This series is not meant to make fun or discriminate against Mainland Chinese folk. I'm simply pointing out patterns and behavior that they themselves may not have noticed. Hopefully, they won't take this too seriously.
Let us start with the basics. I once read somewhere that when women meet men, the first thing they look at are his watch, and his shoes. Of course this may not be true in all cases. What the author was trying to point out, was that one can tell a man's wealth through his timepiece, and his footwear. At one point in time this may have been true. Rich guys don't always dress nice, but they'll always wear that rare, classic watch and their $2000 loafers. Not so rich guys may be able to afford nice clothes, but they are not able to afford the expensive shoes, or the $100k watch.
Can you differentiate wealth from a guy's shirt? Sure, but it is a lot more difficult. Can you honestly tell the difference between a $50 shirt and a $500 one? In two minutes? Also, a $500 shirt isn't so outrageous as a $300,000 watch. Something like that just stands out. Anyways...
Nowadays its different: rich guys wear Swatch watches and Nike sneakers (okay fine, Prada sneakers). It is much harder to decipher wealth by those key items anymore. Believe it or not, Lee Ka Shing wears a Seiko. Old Money take their Ferrari's and show up at the Dai Pai Dong in their flip flops. The trend is for the wannabe rich to dress up, and the rich to dress down. Compensation, I guess.
Lucky for us, you can still easily tell a Mainland Chinese male by their watch and their shoes.
For the watch, they always wear this variation that has a very thin face (no, not Patek Philippe mind you). Usually, it is accompanied by a leather wristband, or a thin metal band. Once you've seen one, you'll definitely recognize it: thin face, super simple design, almost always a gold colored face.
The shoes usually have a pointy toe. They are always a really shiny black, and they always have an emblem of some sort. I've been through a whole Chinese department store, and failed to find a pair of men's leather shoes without an emblem. Take a look at these two variations.
Let us start with the basics. I once read somewhere that when women meet men, the first thing they look at are his watch, and his shoes. Of course this may not be true in all cases. What the author was trying to point out, was that one can tell a man's wealth through his timepiece, and his footwear. At one point in time this may have been true. Rich guys don't always dress nice, but they'll always wear that rare, classic watch and their $2000 loafers. Not so rich guys may be able to afford nice clothes, but they are not able to afford the expensive shoes, or the $100k watch.
Can you differentiate wealth from a guy's shirt? Sure, but it is a lot more difficult. Can you honestly tell the difference between a $50 shirt and a $500 one? In two minutes? Also, a $500 shirt isn't so outrageous as a $300,000 watch. Something like that just stands out. Anyways...
Nowadays its different: rich guys wear Swatch watches and Nike sneakers (okay fine, Prada sneakers). It is much harder to decipher wealth by those key items anymore. Believe it or not, Lee Ka Shing wears a Seiko. Old Money take their Ferrari's and show up at the Dai Pai Dong in their flip flops. The trend is for the wannabe rich to dress up, and the rich to dress down. Compensation, I guess.
Lucky for us, you can still easily tell a Mainland Chinese male by their watch and their shoes.
For the watch, they always wear this variation that has a very thin face (no, not Patek Philippe mind you). Usually, it is accompanied by a leather wristband, or a thin metal band. Once you've seen one, you'll definitely recognize it: thin face, super simple design, almost always a gold colored face.
The shoes usually have a pointy toe. They are always a really shiny black, and they always have an emblem of some sort. I've been through a whole Chinese department store, and failed to find a pair of men's leather shoes without an emblem. Take a look at these two variations.
I noticed these things a long time ago, but it really hit me during the Chinese New Year holiday. During that week, Hong Kong was suddenly filled with people wearing these shoes and those watches. Pretty amazing.
2 comments:
That is very interesting, because I work with this one older mainland woman at my company. In every conversation I had with her she always tries very hard to prove that she is not the poor one.
Example one when I talked about playing blues with my co-worker Pete. She would jump in "oh my son plays the piano" (Sounding like that is a higher class instrument) and while we are trying to push the idea of the entire company is working together as a team, she constantly have the need to point out who is at what level within the org chart (Who’s the boss).
Two similar experiences I've had concern food and restaurants.
The first one was when I was eating at a Chinese restaurant. There was a Mainlander family sitting at the table next to us. For a family of 3 (two adults, one kid around 10-12) they had ordered:
1 lobster (with e fu noodles)
1 fried pigeon (or whatever it's called in English)
1 fried rice
1 hot pot of vegetables and meat
1 plate of vegetables
Unless they were on some body building diet, it was clear that they were not able to finish their order. Not even our party consisting of 4 adults would be able to demolish that. What happened? They ended up packing most away in take away boxes.
The second was when my Japanese student asked me if all Chinese people opt not to look at the menu or prices when they go out to eat. I asked why and she said her Chinese friend took her and othr friends to a Chinese restaurant. He ordered off the top of his head without consulting the menu and said this was the norm. So they ended up dining on lobster and other fancy dishes, coming in at $90+ a person. Where was her friend from? Shanghai.
I guess with these 2 examples that Mainlanders choose to display their wealth through ordering vast amounts of food or expensive items. If they can pay for it, who cares if it goes to waste?
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