Shakti Samuha

03/01/2014

The girls fill the air with a vibrant energy as bright as the sun which hasn’t come out to play today. They greet us with chai, laughter and enthusiasm for the day hike we have planned. They are late, but it is hard to be irritated with so much good humour and kind smiles.

The jokes and joyous chatter continue as we make our way to the base of Shivapuri National Park where we are planning to hike. The girls are training to climb Mt Everest base camp. The girls are part of the organisation Shakti Samuha (the name translates as power or strength and group or together – so it means roughly that together we are powerful/strong) that seeks to prevent, rescue, repatriate, rehabilitate and reintegrate trafficked girls from Nepal – some of them are themselves survivors of human trafficking. Recently they received funding for a group of girls to make the trek to base camp.

Two of the girls confide in me that it is their dream to climb Mt Everest. For one young woman (19yrs), it has been her dream since she was six years old. She tells me that at that time, she had learned about Pasang Lhamu Sherpa in school and went home to tell her mother that she was also going to climb Mt Everest. Her mother wasn’t too pleased though and told her that it was too dangerous (the fact that Pasang died while descending from the summit didn’t help to convince her). Despite her mother’s objections, the young woman persisted and while base camp is a start, I believe that one day she will make her dream a reality. Currently, she studies social work, but her adventurous spirit shines through her bright and engaging personality. After talking to her, I am convinced that she will go on to do amazing things with her life; that she will continue to reach new heights and uncover unknown horizons.

For another one of the team members, climbing Mt Everest is a personal challenge. She is afraid of heights so she chose to participate in this quest as a way to face and overcome her fears. She tells me frankly that she doesn’t want to be afraid any more, that doing this climb is both a literal and symbolic way for her to throw away her fear. I find her very courageous. I also understand where she is coming from. I have spent the last 12 years of my life practicing the art of letting go of my fears and jumping into the void of uncertainty. After all this time, I can’t say that I don’t know fear; I am still scared every time I get in my kayak; every time I enter a social situation; every time I am in a new place or I try something new. I still get scared, but I don’t let that fear paralyse me or prevent me from achieving my goals. My companion may not have realized it yet, but I think that she has already succeeded. By choosing to do challenge her fears, in a way, she has already conquered them. 

Before reaching the start of the hike, we get caught in a downpour and have to take shelter in a restaurant. We enjoy an early lunch and play a game while waiting out the rain. The girls who speak good English translate for me and even though, I still miss a lot of the jokes, I am content just to listen to their laughter. I am happy to be surrounded by so much positive energy and good people. During the game, someone asks one of the girls what is the most important thing to her. Her answer: education.

When the skies clear, it is too late to climb Shivapuri so we meander our way through the hillside, slowly making our way back to town. Along the way, the girls tell me about Shakti Samuha and the innovative work they are doing to prevent trafficking through education and intervention in rural communities in Nepal. They sing a song for me about human trafficking that was written by a staff member at Shakti Samuha and interpreted by a local artist to highlight and honour the work the organisation is doing. They are currently looking for funding to record the song and make a videoclip.

 

I go home feeling both inspired and invigorated. They call them survivors, but the girls I met today are doing so much more than just surviving; they are living, creating, growing, reaching, shining, conquering and thriving. Once again, I am blown away by the women here; by their resilience, integrity and good humour. I resolve to continue training with them and who knows, maybe there will be more opportunities to get involved with such a fantastic group of young women and such an ground breaking organisation. 

Keeping faith

29/12/2014

“Do you believe in the work NGOs do?”

The question catches me off guard and I pause to stare at the woman talking to me. She is from Lebanon, we crossed paths literally on a little jungle trail leading from Pokhara to Sarangkot. She is going up, I’m going down.

She stops to ask me how far it is to the top. We are both sweaty from the heat. It is a gorgeous day with clear blue skies and a warm sun. I have been taking pictures all morning of paragliders and birds against a backdrop of mountains and the glimmer of Phewa lake in the distance. She is a little out of breath from the climb and our conversation gives her a moment to rest.

She loves talking to people so she loses no time in asking me about myself:

-          What do you do here?

-          I study.

-          What do you study?

-          Women who whitewater kayak.

-          Oh….what’s that?

…

-          Well, what exactly is your field of study?

-          International and intercultural communication.

-          Oh….what’s that?

I have never really had an adequate explanation for what it is that I do. Maybe it’s because what I do changes so often. For lack of a better explanation, I tell her that I work for NGOs advocating for women’s rights and development. That’s when the question drops:

-          Do you believe in the work NGOs do?”

