More and more young people speak Mandarin and venerate to China

Sometimes, two apparently opposite worlds are irremediably attracted. Last year, commercial tensions between Beijing and the EU opened a new scenario for the Russian farmers and “your” pig. Shortly after, the Hype was in crescendo with the proliferation of Russian product stores In cities throughout China. And now, as communicating vessels, the Russians are folding the “Made in China” as their parents did in 1991 With the United States.

They are even talking in Mandarin.

China as a lighthouse. I told it The New York Times. In the Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, where Western sanctions They have broken decades of economic and cultural ties, China has begun to occupy the symbolic and material space that previously belonged to the Anglo -Saxon and European world.

As? From thematic parks with traditional Chinese architecture, to university classrooms from Moscow where to learn Mandarin (I know They have returned), or in the decoration of the city to celebrate the New Year Lunar and in the Metro wagons decorated with proverbs XI Jinping, Chinese culture It has broken In Russian daily life with an intensity that, until recently, would have seemed unimaginable.

A mirror. In that scenario the media had cases of young people such as ALYONA IYEVSKAYAfirst year student at the University of Moscow, who no longer dream of London or Paris, but with Shanghai and Beijing.

China is not only admired for its accelerated development and its educational and labor opportunities, but also for its Diplomatic closeness with the Kremlin and its role as an economic support of an increasingly isolated Russia from the western world.

The eastern turn. The transformation is not superficial. From public schools overflowing with the demand for Mandarin classeseven technical universities that incorporate it as Second mandatory languageChinese learning has become a progress tool for a generation that associates the future with the East.

In fact, the medium underlined some incontestable data: Employment offers that require Chinese knowledge They have shotwhile Chinese Nannies They are hired by the Russian elite for their children to grow bilingual from the cradle. In bookstores, books about Chinese Confucius and Philosophy abound, theaters host montages Based on novels contemporaries of the country, and museum exhibitions They actively seek collaborations With cultural institutions of Beijing.

There is much more. Yes, because he Commerce also reflects This change: more than 900,000 Chinese cars were sold in Russia in 2024, multiplying for eight The 2021 figure. Although brands like Porsche and Mercedes continue to symbolize status, models like li xiang or haval They begin to fill the Moscow streets.

Of course, this mass adoption is not free of internal tensions.

A latent resistance. Despite state and media enthusiasm for Sinization From Russian tastes, resistances and contradictions persist. The preference for Western products Keep aliveas shown by luxury residential buildings that look like names such as Knightsbridge or Belgravia. He described the Times More clues of that resistance, such as jokes on Chinese cars in networks, the reluctance of some consumers and the failure in the box office of Sino-Ruses as Red Silksituations that reflect a gap between the enthusiasm promoted from above and habits rooted in society sectors.

Even among the new generations, Asia enthusiasm It is not uniform: older adolescents still identify with the West, while the smallest, growing in a saturated environment of “Made in China” products, barely know European or American referents.

Strategic affinity, non -cultural. It is another of the possibilities that are pointed out. For some Russian analysts, such as Sinologist Yulia Kuznetsovathis turn to China is not so much a structural transition as a transient alliance. Although economic exchange and geopolitical approach between Moscow and Beijing They have intensified (With Xi Jinping visiting Putin and Bilateral Commerce Beating records), the cultural barrier remains.

China, with its centralized political system and its millenary history, is still seen by many Russians as A foreign civilization. Kuznetsova even argues that Arab culture, today visible in popular destinations such as Dubai, is closer for the middle Russian citizen than China. For her, Europe (despite fractures) remains the only cultural sphere with which Russia shares deep roots.

Pragmatism without enthusiasm. Thus, the vision of families such as Aleksandr Grek’smagazine editor and father of five children, perfectly synthesizes this duality. While their teenage children still consume Western culture, the little ones grow surrounded by toys, technology and visual content from China. For him, sending his 14 -year -old daughter to spend the summer with a Chinese family is not an ideological act, but a strategic investment: “China is our only friend now.”

Its reasoning is based on an economic diagnosis: China leads key sectors such as Artificial intelligence wave solar energyand Russia needs to align with that engine if you want to stay competitive. That logic has become a Dominant argument Among parents, businessmen and officials: it is no longer about cultural affinity, but systemic survival.

China present. What seems more or less clear is that what is happening in Russia is not only a change of tastes or languages, but a deep displacement of the axis of cultural, commercial and symbolic influence. In absence of the West (blocked by sanctions, closed to tourism and stigmatized by the official discourse), China offers not only access to consumer goods and technological cooperation, but also A new story of greatness, resilience and development without liberal ties.

Seen, it is, in many ways, an alternative version of what Russia would like to be: powerful, pragmatic, respected and authoritarian. And although, as we see, that model does not go equally in the collective imaginary, nor will nostalgia delete for the western past, Everything points To, at least for now, Russia orbit more and more firmly in the sphere of Chinese attraction (and vice versa).

Image | Hippox, SvklimkinPresidential Executive Office of Russia

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