3 ms·

no when you go to countries like spain, thailand idk about peru but they are filled with american brands and people. To see no McDonalds in a tourist area is ac

no when you go to countries like spain, thailand idk about peru but they are filled with american brands and people. To see no McDonalds in a tourist area is actually shocking.

wahern 1y ago
There are plenty of American tourists and American brands in China, too. But the article mentioned "ancient towns", which is another way of saying old areas, often preserved as historic districts (if an enclave of a larger city) or at least removed from modern expansion; and Yunnan province, which is like Kansas or North Carolina in terms of foreign interest and tourism. Basically, the person was shocked that a place like China could be anything but completely overrun, border-to-border, by foreign cultural influence. And for what it's worth, Google Maps says there are about a dozen or more each of McDonalds, KFCs, and Starbucks in Yunnan province. Predictably they're concentrated in the major metro regions. But like has happened with Europe over the past 30 years, in time they very well might spread out into the hinterland, presuming they can compete with domestic and regional competition. (Chinese culture has one of the longest and richest traditions of eating out, so even were we to assume local entrepreneurs are naifs, ignorant of how to leverage modernity, they still have a leg up in a domestic context. One of the reasons McDonalds became so prominent in US culture is because outside major cities with foreign influences--e.g. Asian or Southern European immigrants--we didn't have a strong tradition of eating out. Until the early-mid 20th century American food culture was very much meat & potatoes prepared at home or at least non-commercially. McDonalds is as much a reflection about how modernity transformed our own culture, not just how we transformed other cultures.)
- notahacker 1y ago
  Yeah, you'll find plenty of parts of of Spain (including purpose built tourist towns and suburbs with malls as well as traditional towns) where there aren't any McDonalds and the tourists if they exist are mainly Spanish (hell, you'll find purpose built tourist towns in Spain where there aren't any McDonalds and the tourists are all British or all German too!). Most of Europe doesn't know what a Taco Bell or a Wendys is, and Dominos Italy went bust because it's actually not miraculous that Italians have figured out how to sell pizza without US branding! And sure, you'll find plenty of McDonalds outlets in Madrid or Bangkok but you'll find them all over Shanghai and Beijing and one in the tiny tourist trap of Yangshuo too...

no when you go to countries like spain, thailand idk about peru but they are filled with american brands and people. To see no McDonalds in a tourist area is actually shocking.

wahern 1y ago

There are plenty of American tourists and American brands in China, too. But the article mentioned "ancient towns", which is another way of saying old areas, often preserved as historic districts (if an enclave of a larger city) or at least removed from modern expansion; and Yunnan province, which is like Kansas or North Carolina in terms of foreign interest and tourism. Basically, the person was shocked that a place like China could be anything but completely overrun, border-to-border, by foreign cultural influence. And for what it's worth, Google Maps says there are about a dozen or more each of McDonalds, KFCs, and Starbucks in Yunnan province. Predictably they're concentrated in the major metro regions. But like has happened with Europe over the past 30 years, in time they very well might spread out into the hinterland, presuming they can compete with domestic and regional competition. (Chinese culture has one of the longest and richest traditions of eating out, so even were we to assume local entrepreneurs are naifs, ignorant of how to leverage modernity, they still have a leg up in a domestic context. One of the reasons McDonalds became so prominent in US culture is because outside major cities with foreign influences--e.g. Asian or Southern European immigrants--we didn't have a strong tradition of eating out. Until the early-mid 20th century American food culture was very much meat & potatoes prepared at home or at least non-commercially. McDonalds is as much a reflection about how modernity transformed our own culture, not just how we transformed other cultures.)

notahacker 1y ago
Yeah, you'll find plenty of parts of of Spain (including purpose built tourist towns and suburbs with malls as well as traditional towns) where there aren't any McDonalds and the tourists if they exist are mainly Spanish (hell, you'll find purpose built tourist towns in Spain where there aren't any McDonalds and the tourists are all British or all German too!). Most of Europe doesn't know what a Taco Bell or a Wendys is, and Dominos Italy went bust because it's actually not miraculous that Italians have figured out how to sell pizza without US branding! And sure, you'll find plenty of McDonalds outlets in Madrid or Bangkok but you'll find them all over Shanghai and Beijing and one in the tiny tourist trap of Yangshuo too...