The question strikes me but I am unable to articulate on the spot what it is about the question that bothers me. Later, I realize that it is her choice of the word “believe” that puzzles me.

We don’t tend to think of our jobs as an act of faith. No one would likely ask a doctor if they believe in the work they are doing- it seems kind of obvious doesn’t it? However, the question may be more relevant than we think. Last fall, I attended a training session where various actors from the justice system presented on what it is that they do. Everyone who presented that day spoke with absolute conviction. Despite its flaws, they had faith in the justice system and seemed to genuinely care about the interests and well-being of offenders and victims. Their commitment to their work surprised me because I was coming from the opposite end of the spectrum where criticisms against the justice system are often expressed.

It might be argued than that my decision to work outside the justice system and in the NGO sector is a reflection of my lack of faith in the justice system and belief that I can do more good changing that system from the outside (and also because I don’t think I would ever survive through law school). But why should I believe in the NGO system which is no less flawed or dysfunctional than the justice system? I could go on at length about the failures of NGOs and the entire “development industry” but I guess the bottom line is that I still think that it is worth trying. I am not so naïve as to believe that working for an NGO will solve all the world’s problems (or even some of the world’s problems), but I do believe that to do nothing is to be complicit in an oppressive system that privileges a small group of powerful elite while marginalizing and erasing the “others”. In this sense, I still believe in our ability to act to create change and to make a difference in the world. But, I also believe that any action taken must be taken responsibly and held accountable. A lot of mistakes have been made in the history of development and continue to be perpetuated today, but we cannot learn from our lessons until we have acknowledged and accepted responsibility for our mistakes. Acting with good intent, but without accountability to those we are seeking to help is as bad as and sometimes worse than not acting at all.

I should also note here, that while I talk about choosing work that one believes in, inherent in what I have discussed is the assumption that people have the luxury and ability to choose what they do for work. Not all jobs give people a sense of purpose, identity and self-worth. Additionally, not all people believe in the work they are doing, but simply need the work. For many people, a job might not be a question of whether or not they believe in it so much as a matter of survival. Yet, in many ways we define ourselves (and others define us) by what we do. By stating “I am a doctor/teacher/bus driver/store clerk/professional feminist” we emphasize our work as a significant source of our identity and self-definition. Rather than saying “I treat sick people/teach children/drive buses/sell items/advocate feminism”, what we do becomes a fixed part of our identity and plays a central role in how we perceive ourselves and others. But by viewing our work as who we are rather than what we do, we solidify it into something fixed, immutable and stable which in turn makes it harder to change our career, profession, class, and social status because these would also require us to change our identity. This may also explain why I never have an appropriate answer to the question “what do you do?” because what I do is always changing and so am I.

(Can you tell I’ve been reading more bell hooks in my spare time?)

All Girls All Adventure All the time!

23/12/2014

My first thought when I meet my host for the first time is that she is really short – even by Nepali standards. As she gives me a welcome hug she doesn’t even reach my shoulders. I feel like a towering giant beside her, but I will soon learn that this 4 foot nothing humble little woman is a force to be reckoned with. My second thought when I see her is she is stunningly gorgeous. The thick wavy long black hair of Nepali women that I envy so much and a glimmer in her deep brown eyes that hint at the fire that burns inside of her. She is an exceptional woman and within hours of meeting her I am already blown away by all she has achieved and continues to do for women in Nepal, for her community and for her family. She amazes me.

I meet the rest of the team the next day. All of them are incredible – and beautiful – young women with a passion and determination rarely seen. Speaking of judging people by their physical appearance, I am all the more impressed by Himalayan Adventure Girls because they don’t appear to be the hardened and fearless adventurers, kayakers and guides that they are. For the most part, they are lovely, modest and humble women who are always making jokes (that I don’t understand) and laughing (come to think of it they remind me of my amazing paddle buddy back home – miss you Catherine!) They are easy-going and relaxed and I immediately feel comfortable here.  I can’t wait to see them on the water, but I am going to have to wait because it’s colder than I expected and there are some schedule problems that will delay our river trip. I don’t mind because I have a cold (the dust here is really getting to me) so I probably shouldn’t be playing in the water just yet.

