Sexuality, the Nouveau Riche, and other Chinese Proclivities -Part One
Here I go....with all my Western prejudices intact I am ready to step out of the square
cage of cultural relativity and into the jocular world of celebrating the hilarity of our own human distinctiveness.
On Conversation:
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Conversation is always done respectfully with foreigners. We have
become less the "devils" that we used to be. For Chinese harmony is
paramount.
One never boasts about their accomplishments. And if you point out an accomplished trait of a person’s child, they will always recoil into their age old self appraising devices which require that their child does not stand out in the eyes of others. Privately they might agree with you, but for the sake of uniformity they will diminish their own child at least in front of others.
One never boasts about their accomplishments. And if you point out an accomplished trait of a person’s child, they will always recoil into their age old self appraising devices which require that their child does not stand out in the eyes of others. Privately they might agree with you, but for the sake of uniformity they will diminish their own child at least in front of others.
To the Chinese Glitzy
Shopping Malls scream to them and the rest of the modern world…”We
have arrived!”
To start with the Special Economic zone I am in (SEZ) was the first to open up in China 25 or so years ago. This has brought about phenomenal dynamic clash of country folk peasants who have been rushed into an urban giant city of 12 million by the lure of better paying jobs and a more promising future.
'If open jawed gawking could be a circus side show then somebody here could get richer a lot faster.'
The modern shopping mall is indication here to Chinese developers and the people that China has arrived. These modern temples with their Luis Vuitton, Coach, and Prada studded shops in the glittering background of the curious and wide-eyed silhouettes of poor rural folks shuffling by is an image that perhaps befits your grandmother when she talked about local farm boys going to the city and behaving "like a country boy gone to town."
It is not soon an image that deserts the Westerner's eye.
Shenzhen is a dichotomy. It has the highest concentration of
millionaires in China. It is fun to watch China’s elite, the nouveau riche, cash dropping
in these shops.
Who are the rich in China
Today?
China’s elite fall generally into two
categories:
1)
Real
estate developers. They are often granted low interest rate loans (if they
need them of course and which are out of reach of commoners) and corrupt
payoffs to political leaders for contractual gain here is not a punishable offense. This was done to better lubricate the
system and advance China much more quickly.
2)
The
Political Elite. This is more complicated because bribes accepted by
political leaders are a serious
punishable offense. And Chinese are becoming more and more complaining about
wealth inequality.
In a nation where harmony and equality
is highly valued income inequality is one of the most serious discussions going
on in China today.
Saving Face and the Awkward Sexuality
of Chinese Women
Every Western businessman here
will tell you to always let the Chinese client feel like he is the winner. While this applies
to business, it has mostly social implications.
Saving face for Chinese women can
be quite humoring. For those less fortunate who find slugging around in Alberto Fermani footwear too allusive, or
dawning a Galdino or Prada handbag out of reach, there is still the illusionary
paradise. It's called knock offs!
In China you can find an imitation
of everything on the planet. Reluctant to say it, often we buy new release
movies around the corner from our apartment for $1. I am listening to tunes
through my $250 Beats head phones as I type. Only thing is I paid 12$ for them around the corner.
Yes I am a sinner, but I am for
sure in good company here.
It seems that modernity has
convinced Chinese women that "one size fits all." Like many oversized
well meaning, but insecure American women who are determined to squeeze into
that tight fitting skirt and blouse that looks so good on the maniquin in
Wal-Mart, Chinese women from the countryside have firmly convinced themselves
that they too must lumber along in high heel stilettos that are as alien to
them as a Heart of Palm is to a McDonalds green salad.
To watch a Chinese woman walk in
high heels one has to imagine what it looks like when you walk with ice skates
on concrete. It is damn funny