News and Insights
One Country, One Food, Many Cultures
October 4, 2021
Growing up in an international city like Hong Kong gave me a lot of opportunities to learn about different cultures, languages and people from all corners of the world. It was a valuable experience. Yet it did not stop me from being constantly surprised when I moved to Shanghai nine years ago, as I realised that China, this one nation, is as culturally diverse as the world itself.
To commemorate the Global Diversity Awareness Month, our team has decided to use this opportunity to spotlight the diverse side of China by presenting eight Noodle Profiles , as nothing makes a better analogy than noodles for the concept of cultural diversity. There are said to be over 1,000 types across China, the ingredients, cooking methods and styles vary greatly throughout the history and across different regions, this humble staple has the profound capability to offer deep insights into the nuances of the heritage, identities, geographical character, and social dynamics of this country of many ethnic groups (56, to be exact).
Each of our eight Noodle Profiles embodies the distinctive characteristic, habit, culinary preference or simply a fun fact of a destination and the people, which are represented by a celebrity whose personalities fittingly illustrate the spirit of his or her hometown. Note, these eight profiles only represent a small percentage of the country’s 1.4 billion population.
In the business world, marketing professionals have long been acknowledging the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy in China. Reading the room full of people coming from all parts of the country is also a whole different experience, promised to be interesting and challenging at once. Business is done over coffee in Shanghai (the city proudly has the highest number of coffee shops in the world), tea in Yunnan and baijiu (Chinese liquour) elsewhere. Executives also have recognised how such cultural and ethnic diversity is making positive influence in group dynamics, improving its effectiveness and performance, driving innovation and economic growth.
China has many faces, it is dynamic, fast-paced, unexpected, full of contrasts and constantly changing, there is no easy feat to capture its vastness and cultural diversity. Chinese or not, most find the country fascinating and eye-opening.
POSTED BY: Jenny Lo