One thing that really surprises me is the relationship the girls have with their male counterparts. I had expected that some of the men kayakers and other rafting companies might resent the girls for encroaching on their territory; however, it is quite the opposite. Several of Nepal’s most established rafting companies have openly supported and encouraged the girls from the start and have been hiring them after they complete their training. Some of these companies were the first ones to take on the girls as guides in training when the ladies kayak club was first formed in 2008. For the past decade kayaking brothers from other companies have been reaching down to give their brave sisters a hand up. I witnessed this first hand at the Himalayan River Guides Association of Nepal (HRGAN) AGM where the girls were welcomed among the other guides as sisters and equals. Of course, I miss out on a lot of the dynamics and undercurrents because I don’t speak the language. But what I saw was both encouraging and heart warming – from the moment we arrived the girls and guys were teasing each other (friendly teasing) and joking around and generally having a good time. However, when we arrived at Fishling, the meeting location, I noticed that the guides were divided into groups: Kathmandu, Pokhara and Trisuli guides. Since HAG is based in Kathmandu, the girls mostly know and would joke with other Kathmandu guides. Later some friends told me that there were still some tensions and some guides that didn’t want to see the girls succeed, but I imagine that those are the ones that haven’t really had the chance to work and paddle with the women. Nevertheless, the day was a success and for the first time ever a woman was elected to HRGAN’s board. The suggestion came from the outgoing president, a jovial and friendly man, who said that the association should always have at least one woman representative because women have different experiences and perspectives to bring to the table. Although the meeting itself was mainly a lot of Nepali speeches that I didn’t understand, I was glad to have had the opportunity to meet more contacts, get to know more paddlers and make some friends.

I’ll be heading to Pokhara for the next few days to spend Christmas there and meet up with an old friend from my last visit to Nepal. Work on my thesis/paddling will have to wait until after the holidays. But I feel like things are off to a good start.

HERstory

 4/12/14

China’s only female emperor, a woman general who commanded 70, 000 troops, a kungfu fighting nun…

That’s how the line to our Women in China exhibit started off. In a time when a man could refuse to marry a woman because her feet were not shaped like a “three-inch golden lotus”, these women were overturning kingdoms, conquering battlefields, and, in general, kicking ass. Along with foot binding, other traditionally Confucian standards of beauty included having “phoenix eyes” and “willow-leaf eyebrows” as well as light skin all of which were symbols of beauty, proper ancestry and socioeconomic status (Zhang, 2012). But the women on our clothesline weren’t just some pretty faces, they were women who held power and influence, and who played an important role in the evolution of China. Yet, most of these women have been forgotten in some obscure corner of HIStory, gathering dust.

The clothesline Women in China exhibit

Next came the women of the revolution: Mao’s “Iron women” whose masculinization was supposed to exemplify equality. They were tough and strong, hard workers, capable of doing anything a man could do (Yang, 2006). Although, Communism officially opposed beauty in the form of self-adornment, it did not outright reject beauty, but rather constructed a new image of beauty in line with Communist ideology and politics (Ip, 2003). Young and attractive women with lots of revolutionary zeal, known as “beautiful heroines”, were used in propaganda to promote a positive image of the Communist Party and encourage political loyalty and moral integrity. For example, Sun Yat-sen’s wife, Song Qingling, who was described as a woman of “dignified grace, sophistication, fragility and simple but tasteful clothing” was admired by many for her “elegance combined with political commitment, tender beauty juxta- posed with courage” (Ip, 2003). Meanwhile, revolutionary poet, Qiu Jin, who was criticized for wearing men’s clothing, drew inspiration for her poems from the female heroes (or SHEroes as my buddy calls them) and warriors of Chinese history.  In one of her poems, she writes: “Don’t tell me women/ are not the stuff of heroes”.

Quotes on clothes

In the next section, writers from the “newly new generation” (post 1970s) sought to reclaim “the feminine” by giving voice to women through personal narratives and life stories (Schaffer & Xianlin, 2007). “Beauty writers” like Lin Bai, Zhou WeiHui and Mian Mian fought against sexual repression and female objectification by writing about female bodies, desires and sexualities (most of them have books that are banned or censured in China).  They challenged the notion that beauty is oppressive to women by exploiting their image and sexuality in order to gain public attention, fame and glamour. In fact, it was common practice to showcase their “artistic pictures” (yishu zhao) on book covers in order to catch public attention since “a female writer with a beautiful appearance is more likely to create a sensation that the market would like to see” (Yang, 2006).

