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The cultural trade deficit

Step off the bus and take your first glimpse at downtown Shanghai. One of the first things you see, besides Shanghai's magnificent Pearl Tower, are the famous golden arches.

McDonalds. In China.

It's surrounded by Coca Cola billboards and L'Oreal ads.

Wait a second, where the hell am I?

My study abroad program promised to take me to China. But judging by my surroundings, I think I've found Little America. The city hearkens to bustling and crowded New York, except that none of the taxi drivers flash the middle finger at annoying pedestrians. While it still retains many of its traditional roots, China has clearly been touched by the hands of capitalist America. And Shanghai proves to be the perfect gateway for businessmen to mold the country into a lucrative trade base.

Shanghai is in the process of becoming a major worldwide economic hub, and American business is an enormous contributor to its growth. Judging by recent U.S. trade policies, such as the China trade bill that granted the communist state permanent normal trade relations, American business will only continue to flow into the city.

Letting China into the World Trade Organization would make the country even more valuable for American businessmen, but the opposition of labor unions and anti-sweatshop activists has precluded its membership. Given the US tendency to make trade with China a priority, it is very possible that China will join the WTO soon. For now at least, it's mainly places like McDonalds that are making waves in Shanghai.

While I'm grateful to have the option of having an occasional Big Mac, I've come to China to experience China. If I want McDonalds, I can go to the Student Union. It is a bit disenchanting to be surrounded by virtually everything American.

But Americana seems to bleed into every other culture. To become "westernized" is a natural result of the spread of American businesses, and American culture impacts the lives of foreigners much more than their cultures impact America. If you want evidence, just have a conversation with the average Chinese college student.

Christine Xu, a bright 20-year-old majoring in - go figure - English literature at Shanghai's Fudan University, loves Tom Cruise. She gushes about how amazing Julia Roberts is in "Pretty Woman." She knows Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears as well as any American youth. And she understands Dickens better than most English-speaking students I know.

When I met Christine at a party thrown so we American students could meet some Chinese youth, I knew nothing about China except for Jackie Chan and the Communist Regime. Americans, generally, are clueless about anything foreign, but they have the advantage of being a part of a dominant world culture. Americans can travel virtually anywhere on Earth and still find a Coca Cola.

The cultural trade deficit is starting to decrease as American newsmedia have begun to pay closer attention to Chinese culture. One major news organization recently did a special story about Dashan, a tall white American comedian who works only in China and speaks fluent Mandarin.

But the prevalence of America in foreign countries - economically and culturally, as the two go hand in hand - is unmatched. McDonalds is perpetually crowded here, not to mention Kentucky Fried Chicken, TCBY and a slew of other American chains. Young people here sport Guess bags, munch on M&Ms and buy pirated Celine Dion CDs.

Meanwhile, I am learning to speak Mandarin and take classes in Tai Qi, the ancient Chinese martial art.

Pass me the chopsticks. I can buy a Big Mac when I get back to Tucson.