Armed riot policemen run past a burning car during an anti-terrorism drill as part of efforts to maintain security in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province May 22, 2007.May 23, 2007
Anti-terrorism drill in Guiyang【PHOTO NEWS】
Armed riot policemen run past a burning car during an anti-terrorism drill as part of efforts to maintain security in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province May 22, 2007.
Foreiner in China：Money Management: in China, and in my Country
Some reflections on a Chinese language post from My Chinese Blog Experiment, called 钱的管理：中国跟我的国家有区别吗? You can also read about some of my other Chinese Language Posts here.
This was one of my first efforts at writing a Chinese post on this blog. It’s great practice for my Chinese, and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. I chose money management as a topic, because I definitely see a lot of the new upper-middle class spending money in ways that just don’t make no sense…
I don’t mean to focus on money, but it’s tricky to avoid this topic if you’re a Canadian/American in China. When I meet someone on the street, and I tell them I’m Canadian, the most common reply is “Canada, eh? Canada’s really rich, right?”
Now, being from Canada’s poorest province, Newfoundland, I often feel the need to explain that not everywhere in Canada is rich. But instead I usually just play a game I like to call “Count the Audi’s.” Despite the fact that China is still a country in development, man oh man, does it ever have a shit-load of luxury cars! In my province, I might see a couple of Audi’s in a week. Here’s I can hit the same total in about ten seconds.
Now is it necessary to own such a car? Or is it that having such a car projects the image that you want to show others in society?
Compensating for anything?
I guess it happens everywhere in the world, but I think when you get a strata of society new to money, as some in China are, you’re likely to find this phenomenon.
Another point I raised in this post was the fact that second-hand clothing doesn’t really seem to be popular here in China. At least not that I can see — with the possible exception of army surplus stores. By the way, check out Chinese Rock Star, He Yong (left), not being afraid to buy a second-hand Navy shirt. Good for you, buddy!
Most other countries have tiny stores where you can go and get old retro, dirty cheap clothes, for about the same price as regular clothes in China. There’s a scary thought hey? If Chinese textiles can be made for so cheap, maybe the second hand stuff is priced so low it’s not worth selling…
More likely it’s the fact that Chinese people in general are more concerned about the possible image they might portray by wearing someone else’s used clothes? Maybe the knock off Ralph Lauren with the leather man-purse is a better option?
Anyway the underlying truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that appearing to have money in China seems to be almost as good as being rich for real.
What I’ve tried to say in my Chinese post - and I tried to do it in a relatively sensitive way without being negative - was that it doesn’t matter what impression you project for others to see. Expensive cars, clothes, cell phones — they’re just a mask.
The opinion others have of you means nothing in the end. The most important thing is the opinion you have of yourself.
This was one of my first efforts at writing a Chinese post on this blog. It’s great practice for my Chinese, and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. I chose money management as a topic, because I definitely see a lot of the new upper-middle class spending money in ways that just don’t make no sense…
I don’t mean to focus on money, but it’s tricky to avoid this topic if you’re a Canadian/American in China. When I meet someone on the street, and I tell them I’m Canadian, the most common reply is “Canada, eh? Canada’s really rich, right?”
Now, being from Canada’s poorest province, Newfoundland, I often feel the need to explain that not everywhere in Canada is rich. But instead I usually just play a game I like to call “Count the Audi’s.” Despite the fact that China is still a country in development, man oh man, does it ever have a shit-load of luxury cars! In my province, I might see a couple of Audi’s in a week. Here’s I can hit the same total in about ten seconds.
Now is it necessary to own such a car? Or is it that having such a car projects the image that you want to show others in society?
Compensating for anything?
I guess it happens everywhere in the world, but I think when you get a strata of society new to money, as some in China are, you’re likely to find this phenomenon.
Another point I raised in this post was the fact that second-hand clothing doesn’t really seem to be popular here in China. At least not that I can see — with the possible exception of army surplus stores. By the way, check out Chinese Rock Star, He Yong (left), not being afraid to buy a second-hand Navy shirt. Good for you, buddy!
Most other countries have tiny stores where you can go and get old retro, dirty cheap clothes, for about the same price as regular clothes in China. There’s a scary thought hey? If Chinese textiles can be made for so cheap, maybe the second hand stuff is priced so low it’s not worth selling…
More likely it’s the fact that Chinese people in general are more concerned about the possible image they might portray by wearing someone else’s used clothes? Maybe the knock off Ralph Lauren with the leather man-purse is a better option?
Anyway the underlying truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that appearing to have money in China seems to be almost as good as being rich for real.
What I’ve tried to say in my Chinese post - and I tried to do it in a relatively sensitive way without being negative - was that it doesn’t matter what impression you project for others to see. Expensive cars, clothes, cell phones — they’re just a mask.
The opinion others have of you means nothing in the end. The most important thing is the opinion you have of yourself.
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