It is difficult to judge whether or not exposing themselves to the public gaze is exploitative or not. A part of me would like to see women’s books read because they are intellectually sharp and interesting, not because there is a pretty face on the front cover. The other part of me knows that that is not how the market works. Efrat Tseelon (1995) provides another perspective:

The argument equating gaze with masculine position and power is problematic. In the distinction between the man “who is doing the gaze” and the women who is the object of the gaze there is an assumption that one position, that of the onlooker, is inherently more powerful than the other. However, a careful examination of the use of “invisible” and “visible” shows them to encompass a dialectical rather than a unilateral meaning. “Invisible” as ignored and trivialized is powerless. But invisible as the source of gaze (that is, the one who is looking without being looked at) is powerful. Similarly, visible as objectified is powerless, but visible as prominent and dominant is powerful. 

The "gender studies" classroom

At the end of the exhibit line are the modern day SHEroes: the “Oprah of China”, the first lady of China, actresses and athletes…Known as the “Fan Bingbing” standard, they are the women that young women in China aspire to be like; admired for their wealth, beauty and glamourous lifestyles (Zhang, 2012).

Our exhibit provides only a glimpse at all the phenomenal and radical women throughout China’s history, but by opening the door just a crack, we managed to shed light on a topic that is often left in the dark. When we first introduced the idea of doing an exhibit celebrating influential women in Chinese history, our buddies were surprised. “We hear people talk about water and the environment all the time,” said one of our buddies, “but never women”. Most of our buddies admitted that they didn’t know much about the topic and had never really thought about women’s issues before. It would turn out to be a significant learning opportunity for them as well.

White lilies expressing people's hope for women in China

Our exhibit was divided into two parts: an artistic display of historical women figures interspersed on a laundry line with quotes written on clothing; and an interactive “gender studies” classroom where we invited participants to play a game of “guess who” and answer the question “what hope do you have for the future of women in China?” Answers were written on white lily cut-outs and posted on a board.

Throughout the exhibit day, I was engaged in several lengthy and profound discussions around women’s issues and gender equality in China. Although, beauty didn’t come up as a topic in any of the conversations I had, it did show up many times in response to the lily question along with independence and equality; although it is unclear what many of them meant by beauty and if they were referring to beauty in a moral or aesthetic sense.

Independence, equality, beauty they wrote on hundreds of lilies.

One of the most rewarding moments during our exhibit was when one of our buddies started guiding people through the exhibit on her own initiative. Previously, she had been one of the buddies for who “women” was a new topic for her, but she had been very involved in helping us plan and translate our exhibit. Watching her take ownership of the exhibit and share her new knowledge with her peers was a significant testimony to the success of our project.

We had wanted to create an exhibit that had meaning beyond just presenting a “cultural exchange”. We wanted our exhibit to be thought-provoking by opening spaces for dialogue on a topic rarely discussed. We wanted to celebrate women in China, but we also wanted to inspire women in China. Just seeing how engaged our buddies were in developing our exhibit showed that we had succeeded in having an impact. Seeing how our team grew in solidarity and strengthened our commitment to feminism through intense struggles and differing perspectives was another sign of success. Engaging in some many enriching conversations with men and women on the day of the exhibit and having young women thank us for drawing attention to women’s issues was just the cherry on top.

Our buddy sharing her knowledge

Zhang, M. (2012). A chinese beauty story: How college women in china negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(4), 437-454. doi:10.1080/17544750.2012.723387

Ip, H.-Y. (2003). Fashioning Appearances: Feminine Beauty in Chinese Communist Revolutionary Culture. Modern China, 29(3), 329-361. DOI: 10.1177/00977004032

Schaffer, K. & Xianlin, S. (2007). Unruly Spaces: Gender, Women's Writing and Indigenous Feminism in China. Journal of Gender Studies, 16(1), 17-30. DOI: 10.1080/09589230601116125

Yang, X. (2006). From Beauty Fear to Beauty Fever: A Critical Study of Chinese Female Writers Born in the 1970s. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon). Retrieved from ProQuest

Intercultural or International?

Take a deep breath. Just breathe.

Today has been an exercise in practicing patience, tolerance and learning to bite my tongue.

One of the things that drive me absolutely crazy is that whenever people talk about “cultural differences” they are usually referring to differences between nationalities or ethnicities that are defined by a specific geographic location or language group.  In my program of study, I see and hear people consistently confusing culture with nationality and it makes me want to scream because culture is so much more than what is written on our passports. However, the very title of my Masters program is indicative of this problematic – “intercultural and international communication”. Intercultural and international communication are not the same thing, but we treat them as one.

