People from all over the world can enjoy the same films, TV channels, fashions, and goods in current society. The apparent differences between nations are disappearing. To what extent do you think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of this? Globalization offers conditions for widening international exchanges, strengthening mutual understanding between nations, expanding cultural, educational, and scientific cooperation between countries, enjoying the cultural achievements of people around the world which encourages the process of modernization and the enrichment of national culture.

However, these conditions also create the possible danger of diminishing the national culture with a negative impact on national identity. Through globalization and an open door policy, different concepts and a lowering of ethical standards, an individualistic lifestyle and exotic cultural products can easily be imported into the country. At present, modern information technology which in the main is controlled by US is hourly and intensively disseminating US ideology, way of life, culture and films across the world. Even US food is promoted so that some people consider globalization as global Americanization. In China, young people are used to wearing jeans, eating Mcdonald and watching movies from Hollywood. They are accepting American culture gradually, and sometimes they even know more about American customs than China’s. Here I come up with an example of the movie Mulan by Disney. The original theme of this Chinese traditional story is to praise Mulan’s filial piety to her father, however, in the movie the theme seems to become to tell how Mulan pursues her self-worth. This makes many Chinese teenagers confused, since the movie are representing different things from what they learn from textbook, and maybe after 20 years, Mulan’s traditional theme will be totally replace by the new one. Thus if there are more Chinese traditional subjects juggled, the true Chinese culture will disappear in the future.

During the process of economic globalization, inequality between developed and developing countries has been increasing and the gap between the rich and the poor has become wider, most of the result of globalization go to assist developed countries. Globalization does not pose equal interests and risks to all nations. Because of the rapid growth of global trade and global production system and continuous expansions of multinational corporations and their capital, the national economy of developing countries have to face more and more pressures and attacks, and the dependency to developed countries is aggrandizing. Developed countries are holding capital and advanced technologies and controlling the international economy system, so they can leave the developing countries far behind in the economic globalization process.

For these reasons, globalization is a fierce and complicated struggle in both cultural and ideological fields. We take the initiative in international economic integration but also have to take the initiative in fighting to keep our distinct culture resisting pro-foreign and cross-bred phenomena, and overcoming the psychology of preferring money over ethical values.

 by Xue Wang