by Annie Wang
"Which women are you most attracted to?" I ask.
"I want to date them all," says Jerry with relish.
"Then you have to live in Shenzhen, where the most beautiful women flock to in order to meet men." Weiwei has given his verdict, and the court is closed.
45 A Prude or a Bitch?
Our "princess," CC, really wants to know why the Sichuan girl Little Fang was able to steal Nick away from her. CC asks me to check out Little Fang's daily life and then compare it with her own.
After hanging out with Little Fang for a month, I turn my notes in to CC, "She: Shiseido makeup, Toshiba laptop, platform shoes, Sony mobile phone, drinks green bubble tea, favorite show is Tokyo Love Stories. You: Estée Lauder makeup, IBM think pad, Nike tennis shoes, Nokia cell phone, drinks martinis, favorite show is Ally McBeal."
"Your conclusion?" CC asks me.
"She's a ha rizu, a fan of Japanese culture, but you're a ha meizu, a fan of Western culture."
"But how can she win the heart of an Englishman by being a fan of Japanese culture?" CC is puzzled. "Is it because both countries are islands? I grew up on the islands of Hong Kong and England."
"Let's find out." I say.
Since I'm involved in the Foreign Correspondent Club of Beijing, I arrange for Little Fang to discuss her favorite Japanese soap opera, Tokyo Love Stories, at the FCC for our members who are journalists and China-watchers. I invite CC, Beibei, Lulu, Lily, and Mimi to come.
Little Fang starts her speech. "I understand most of the members in the club are Westerners or Chinese who studied in the West. I think Chinese women are already feminists. Western influence can make us undesirable. Perhaps that explains why some of you in your thirties are still single. Your problem is that you are too strong as women. Women are meant to be water, not stone."
It's the first time CC has met Little Fang since the incident with Nick. CC wants to be friendly, but after hearing Little Fang's comments, she is upset, murmuring, "How dare she attack us! That lowlife stole my man!" CC is not the only one who is offended. No one wants to be reminded that she is still single.
Little Fang continues. "Men like gentle women, so we should learn from Japanese women. That's why I recommend that you watch Tokyo Love Stories."
"Women like us only watch Ally McBeal and Sex and the City," an audience member comments.
"American stuff is too shallow, especially Hollywood," Little Fang says.
"Neither Ally McBeal nor Sex and the City represent the Hollywood – style. They are the New York – style, which is much more sophisticated than Hollywood." I can't help but defend my two favorite shows.
"What is the sophisticated New York – style?" Little Fang asks.
"Hilarious, funny, wise, and psychological." Lily speaks for me.
"I think on American TV shows, couples go to bed far too quickly and too easily. It's quite carnal," Little Fang says.
"It's called sexy." CC retorts.
Little Fang rebuffs her. "It's sexual, but not sexy. Japanese soap operas normally don't have bed scenes. They focus on feelings and sensitivities. Women who can delay their sexual urges and who care more about love than sex are the ultimate winners."
"Those Japanese love stories are simply about mind games. The girls are all prudes. They try to be cute at first. After they get the men they want, they dump them. In their TV series, somebody either has to die or become handicapped. The ending is always sad. It's so sadistic!" Beibei speaks out. She is on CC's side and won't let Little Fang's points go unchallenged. Although Beibei hasn't studied abroad, she is a made-in-China feminist.
Little Fang defends her beloved Japanese shows ardently. "They are textbooks on how to deal with men. You learn how to be soft on the outside and firm inside, how to disguise your feelings, how to make men notice you, how to turn the passive situation around. Our Chinese mothers haven't taught us these tricks, so we have to learn it somewhere else!"
"Do these tricks really work?" another female audience member asks doubtfully, adding, "Men aren't stupid."
Little Fang says, "Yes. It is an art to know when to say no, when to say yes, when you should wait for men, when you should make the m wait for you."
"We have no interest in becoming manipulative prudes! We'd rather watch Sarah Jessica Parker!" says CC, thinking that Little Fang must have used these tricks on Nick.
"Sex and the City and Ally McBeal cant teach you anything about men. Even worse, they teach you to be bitches that men hate!" Little Fang snaps back.