For example, we just listened to a lecture on “intercultural communication” by the president of my university who for an hour compared “Canadian” and “Chinese” culture. The problem with this is that it makes the assumption that all Canadians or all Chinese share the same culture when in fact many cultures co-exist within both of those Nation-States. An individual’s concept of culture is shaped not only by their nationality, ethnicity, language or geographic location, but can also include their class, gender, sexual orientation, family history, moral values, urban-rural geography, type of profession, political system, religious beliefs, etc. When we overlook these intersectional differences than we miss a key point in intercultural communication which is that we cannot make assumptions about people based solely on where they are from. In other words, I can’t assume that all Chinese people are going to react the same way or share the same opinion of something because they, like us (my cohort), are not a coherent, internally consistent and uniform group.

Two things are happening when we talk about “Canadian” or “Chinese” culture; First, we are making generalizations that contribute to reinforcing harmful stereotypes; and second, we are creating a binary system of “us” vs “them” that polarizes people and makes it seem as though we are in opposition when in fact this is a false dichotomy. Identity is complex, multifaceted, contradictory and transformational; it is not fixed or stable. So any effort to try to pin down identity and culture into comprehensible categories is an oversimplification of their dynamic nature.

This is problematic for a group of Masters students whose goal is to understand and uncover “the truth” about culture. We spend all our time pouring over models, theories and labels trying to make notions fit into the categories we’ve been taught in the hopes of making sense of something that is inherently contradictory and inconsistent.

For example, this morning in our debrief about the sock factory visit we talked about “the Chinese”, “the factory workers”, and “our buddies” as if each of these groups share the same reality and experiences. The discussion revolved around the fact that a factory worker had graffitied a note to a table approximately saying: “If this is my life, I would rather be dead”. How much can we read into this note? The truth is we know nothing about the person who wrote it or what kind of state they were in when they wrote that message. Just because someone expresses discontent at work, doesn’t mean that they feel that way every day or that everyone else in the factory agrees with the statement but neither does it mean that everything is hunky-dory or that factory work is just peachy. There were a lot of comments in the discussion this morning that suggested that since we don’t know much about the situation that we should reserve our judgements. Maybe factory workers don’t view themselves as oppressed, maybe they are grateful for the work, maybe they are better off working in a factory…but all these maybes shouldn’t prevent us from critically reflecting on working conditions and the exploitation of people by the current global economic system. Just because somebody is worse off somewhere else in the world doesn’t make it acceptable or justifiable. Nor does it mean that we shouldn’t try to challenge or seek to change it for a more positive solution. To me, saying that something is “normal” somewhere or that “it’s just how their culture is” is not an excuse for inaction. We often use culture as an excuse to not get involved, but there are ways to intervene that are not imperialistic or arrogant. Critical thinking and constructive dialogue can be ways of questioning certain supposedly cultural practices without imposing one’s own way of thinking.

I say supposedly because cultural practices are not inherently natural and intrinsic to a society, but they are constructed generally through discourses controlled by the dominant group. The objective of thinking critically about subjects such as the conditions of factory life is not to say my culture is better than yours, but is a practice where one can examine relationships of power and challenge how certain cultural norms are selected, perpetuated and maintained in that context.

According to Uma Narayan (1997) when considering discourses on culture and identity, we need to “think critically about the elements of culture that should be preserved and those that need to be challenged...to distinguish between cultural changes that should be valued from those that should be resisted”. This includes a revision of national history and the patriarchal practices and institutions that collude to represent culture and tradition as “natural givens” rather than the “historical inventions and constructions that they are”.

Pearls are a girl’s best friend

24/11/14

There are a few sharply dressed, Mafioso type looking guys hanging around the pearl factory. Two of them are leading our group and showing us around, though I am a bit unclear as to what exactly is their position at the factory. The women sorting the pearls are also well dressed and elegant. A contrast to the previous factory we visited (a sock factory) where the workers were more casual.

Upstairs, they have arranged some snacks and tea for us. Baskets sit on the floor filled to the brim with different qualities of pearls. I think there is a Q&A session going on, but I don’t really pay attention. I peek into the room next door- it appears to be the room where important business transactions take place. Everything shines in the room with the glow of polished wood. The tables and chairs are all carved with intricate designs. Leather couches and a glass coffee table are on the other side of the room over an expensive rug. The sock factory had cement floors layered with dust and leftover bits of thread with supplies packed in a sort of organized mess around the shop.

Sock factory

Our “guide” cracks open some mussels for us and invites us all to dig out a pearl from the gooey mess. There is something phony about his demeanor that I don’t trust. Maybe it’s the Mafioso get ups, but I don’t feel comfortable here.

