Cultural understanding; it’s a lot of what this fine multi-authored blog is all about. So, in my latest missive for Lost Laowai, I’ll get straight to the point in trying to help you understand the sociological signage and semiology of contemporary Chinese male fashion.
All right, I’ll come clean, that’s just an excuse for a new cartoon. The subject is the thought-process behind a middle-income, middle-aged Chinese male - yes, men only - choosing clothes. Just remember, peeps, this is to be filed under ‘cultural understanding’, not ’satire’. Ithangyou. The cartoon is one image, which will load below:
I was standing on the street corner the other day waiting for a taxi beside a middle-aged foreigner doing the same. This isn’t uncommon, I live in a rather laowai-saturated area of Suzhou. The corner also works as an impromptu parking spot for people looking to dash over to the bakery, or pick up a bit of food from the long line of restaurants.
As we were waiting, in our awkward expat silence, a car pulled up to park. The only open parking spot was directly behind the other foreigner, but he made no attempt to make way for the car. Perhaps he assumed that it could just go around and park in a …
Ever since seeing Beijing’s punk poster-boys Reflector at Xining’s Material Life Music Bar, I’ve been thinking an awful lot about tattoos. This Material Life Music Bar was full of inked Chinese and foreigners; it was the highest volume of tattoos I’d seen in a while and the inspiration for the following rant.
There are two topics I’ve been thinking about: i) Having Tattoos in China and ii) Getting Tattoos in Foreign Languages (especially Chinese or Tibetan).
Tattoos in China
Even though in recent times tattoos have become slightly more acceptable in the Chinese mainstream, tattoos still carry a social stigma. This article from China Daily showcases the growing trend of tattoos among China’s young people, but also hints at the slow-changing …
I was just leaving a comment on the always refreshingly drinkable Beijing Boyce blog when I saw one of my biggest Chinese Pinyin pet peeves - chuanr.
串儿, for those who’ve been in China for less than an hour, generally means tasty bits on a stick. Chuàn/串 (meaning to string together) + ér/儿 (a suffix that makes some verbs into nice little nouns) technically comes out as “chuanr/chuan’er/chuan’r”… but when pronounced it is “chuar”.
Never, not ever, have I ever, never, heard anyone, ever, say Chuan-er.
And good thing, because it sounds like something you call someone you don’t like. “Yeah, he talks big, but what a feckin’ chuan’er.” “Ohmygod, did …
Not sure if you’ve heard the news, but China has banned Western religious music. Well, technically, it was banned all along, but only now are the powers that be getting their red and yellow panties in a bunch.
The banning news hit the wire after The Messiah, as to be performed by Britian’s Academy of Ancient Music at the Beijing International Music Festival, was changed from a public performance to invite only.
Also shutout was Mozart’s Requiem, set to be performed in Dujiangyan, a city heavily hit by the tragic Sichuan earthquake this past spring.
According to an opinion piece in the Guardian by Catherine Sampson, the new ban signifies a step backwards by the Party in an attempt to regain control of the Christianity …
In the people of the United-States of America and the People’s Republic of China we have two examples of a citizenry brazenly immune to the betrayals visited upon them by their political leaders. After 8 years of Bush chaos, death and destruction, a Republican candidate still stands a good chance of seceding him at the helm of what has effectively become a gravity bound deathstar.
In China, the vandals made off with the body and soul of the nation during the great leap forward and the cultural revolution, only to steal history itself and throw themselves an early anniversary party on the buck of the people. Talk about gettin’ away with murder. The red flags rise taller than ever, hearts prouder than …
Yesterday I decided to take a walk to the redeveloped portion of Shanghai’s Wujiang Lu — one of Shanghai’s famous food streets. I was surprised at the new portion of the road. It was clean and wide. There were shopping malls on either side connected by walkways over the street.
As nice as it was above the street, the best part was that the old portion of the street with many of its famous traditional snack shops was still there. It was like old and new Shanghai mingling together. And that was awesome to see especially after five years of watching old Shanghai getting wiped away for another shopping mall or luxury apartment complex. Sometimes commerce can hurt an area as …
If ever an argument needed to be made for watching less TV, the groups of Western “Free Tibet” protesters that have snuck in to China are it.
There’s a four-page article running on the Washington Post’s site which explains in detail the mission of a group funded by Students for a Free Tibet (cue Mission Impossible music - or that 24 countdown tone).
I mean, I respect that these folks want to stand up for a cause they feel is very important. I admire that they travelled to an unknown land and risked unknown punishments to try and get their voice heard - but it’s hard to read about their …
Three days to go, the country is primed, factories temporarily closed, cars off the roads, the algea invasion temporarily stymied, battalions of garbage collectors pulled back from the urban front-line, peddlers of counterfeit goods pushed further underground, city streets beautified, foreign media covering China like they just found out it’s there, the delegations of diplomats and leaders on their way to pay tribute to the new Chinese empire of bling and what does it all mean?
A coming out party for a nation that boasts 5000 years of history and more skeletons in its closet than there are teeth-marked discarded wooden skewers outside the barbecue place at 3 AM？Who’s coming out, the minority groups, the political prisoners, the AIDS activists, …
It was announced recently that three Beijing parks, miles away from the Olympic events, will be reserved as areas where people can “protest” during the Olympics.
Of course, to protest, you’ll have to apply five days in advance and hope your cause isn’t considered, the rather ubiquitous, “against national interests” (anyone wishing to raise a sign against the domestic policies of Azerbaijan are welcome).
The decision to allow the Disney-flavoured protests comes from the on going pressure the global community has put on China because the Games aren’t as open as they were promised to be.
Liu Shaowu, security chief for the BOC, explained, “Assembling to march and protest is …
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