Everybody is stunned.
So far, Lulu has been quiet. I say, "Lulu, you aren't as westernized as CC, Lily, Mimi, and me. Nor are you a Chinese-made feminist like Beibei. Do you prefer American TV series or Japanese ones?"
"I watch Korean soap operas," Lulu says.
"What is so good about Korean ones? All the actresses have had plastic surgery!" Little Fang shakes her head.
"I've seen several. They are all about rich kids falling in love with poor kids: the cliche Cinderella plot." CC doesn't approve of Korean soap operas either.
Lulu says, "I can dream of being a Chinese Cinderella when I watch the Korean ones."
POPULAR PHRASES
HA RIZU: Fan of Japanese culture.
HA MEIZU: Fan of American culture.
46 City Versus Country
Thanks to her self-made parents who fled from the mainland to Hong Kong, CC was able to study at Oxford and learned to speak English perfectly. But most of her relatives are still peasants living in Henan Province. CC has little idea how poor her relatives are until she receives a letter from her Aunt Yuxiu, whom she has never met, asking for help. The gist of the letter is that Auntie Yuxiu, who lives in a place known as Monkey Village, wants to come to Beijing to earn money. CC's cousin, Auntie Yuxiu's eldest son, needs money to get married. Auntie Yuxiu wonders whether she can work as CC's housekeeper and CC agrees to pay her 3,000 yuan per month. Later, Auntie Yuxiu learns, to her amazement, that this salary is equal to that of a university professor.
Before moving to Beijing, Yuxiu cycles three hours to the biggest supermarket in the township, searching for a gift for her niece. She buys ten bars of Dove chocolate, the most expensive gift she can think of. But CC rejects the present politely. "Auntie Yuxiu, I don't eat chocolate. I'm afraid of gaining weight."
"My kids, my husband, and I just have enough to eat," Yuxiu once complains to me, "but she is afraid of gaining weight. I don't understand you city people."
It's the first time Yuxiu has seen her niece. She is proud of CC's success, but one thing puzzles her: in their village, people are poor, but they have enough money to buy clothes to keep themselves warm. CC wears a shirt so small it shows her belly button. Even worse, it's worn and torn. So she says to CC: "I can mend the holes and lengthen the shirt by adding a fringe. That way your stomach won't feel cold. When your stomach gets cold, you get sick easily."
"No, I don't feel cold," CC replies. "My T-shirt is designed this way. The shorter it is, the more fashionable and expensive."
Yuxiu is confused and complains to me. "Why is it more expensive? It uses less cloth, so it should cost less!"
Yuxiu has never seen cut-off T-shirts before.
In order to teach Auntie Yuxiu about city life, CC decides to take her to Starbucks. The three of us go there together. CC orders Auntie Yuxiu a coffee. Yuxiu takes a sip and almost gags. "It so bitter – like Chinese medicine!" She looks at the price and screams, "Twenty-eight yuan per cup! That's half a year's tuition for the kids in Monkey Village!"
"You might want to add some sugar and milk," CC suggests.
It amazes Yuxiu that the sugar is free, so she slips ten packets into her bag. She explains to CC that for years, her household couldn't afford to buy sugar. It was a luxury item in Monkey Village. "Do you want sugar?" she asks CC. "No. I'm afraid of getting diabetes," says CC. "What is diabetes?" Yuxiu asks. CC explains: "It means peeing sugar…"
Yuxiu has only recently been able to afford sugar, yet
CC is afraid of it. Yuxiu is overwhelmed. But she soon has another big discovery. The white paper napkins are also free. "They are much nicer and smoother than the coarse toilet paper we have to use at home!" She tells us as she pockets a stack.
In the next year, Yuxiu finds there are many differences between CC's life and her own, the city person and the country person, the rich and the poor. For example, she is grateful she no longer has to forage for wild herbs in the mountains and is able to eat meat every day. CC, however, is a vegetarian by choice. CC also tires herself out at a gym, which bewilders Yuxiu, who feels fortunate if she has time to rest and doesn't need to work from dawn to dusk.
