Saturday, January 26, 2008

McDonald's in Beijing

An article by Yunxiang Yan entitled "McDonald's in Beijing: the Localization of Americana" highlights how global culture is not simply an homogenization of culture, but rather functions as a bridge which links the foreign culture with a local culture. The introduction of new global/foreign culture occurs through transnational corporations such as McDonald's. What is unique about the Yan article is that it there is not only emphasis on how the global culture alters local traditions/behaviours. But how global cultures also go through a localization process to essentially make the foreign culture a local tradition. It is through examples such as these that one can see globalization and urban cities as centres of culture growth a change. They are able to remain dynamic and local culture is not completely lost due to the introduction of foreign/global culture.