Tekst nga Val-entin -
English
A very surprising commercial practice + Running in China
- A very surprising commercial practice.
- There are a lot of bars for expatriates in China but I also wanted to go to a typical Chinese bar where we would not be only among foreigners.
- I was very surprised by the fact that the waiter gave us money so that we stay in the bar consuming.
- He did it in order to attract Chinese people.
- Indeed it seems that having foreign guests makes it easier to attract Chinese ones.
- In France such a practice would not be possible.
- It would be almost a public outcry.
- Press would speak about racism, discrimination...
- Moreover such a bar would be prosecuted.
- I noticed that the Chinese ideal of beauty is to look like to a westerner.
- Most Chinese people want to have a white skin, a western hair cut… This phenomenon is especially noticeable is Shanghai because it is the most westernized city in China: dress code, models in the ads who look likes westerner… But this phenomenon is also true, to a lesser extent, in some western countries.
- For instance, in some country of Western Europe, the ideal of beauty is to look like a North African that means to be tanned.
- Why do people want to be identified as a foreigner?
- Running in China.
- In France, I practiced athletics a lot.
- So I hoped that I could go on running here in Shanghai.
- But I quickly realized that Shanghai is not a very convenient city to run.
- First and foremost, I have hesitated because of the pollution.
- But I have also noticed that “running just for running” is not usual in China.
- It is very rare to see a Chinese people running in the street or in a park in Shanghai (it is different in the campuses).
- I think there is two main reasons.
- First the streets are not adapted to running (too much shops on the pavement).
- Second, running is not part of the Chinese culture.
- We were told in class that Nike is trying to sell running stuffs in China but that it uses a different speech for its Chinese ads than its European ads because running is not part of the culture yet.
- However, with the “westernization” we can see more and more young Chineses running (especially in campuses).
- But it is easy to notice that it is something new to run: some of them run in jeans, they don’t have adapted shoes… But I was told by a French teacher that running in Western Europe is also something relatively new and is part of the “Americanisation”.
- Some people have been practising athletics in Europe for a long time.
- But what is new are people who run just to stay fit and not to be prepared to a race The number of stores which sell specialized athletic shoes (to run on an athletics track) have not increased.
- However the number of stores which sell running shoes (to run in the streets) have increased greatly for some years.
- In my opinion, if more and more people run in Europe and in China it is also because it is fashion.
- Indeed, even in Europe we can see a lot of ads for running stuffs which stress on the running elegance and style more than on the sport performance.
- For instance in France, people who want to run just to stay fit go to Decathlon whereas people who run because they practice athletics go to small specialized stores.
- Val-entin
October 2015
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