Recent polling has shown that global opinion of China has drastically shifted positively following blockbuster movies, triple-A games, and cultural phenomena.
An opinion poll asking 32,000 people in 32 countries by the polling firm GlobeScan on behalf of British magazine The Economist has shown a significant shift in opinions on China and America, with increasing numbers of people preferring China to be the leading world power.
Globally, the share of people who choose China as their ‘preferred leading world power’ jumped 11% to 33%. Meanwhile, support for the US decreased to 46%.
While the US remains the first choice globally, when broken down by region, China is now preferred in Africa and the Middle East.
Even in Europe, there have been significant shifts. In Spain, the US dropped significantly, coming in well below 50%, and China rose. While the US is still seen as the preferred choice over China, the gap is significantly smaller than before.
Equally, there are significant differences by age. For those above 65 years old, the US had a strong 30% lead. However, for those aged 18-24, opinions are almost tied with the US on 41% and China on 39%.
This is a rapid shift for China, after the Covid-19 pandemic saw global low opinions of the country.
China has been quick to emphasise its increasing popularity. Chinese state media have published a series of English-language articles, citing Western media and foreign experts.
China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian earlier this year said: “more and more people from across the world have come to know China.”
Citing Chinese travel, shopping, movies, games, toys and more as being the reason.
Relaxation of visa rules, including visa-free access for up to 30 days, or a transit without a visa for 7 days, has seen a significant increase in foreign travellers to China. China tourism should no longer be seen as recovering from the pandemic, but now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
Social media is another significant factor. Foreign live streamers and travel influencers are increasingly visiting China, offering an unfiltered view of the country. Most notable was IShowSpeed’s trip to China earlier this year.
Likewise, the increased use of Chinese social media by foreigners has had an influence. The TikTok refuge trend which sure users of Tik Tok, believing it will be banned by US president Trump, left to Chinese social media app Xiaohong Shu.
So-called ‘cool China’ has also extended beyond media and travel, the blind box toy labubu went viral this year, driving Pop Mart’s global sales up significantly. Revenue in America was up by more than 1,200%, while in Europe they rose by over 700% in July–September this year.
Not everything is clear-cut for this trend, however. The success of Nezha 2, becoming the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, is regularly cited as increasing the image of cool China and China’s soft power. However, the overwhelming majority of ticket sales came from China. An English dub released in America went broadly unnoticed at the box office.
However, Lin Jian and the many state news articles are unfazed by these minor points. China is entering its cool phase, global opinion polling backs this up, and they expect it to continue.
He asserted that in the future “people all over the world will see and experience an even cooler China”.
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