My exact reaction. I was like, “red carries a lot of cultural significance in China, I’m sure it’s just a red field on the flag for something like that…” swipe over “oh, nvm”
I mean, in retrospect that’s noticeable but Homophones exist across languages you can have words that sound the same but mean different things in different languages
Nazi iconography is pretty popular in Asia in general, there’s not the same cultural negativity towards the aesthetic nazism as there is in the west which has caused not a few controversies as Asian media has internationalized
It doesn’t help that the swastika itself is a living religious symbol in Asia that brings good luck. And even on Reddit you have the general sentiment that like boss’s work on Nazi uniforms looks great, Asia is just willing to accept that sentiment without the attachment of negative cultural connotations, or maybe even positive ones because in China the biggest connection to the nazis is helping against imperial japan (John Rabe - Wikipedia) and saving lives in the rape of nanking
What seems obvious to western eyes is at the end is purely an engrained cultural sensitivity that Asians acknowledge only when called out by the west, which isn’t that dissimilar than using expressions which are highly offensive in Asia like like when the WSJ called China a sick man
I've been saying this for years and sometimes, some redditors will be hostile towards you for posting the reality in asia. I've seen confederate flags, German Nazi symbols and Emperial japan / rising sun stickers on every car, trike / motorcycle, jeep and bus here and we dont really bat an eye unless they do harm to others because for majority of people, "it looks cool and everyone has it" even if said symbols were taught to us since elementary (Education here isnt really top notch), people will forget or dont give a damn.
only in Japan probably. at least in china you will your ass handled with imperial Japan symbols. nazi Germany did have the best design at that time....
I've seen way too many Rising Sun flag patches stitched onto the backpacks of young white men. I don't blame them, it's just doesn't have the same negative cultural connotation.
That's why you also can't blame Asians on the occasional Nazi iconography.
But yeah, this company took it too far. They're often even laughed at by the local Chinese for it.
My man clearly has never been to China… almost all buildings are giga-sized, even some kindergartens are housed in similar-sized buildings. And the guards? Security here is tight: almost every building, appartment community etc has its own security, often with their own uniform.
I looked up the company on Taobao, none of their clothing looks remotely like this. I'm pretty sure this is a fake/joke video someone has made based on how the company names sounds sort of like the German word Heil.
The aesthetics of the Third Reich were specifically studied to be stylish and attractive because they knew that the good old "cool factor" would lure in people.
If you want to indoctrinate or drown your people in propaganda, what better way of doing it than looking absolutely dripped out?
It's no coincidence, it was all very intentional and researched.
Truthfully, if you remove it from the historical context, it generally ain't that shabby. First half of 1900s had some pretty cool fashions and styles mixed in there (alongside some massive fashion misfires), all over the place... Even though everyone was a pack of murderous assholes.
Nazi fashion is supposed to look old-fashioned in its time, it's not some typical 1900s fashion. They made their uniforms to look different than the ones from WW1 since they lost that time, and the nazis were all for historical romanticism, especially towards old Prussian uniforms
Things are never simple! Germany were massively involved#Nazi_Germany_and_China) with China until after the war with Japan started and provided military training to China until 1938 – 5 years after the Nazi party's rise to power and still roughly 1 year after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The defendants of the Defence of Sihang Warehouse during the Battle of Shanghai were the German-trained 88th Division, so you actually had Chinese war heroes that looked like this:
I don't believe this is much of a taboo in PRC despite those soldiers being Nationalists given the box-office success The Eight Hundred, which is a pretty interest drama about that battle that you you can watch for free on YouTube. Fell in a rabbit hole after wondering about the uniforms in that movie ;)
If the Germans had more time the roc woulda actually held off the JP invasion. They were training the Chinese at the time in return for like tungsten. It's kinda mixed.
Then you have the United Farm Workers flag. Funnily enough they actually fight for in particular Mexican-American farm workers rights and seemly have no connection beyond the curious aesthetic choice.
I used to teach in China (university). One day a student was wearing a hoodie with a nazi swastika. Definitely nazi, not Buddhist. I made him take it off. I’m sure the class was confused as to why the foreign lady was so angry. They seemingly don’t have the same cultural significance to this symbolism that we do.
Yeah. It’s the same when westerners wear the rising sun flag. You guys don’t know how evil it is, similar to how many Chinese don’t know about the Nazi
too be fair.. most of being an evil dictator is marketing and branding. You have manufactured a problem and sell a solution. Germany had a problem with their trains always being late and Hitler found a solution to make the trains run on time.
Not a perfect 1-to-1, but the Chinese Soviet Republic (communist controlled parts of China during the civil war) had a similarly red/white/black aesthetic. I wouldn’t be totally shocked if this at the very least offers some plausible deniability for this brand in a country where fascism is relatively taboo compared to other Asian countries.
I believe it has now been changed after the government stepped in. They likely chose the style at random from European history as their clothing is mostly of a European style, without understanding the political and social implications.
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u/jeslinmx 11h ago
It isn’t that bad, it could just be an unfortunate coincidence due to cultural differences!
swipe
swipe oh. ohhhhhh