Is The Exotic Presented by the Chinese a Form of Soft Power or Just Blind Curiosity?

Walking down the streets of major cities in Bolivia, one would come across an interesting phenomenon, almost all of the minibuses that serve as the main form of public transport for the local populace is decorated in the front and the sides with a series of Chinese characters, printed on in order but making completely no sense.  These characters add a sense of the exotic to otherwise bland one-color exterior of the busses.  Occasionally, the same is observed for trucks that carry products within the towns or across the country.

Interestingly, these characters are not originally part of the busses and the trucks.  Yes, there are many secondhand vehicles running down the streets in Bolivia, many of which are from Japan and Hong Kong and thus do have characters on the outside, but even for new vehicles and other vehicles that do not have characters on them, Bolivians go ahead and print some on, copying the same characters they see on the used vehicles from Asia.  The result is a mishmash of Chinese characters that clearly feel out of place.

As a Chinese person, I am not sure whether I should be flattered by the interesting use of Chinese characters on vehicles.  After all, none are meant to express any meaning, instead just presenting themselves as something cool looking.  Whether Bolivians thinking Chinese characters as cool would lead to more interest in Chinese language and culture is unknown.  Perhaps one day some other script that is more exotic than Chinese comes along, and the Chinese character boom here would quickly come to an end.

Even more cynically, to ensure the Chinese characters (and anything Chinese in general) remain exotic, Bolivians would, rather contradictorily, ensure that people know as little about Chinese culture as possible.  If the general populace become more and more knowledgeable about Chinese culture, they would ridicule the ridiculous characters spray painted on the side of the busses, in the process illustrating just how ignorant the owners of the vehicles are with their blind use without knowing the meanings.

Chinese culture is indeed exotic here today, largely due to the near absence of Chinese people.  That is not to say Chinese culture is completely absent.  Like elsewhere in the world, Chinese restaurants (called "chifa" here) are ubiquitous, offering a unique South American version of Chinese food, centered on stir fries. Their popularity today is undoubtedly the successful efforts of the prior generation of Chinese immigrants who left their cultural imprint while they assimilated into the local population.

If anything, the process of accommodating Chinese people here would be much easier than anywhere else outside Asia.  Indigenous people here, as the descendents of Asians who crossed the Bering Strait millennia ago, do not look too different from Asians even today.  As a continent that is used to waves of immigration from Europe, Africa, and indeed Asia, in the past century, South America should see less backlash to immigrants than is the case for many other parts of the world.

Certainly, this is not to say that immigrants will be welcomed here and that Chinese people should come in large numbers to establish their culture here.  Instead, the fact that there is the concept of Chinese as exotic (in rather positive visual manner) here means it is a destination that is traditionally neglected by the Chinese as they spread across the world.  In this day and age even when a million Chinese reside in Africa, there is no reason a bit more attention could be given to South America.

What the Chinese traditionally are good at, including commerce, construction, and even finance, have plenty of potential in South America.  Western firms are surprisingly not so entrenched in the local economy, giving potential new entrants (like the Chinese) a chance to succeed.  If we consider Chinese characters on busses as a Form of Soft Power, then it can be said that the Chinese already have the first step they need to succeed here.  The opportunities are overlooked now, but should not be.