Before she leaves Beijing with bundles of money for her son's wedding in Monkey Village, Auntie Yuxiu takes me aside and asks: "In the countryside, getting married late is shameful because it means you don't have enough money to pay for the wedding. Now that both you and my niece CC have enough money for a large dowry, why are you still single?"
I search for an answer and finally tell her, "Perhaps, like wearing smaller clothing, staying single is a stupid fashion followed by city people."
47 Fake Nose, Fake Breasts
Lulu asks me on the phone, "If you meet a classmate you haven't seen for ten years, what would your reaction be?"
"Thrilled." I reply.
"What if she wouldn't recognize you?"
"I was too unimportant to remember."
"What if you were her savior or benefactor."
I stop Lulu. "No more of these what-if's – just tell me what happened!"
"Have you heard of a real estate development project called GWD – Great Wall Dreamland?" Lulu asks.
"Yes. Expensive villas at the foot of the Great Wall."
"Let me tell you about an escapade at the Dreamland," Lulu says with a deep sigh.
Lulu had attended a fashion show followed by a cocktail reception at the GWD. There she ran into a stream of movie stars, TV talk-show celebrities, and high-profile singers and musical groups. Her photographers were busy photographing these people, but she was bored.
Her friend Mary, editor of Family, came to her. "Let me introduce you to a really cool woman – Jenny. I was told that she is going to buy one of these mansions here. She just came back to China from the United States and doesn't have many local friends. I think the two of you would hit it off."
As Lulu saw Jenny, she couldn't believe her eyes. She knew this woman! But she had known her as Yu Zhen not Jenny. Yu Zhen was Lulu's college classmate; actually, they were even closer, as they had lived in the same dorm room for four years. Yu Zhen was a bit older than the other girls. She had always been quiet. In her second year at college, she had started to skip classes and come back to the dorm late at night. Sometimes she disappeared for a few days at a time. She had become a woman of mystery. The only way to track her down was by her perfume.
At that time, most college girls couldn't afford to wear perfume. But Yu Zhen did. She came back occasionally, leaving wafts of Christian Dior's Poison or YSL's Opium in the room. Lulu's fashion education first began by guessing the brands of perfume Yu Zhen used.
Rumor had it that Yu Zhen might be dating a sugar daddy, but nobody knew exactly what had been going on with her until one night when Yu Zhen came back around midnight and all girls were sound asleep.
"Save me! Help me!" She begged the girls in the dorm, who were still only half-awake and confused.
Yu Zhen made a confession. She wanted to change her fate by going to the States. In order to earn money for application fees and tuitions to American universities, she had prostituted herself. But one time she had been stupid and greedy. She had stolen 20,000 RMB from her customer, Big Feet. He had been so angry that he hired thugs to watch her outside the campus. He sent out a message that he would have her fingers cut off if she didn't return the money.
"Give the money back to him," her roommates suggested to her.
"I've sent it to the American schools that I applied to," she said.
"Why don't you go to the police?" Lulu asked her.
"I'd be expelled for what I did."
At that time, Lulu was the richest girl in the room. Because her parents had been newly divorced, both of them sent her money to compete for her love. She gave Yu Zhen 4,000 RMB in cash. Others also donated some money. Together they collected 20,000 RMB for Yu Zhen. Yu Zhen cried and kowtowed to everybody, saying that they were her reborn parents. She would work like a dog from now on to repay their money.
Then Yu Zhen vanished totally. Of course, the money they had lent her was gone forever, like a rock thrown into a lake.
Jenny greeted Lulu gracefully in English and excused herself for her sluggish Chinese. Mary helped her explain. "Jenny was born to a Taiwanese mother and a Macau father. She spent most of her time overseas. So that's why speaking Chinese is difficult for her."
Jenny didn't recognize Lulu.
As I listen to this part of the story, I ask Lulu, "Are you sure Jenny is Yu Zhen? Maybe they just look alike! Otherwise, she'd have recognized you."
"I was wondering about that," Lulu says, her voice rising on the telephone, "because Jenny's nose looked higher than Yu Zhen's and Jenny's breasts were bigger than Yu Zhen's. But as she kept talking, she started to stutter! I realized it was the same Yu Zhen. The only difference was that back then in college she had stuttered in Chinese, and at the cocktail party, she stuttered in English."
