The US has its MAGA movement, lead by their current president, which might be described as playing to a myth of national revival. I'm not interested here to what extent that is hyperbole, I simply want to start by noting how powerful a force it is. Similarly, the UK has its Golden Age that gets endlessly recycled in costume dramas and which, it could be argued, played a role in Brexit and its aftermath: take back control! China has something similar: a two pronged fork with the revival of traditional culture on one side and the championing of innovative industries on the other.
This performance took the form of a short tour from point A to point B: From Huawei to KFC. Conventional wisdom might imagine the journey should be the other way around; you start by copying lower quality foreign goods and finish by manufacturing your own high quality products. That is of course the model. The reality is a little more complicated. You, and I don't simply mean China here, I'm thinking of revivals more generally, you start with your culture and you construct a self-serving version of it that never really was. The final result is often somewhat kitsch, watch any Chinese costume drama or better still time travel drama for in these we truly get the contemporary eye.
This tour was given quickly so as to avoid interference with security guards. Not that it was breaking any rules in particular, but experience has taught me that ambiguity is not something that security guards deal in and when there is a foreigner involved, it can get complicated. This was a get in get out sort of tour for a small group, delivered without any sort of framing dialogue. None was needed.
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