Yoga nation
Yoga and Bollywood movies help India polish its image in China
The latest Indian film being screened in China, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is well received by Chinese audiences. Yoga remains the staple of Indian soft power overseas, China included.
China leads India in terms of military and economy, but could learn from India’s culture export.
As a ticket seller in a cinema in Beijing’s Haidian district, Ying had a busy weekend tending to swarms of moviegoers filling the theater to watch the latest imported Indian movie, Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
This is the most recent Indian film to enter the Chinese market and has shown strong growth at the local box office, with 55 million yuan ($8.67 million) in revenue within 72 hours after its Friday debut.
“The cinema was packed! Bajrangi Bhaijaan may be the winner of the March box office if previous Indian movies like Dangal and Secret
Superstar are any indication,” Ying said, adding that she and her colleagues are also eager to view the film after work, as “Indian movies are always upbeat and reveal a different culture.”
Chinese people’s impression of India, however, is not always that upbeat. Overwhelmed by negative news about rapes, slums and sewage, the Chinese used to see India as a dirty, disorderly and backward third-world nation. But the situation is dramatically changing, as more and more Bollywood films win the hearts of Chinese audiences and erase some misunderstandings, presenting a more wholesome glimpse into modern India.
Indeed, Chinese audiences have in just the past few years seen more Bollywood films than ever before in the history of cinema in China. But movies are not the only Indian entertainment being gobbled up by Chinese consumers.
Yoga clubs have, over the past two years, been popping up in Chinese cities like mushrooms after a rainy day as India continues to heavily promote the ancient art at a global level. Following Indian Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China in May of 2015, the Chinese and Indian governments have also been cooperating on joint Yoga-Taichi events.
Yoga has in fact been popularized in China for more than a decade, becoming well-known even in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, Lin Xiaohai, founder of Chan Yoga, the first professional yoga club in China, told the Global Times.
It even has entered the public school system in some cities across China. For example, a primary school in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, has included yoga in their morning exercise routines, sohu.com reported.
The Indian government aims to promote yoga as a non-religious activity globally and encourage more people to get to know India by practicing yoga, Lin, who is also director of the China-India Friendship Association, noted. Yoga was prioritized to the highest level after Modi suggested it as an international event.
Two bright pearls
In 2014, the UN proclaimed June 21 as International Day of Yoga. Modi himself led a group of 35,000 people from 84 countries at a public group yoga event in New Deli on June 21, 2015 Reuters reported.
During Modi’s visit in China in 2015, he and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang jointly attended a Yoga-Taichi event in Beijing , with Modi saying that the “disciplines are a unique medium to connect the cultural heritage of the two countries,” the Economic Times reported.
Lin also mentioned that the Chinese market
“Despite the tense military and political situation along the border, India has done better work in stretching its soft power, which is partly because of their pride in their efforts in culture and the protecting their traditions." Hu Zhiyong a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences