COMMENTARY

I was sitting in the conference room of a TV programming production company in Beijing watching a video of their work, the first of which was a white shrouded swirl of Chinese written characters, Taichi snippets and other traditional Chinese artifacts thrown into a totally cool 21st century context, and I had a premonition - this is the next step in global culture.

Chinese culture has had an impact on the world before, of course. The silks coveted by the ancient Roman rich; the porcelain which became a fad in 18th century Europe. And, of course, Bruce Lee.

But next time, my premonition told me, it will not be peripheral and it will not be a fad, it will be the entry of China into global culture in a way that will forever change the way the world views and entertains itself.

Chinese media at the moment, in terms of comics, television dramas, street advertising and so on, is still way behind the West, and many other places in Asia. But there is a bub-bly vitality to it all. People know it's not good enough yet, and there.s an immense amount of work going on in workshops, studios and the random access memory of a mil-lion PCs to develop, change, adapt, integrate, renew and make relevant and exportable elements of China.s base culture.

Design studios in Shanghai, which five years ago could well have been decorated in emulation of Scandinavian chic, now often feature a cool meshing of Chinese cultural in.uences into the context of Western ef.ciency. This trend is related to a re-connection underway between Chinese people and their cultural heritage. And it.s about time, too.

Goodbye Hello Kitty

The Cultural Revolution, not to mention simpli.ed .characters, did a pretty thoroughgoing and premeditated job of cutting off Chinese people from much of their traditional cultural heritage. When people started to emerge back into the light in the 1980s, they first looked outside for inspiration, because the old China stuff was for a while too painful and confusingly tainted in some way. Foreign products were coveted, foreign models, foreign names for shops and products. Louis Vuitton, Levi.s, and the list goes on and on.

But now, just in the nick of time . given the age of the masters who span the cultural interregnum . there is a new trend, a rise in interest among some of the new middle classes along China.s coastal strip in the things that traditional China has to offer, and which almost got lost along the way . Taichi, Taoism, pottery, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese musical instru-ments, Chinese tea ceremonies. These things are becoming cool. But they are not being revived in their wholly original form - they are being changed and adapted to the 21st century, taking into account unconsciously the myriad influences of the past few decades, and being resurrected in a form which feels the opposite of stuffy and passe. They feel relevant and vibrant.

I can see the seeds of this Chinese cultural revival all over, and I see no reason why the seeds shouldn.t bloom into something earth-shaking.

Korea is now the hotspot, the source of key trends in hairstyles, music, fashion and cool-ness, at least for East Asia. Japan, meanwhile, has pretty much lost its edge, which would have been hard to predict 15 years ago.

In 1990, Japan was riding high and its in.u-ence was felt around the world.

The Japanese century was just beginning, and the world was in awe of Japan.s strength and the exquisiteness of Japanese art, architecture and industrial ef.ciency. As it turned out, the Japa-nese century only lasted three minutes, largely because the Japanese were not ready to take a global role.

They fundamentally lacked - and still lack - the self-con.dence to engage with the world in an open and integrated way.

The result is that you .y into Narita, and your mobile phone does not work.

Fly into Pudong, however, and it does. That means something. Meanwhile, Japan.s lead-ing representative in Global Culture is Hello Kitty.

Chinese people are now able to be proud of their country.s economic strength. It feels good, and it encourages them to be proud of other elements of their culture, too. The football situ-ation remains dire, it is true, but there are all the treasures of ancient China waiting to be redis-covered, re-used, a rich store of raw materials for a new generation to draw upon.

The Chinese are doing it, and the world is paying attention. The first line of attack by Chi-nese culture into the global arena is through the movies. Hidden Dragon Crouching Duck, I seem to remember it was called, had a big impact at the US box office, and the Kung Fu Hustle is a hilarious pastiche of old China cultural cliches. The look and feel of the Matrix movies (what a wasted opportunity, guys!) is very much in-.uenced by Chinese cultural elements. Keanu looks in many scenes like a cool Shanghai guy from the 1930s.

Global Culture today is basically Anglo-Saxon culture dominated by the United States, with infusions of creativity from Europe. The images that populate the imaginations of people around the world are dominated by Brad Pitt, Eminem and Frodo. The fact is that this porridge called Global Culture needs more diversity, and China has the opportunity to step up and be the representative of the rich in.uences that Asia contains. And it will. It is preparing to do so as I speak.

Let.s face it, Frodo cannot carry the huge burden of Global Culture all by himself. So, step forward Kung Fu Heroes of the Red Flower Society! Race to Frodo.s aid, oh you brothers of the Rivers and Marshes, deliver a crushing blow to the Forces of Global Evil with a Five Elements Wheel and stand together shoulder to shoulder with the Incredibles!

Mark my words, it will happen.