about China and Japan as consumers; as for the reverse direction, these countries, no doubt, have strong potential for being global suppliers in all fields of life. Firstly, the Eastern cultures have turned the global trends into something new that, in its turn, is also able to find admirers throughout the World and influence the Western culture, as the Asian cinema has already done (Fu, 2008).
Secondly, Japan has already become an exporter of cutting-edge technologies and inventions, and this tendency will progress. In its turn, China will probably deviate from its current course on extensive economic development, instead of focusing on stimulating innovative industries and high-technology production and increasing the quality of goods and services with keeping production costs as low as possible.
At the same time, it is possible to expect the strengthening of these countries’ international political influence. When the questions of war and peace are more or less regulated by the international treaties, economic power becomes the key factor in distributing the political power among the countries. China’s currency rate and dollar reserves are considered to have already impacted on current World economic recession; at the same, the country’s huge population serves nowadays as a certain tool to increase developed countries’ investment to diminish the inner political tension. Japan is also the most influential member of the Asian regional economic organizations. Thus, it may take our planet not much time to embody the caricature where it is depicted as a globe with a huge label “Made in China”.
References
China Economy. (2009). NationMaster. Web.
Fu, P. (2008). China Forever: The Shaw Brothers and Diasporic Cinema. Illinois: Urbana University of Illinois Press.
Gannon, M.J., and Rajanandini, P. (2010). Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 29 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Genzberger, C. (1994). Japan Business: The Portable Encyclopedia for Doing Business with Japan. San Rafael, Calif., USA: World Trade Press.
Lammers, D. (2007). “What to Do When Everything is “Made in China”?”. MSNBC. Web.
Wasserstrom, J.N. (2010). China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.
Watson, J.L. (2006). Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Zhongmin, W. (2009). China in the World Economy. USA: Taylor & Francis.