Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In business, the upper echelons of authority are also boys' clubs. Though women are
becoming more aspirational and financially independent, they're often overlooked for pro-
motions and are frequently selected for their beauty and rejected for their child-bearing age.
Many men in Beijing society still also believe that the male should be the bigger bread-
winner, and it can be regarded as a loss of face to have a wife with a larger income. While
Shanghai men may have earned themselves the reputation of enjoying cooking and house-
work, Beijing men have not. Even some of the more pro-Western men say they'd like their
wives to be housewives to take care of them. Consequently, it can be difficult for progress-
ive women to find an accepting partner. This has engendered the social stigma of being
a “leftover woman” ( 剩女 , shèngn ū ), a single, urban, educated woman, aged somewhere
around 27 to 30. They have been accused of not doing their part by not only by some
groups within society but also by the government, which now needs to deal with the crisis
of around 20 million more men under the age of 30 than women under 30—a result of the
one-child policy and the persevering preference for boy babies. The marrying age for wo-
men in China averages around 27 years, but one problem for women who pass beyond this
age is that Chinese men tend to marry down—regarding both age and education. So it gets
harder and harder to marry the higher they climb and the older they get.
Older men, on the other hand, don't seem to have this problem, especially when they
have money. Not only is it not uncommon to hear of a much older man snagging a beau-
tiful young bride, but the ancient days of the concubine lifestyle have taken on a modern
manifestation. Èrn ǎ i ( 二奶 , second wives) are now a social phenomena. These are the mod-
ern concubines of the rich and powerful. In exchange for sports cars, luxury goods, even
apartments, these young women (usually under the age of 30) decorate their lover's life and
show off the man's wealth. The real wives rarely approve, but for many of them absence of
monogamy is such a standard situation in Chinese life that they turn a blind eye. Chinese
women argue that they are more practical than Western women. As long as they feel finan-
cially secure, then they are content. And despite their apparent lack of position in the fam-
ily, they can actually often exert significant influence on their husbands.
GAY AND LESBIAN CULTURE
Beijing might not be San Francisco, but the gay and lesbian culture is certainly alive and
blossoming. Looking back into China's past, homoeroticism has always had its place in
society. While Confucianism made almost no comment on lesbian relationships, it accep-
ted sexual romps between men. As long as one could fulfill his procreative responsibilities,
it wasn't an issue. Homosexual acts were just that, behaviors, and they weren't seen as a
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