Response to D Foster 09/16/2010

Enter http://cn.msn.com/, the popular website among Chinese white collars, especially among female white collars, and you can see how much the so-called ‘New Girliness’ has occupied both minds and life of this class of women in China (of course, you need to learn Chinese first); you can get thousands of suggestions like what is the most in make-up style, what to wear to office from Monday to Friday, and so on. Magazines like Elle, Bazaar, Cosmopolitan are also the monthly ‘Bibles’ of many Chinese women; besides fashion information, these ‘Bibles’ also give instructions on maintaining relationships: how to behave in the first date, 30 tips make sexual life colorful, and a lot of similar articles. And every night around 9:00, you can get newest skin care and diet instructions from a group of women, all thin, and always emphasize that women should all put on sunblock cream before going outside no matter what the whether is and many alike tiny issues. There are also many photo albums recommend on the effect of makeups or tips the most efficient way to put on makeups on many SNS websites (but Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China), and you can always see thousands of women hotly debate in the comments column. And if there was an album about trend of the season, they would say something like ”Oh, I want this” or “I need to lose weight to fit in it!” I am pretty sure if Nick Marshall walks along the street in many Chinese metropolitan cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and my hometown Chengdu, he will hear a lot women thinking: “I’d better not eat tonight, I’m damn fat these days”; “I love that LV bag, maybe I can get one someday”, and “when can I get married?” However, while media insists that women should perfect their body images by every means they can think of and buy a lot to match, the reality is women do not make much money in China. It is reported that many Chinese office ladies spend more than 60% of their monthly income on new clothes, makeups, skincare, beauty salon. While they do not have many savings, it is also a big issue for them to find a husband not only for love, but most importantly for financial support. If you ask Chinese girls what are their dreams, many would say they want to be successful business women; it is not because they love business work, but because they make money through business and then they can buy things!