Beach Essentials in China : Flip-Flops, a Towel and a Ski Mask

[BerlinRocks]

To me the issue is more about one of the first symptoms of a Western/Eastern clash of civilizations and cultures ...
China is known, todays, for growing to be the FIRST economic powerful country. Therefore, its middle-class and upper-middle-class is growing very fast... But while, the poor people are getting richer and are trying western entertainment joys, they want at the same time remain as close as possible to their traditions ... So, I'm not surprised (even though this is ****ing freaky) to notice that older Chinese people want to on the one hand enjoy the new "western entertainment", and on the hands try to find a way to remain as traditional as they can ... So somebody with a businessly enough brain invented these masks ... And since, in these days of post-communism Chinese are ready to buy everything they can, I'm neither surprised to see they buy this ugly mask ...

But to be sincere, I know nothing about China and the entertainment in the old days of communism ... Was it allowed to go on the beach ? Was it accepted for wealthy people to parade on a beach with lower classes ? I don't know ...

 

[BerlinRocks]

Here is an article (in FRENCH) about the increasing venue of Chinese tourists on Chinese beach sides (an habit that really started in the late 1990s, with the paid-vacations, and is only increasing since the beginning of this century ) ...
Beach is not a traditional venue for tourists on vacation. Chinese people prefer the inner landscapes of their countries, than the beachsides (littoral) ...

http://www.espacestemps.net/document8218.html

But when you observe pictures of Chinese beaches in previous years (on google images), its hard to notice this mask before ... But among these crowds ... It's like finding where is Wally ?

 

[Lyuba]

^They aren't victims if it's done by their own choice. Absolutely nothing in Chunese tradition requires for women to wear those masks in the beach. That's like saying you feel sorry for Americans who spray-tan orange because they're victims of American tradition.

They have little choice indeed. If a vulnerable woman take off her surgical mask and get a tan, chinese conservative society will depress her in different ways and call "a peasant". Psychological preassure is often stronger than physical discomfort of suffering from the heat in the wetsuits and welding shields. Hope, I explained clearly why I feel sorry for these victims of the age-old chinese fashion

 

[TianSoFine]

^I hope you don't seriously think that that would happen...