"So she pretended she didn't know you!"
"Yes! The ungrateful bitch!"
"But how can you explain the changes to her nose and breasts?" I ask.
"If she can fake her identity, I guess it's a piece of cake for her to get a fake nose and fake breasts!" Lulu concludes.
48 The Little Empress
I decide to take a long vacation in the States. It's strange – when I was in America, I thought of China, but in China, I miss America. After living in the gray city of Beijing for more than a year, I dream of America 's blue skies and green lawns. More than that, I feel part of me has never left America.
I'm not sure why I have chosen this exact moment for my visit, but I feel as though my time in China has helped to soften some of the painful memories I have of my time in the States. Through this vacation I hope to recapture the moments and things that I loved about the country. But perhaps more important, I need to find out if moving to China was really the best way to ease my pain over losing Len and having my heart broken. What better way to test if my experiment was a success than going back to the States? I must find out if I have truly exorcised those bad thoughts from my mind.
Although news on TV about the United States is not that optimistic, from terrorist threats to a bad economy, most Americans I run into still seem carefree. I feel flattered as cars come to a stop in front of me when I cross the road and as strange passersby smile at me. In China, pedestrians stop for cars and strangers don't make eye contact.
I stay at Mother Bee's. Mother Bee was my hosting mother when I first arrived in Columbia, Missouri, for college eight years ago. Returning to Missouri is refreshing. I see the trees dancing in the wind and hear birds chirping in the morning. Missouri is about as far away as you can get from Beijing. I like the idyllic, calm atmosphere. Already I can tell that this is going to be a good vacation.
Mother Bee embraces me warmly. "Welcome back! Your room is still there. Only one student stayed there briefly after you."
To my surprise, I find a voodoo doll in the room. The doll has been pierced on the chest with multiple needles. "Bee" is written on the doll's back.
I bring it to Mother Bee.
Mother Bee sighs, clasping the poor doll, "I gave it to Juju, the exchange student from China! She didn't like it because I got it from Wal-Mart and it was made in China. She said that her parents always bought her the most expensive gifts, ones that are made in either the U.S.A. or Japan!"
"So she did this to you?"
Saying neither yes nor no, Mother Bee tells me about Juju. "Unlike you, seven
teen-year-old Juju was a spoiled brat who didn't know how to tie her shoelaces or boil water. Her room was always messy. Once I asked her to clean the room, and she called me a big American imperialist who was exploiting her. She said that since her parents paid me money, I had no right to ask her to do things."
"Now that families are allowed to have only one chi ld, children like Juju are the rulers of their families, dictating to six adults: two parents and four grandparents!" I shake my head.
Mother Bee nods. "I read about it. She might get her way in China by behaving so badly and by being so lazy, but not under my roof!"
"What else did she do?"
"Juju ordered me to wake her up every morning. I gave her an alarm clock and showed her how to use it. Juju felt ignored and threw it away."
"So how did she get up every day?"
"She made her folks call her from China every morning!" Mother Bee stresses every syllable of the sentence to drive home the point.
"Sending kids to the States is fashionable among the new rich in China!" I explain.
Mother Bee continues. "I allowed her to use my home computer. One day I tried to log on to the computer, but it had crashed. I found that she had installed the pirated version of Windows XP without consulting anybody first. I told her that we don't use pirated software in the United States. She yelled at me."
"What did she say?" I ask curiously.
"She said why should the Chinese play by American rules? The Chinese are so poor that they can't afford to buy the official version of Windows. Bill Gates is already the world's richest man – why can't he give the product to the poor for a little money or for free? It's unfair that Chinese silk clothes with hand embroideries cost so much less than shirts with a simple DKNY mark. She even started to talk about the terrorists."
"What happened next? "
"Her mother gave her three thousand dollars to buy the newest Sony laptop. The first thing Juju did after getting the new laptop was to install the pirated Windows XP to upset me. I guess everybody around her in China obeys her without question. Whoever doesn't listen to her is added to her enemies list."