When we arrive at the pearl mall, everything becomes clear. The sketchy fellow offers us 50% off everything in the store. Our visit was a marketing ploy to get us to buy their stuff. The worst part is it works. Almost everyone in my class walks out of there with at least one small gift to bring back to family and friends. Some slightly remorseful because they know they walked into a trap but at the same time thinking how the gift will be enjoyed by someone important in their life.

I don’t know anyone who wears pearls.  I have no use for them. They are not really my colour or my style. So I sit outside and wait.

Pearl Factory

During the cultural revolution, women were expected to wear uniforms with straight, short hair, no makeup and no jewellery. Any type of adornment or self-beautification was viewed as petty bourgeois and frivolous (Ip, 2003). Yang (2006) refers to this period as the era of “beauty fear” which attempted to suppress the concept of beauty in the name of equality. In the Post-Maoist era, this fear was transformed into a “beauty fever driven by the commercialization” of the mid and late 1990s.

During this period, Western influence transformed beauty standards from “the communist ideal of woman as producer into the neo-liberal image of woman as consumer” (Xu & Feiner, 2007). Cosmetic surgeries increased throughout Asia, with some of the more popular surgeries being double-eyelid operations, nose lengthening, jaw-reshaping and breast implants (Zhang, 2012). In the words of Bordo (1993),

the “beauty system” is controlling the bodies and the checkbooks of women by placing high social importance on physical appearance, setting up impossible beauty ideals, and then providing products and services to “fix” the imperfections.

 Although eyes, nose and face shape are all important aspects of beauty, skin tone appears to be particularly significant and a lot of emphasis is placed on having “fair” skin. There is a saying in Chinese “Yi bai zhe san chou” that translates as “one white skin covers three ugly qualities” (Zhang, 2012). Meaning that having good skin can compensate for other perceived drawbacks or flaws. Fair skin is prized because along with representing symbols of youthfulness and fertility, skin is also an indicator of class and status. Rich and privileged women from urban areas can afford “fair” skin whereas rural peasant women are more likely to have darker, rougher skin due to their work conditions and lifestyles.

Skin whitening products

photo credit: Hope Hickli

The high value of skin tone can be seen in our buddies who mostly wear very little makeup, preferring a more natural look, but will usually spend a lot on expensive facial creams to keep their skin glowing. Skin whitening creams line store shelves and you have to be careful buying lotions and face washes because many skin products contain whitening elements.  That being said, simply having white skin is not enough to be considered beautiful. The term “fair” skin implies skin that is also unblemished, smooth, bright and porcelain-like.Skin, like pearls, is more valued based on its luster, shape, colour and lack of blemishes or imperfections.

During our visit of the pearl factory, we learned that perfectly round, high quality and valuable freshwater pearls are extremely rare.  I don’t remember the exact number but google tells me that perfect pearls consist of only 0,0025% of a yearly harvest while the slightly imperfect, but still really expensive ones make up 3%. The rest are crushed for use in cosmetics and medicines. For most of us, we are the 97% - still beautiful, but imperfect and therefore, judged by the beauty industry to be of less value. But I think they got their grading system all wrong, the really valuable ones are the ones that are unique.

Ip, H.-Y. (2003). Fashioning Appearances: Feminine Beauty in Chinese Communist Revolutionary Culture. Modern China, 29(3), 329-361. DOI: 10.1177/00977004032

Zhang, M. (2012). A chinese beauty story: How college women in china negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(4), 437-454. doi:10.1080/17544750.2012.723387

Yang, X. (2006). From Beauty Fear to Beauty Fever: A Critical Study of Chinese Female Writers Born in the 1970s. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon). Retrieved from ProQuest

Parfumerie

Random ads for a clothing store with inexplicable translations...

Soul's retreat (Ling Yin Temple)

23/11/14

When Buddhists are in front of a Buddha they have to pray, my buddy informs me while apologizing as she leaves me to go kneel in front of the statue. I tell her to take her time, but like everyone else, she runs through the movements quickly then rejoins me. Is it because I am here and she doesn’t want to appear as a bad host by leaving me on my own that she prays quickly or would she have done the same even if I wasn’t there?

I view prayer and meditation as practices that require us to slow down, take time and breathe. I view them as opportunities for reflection in which we need to stop all the noise around us and focus on just being present in that moment. My preconceived notions of how prayer and meditation should be practiced conflict with what I am observing in the Temple. To me, it appears that people are preoccupied and in a hurry as they pray. They appear to be imitating the motions without any real conviction or faith.  But maybe their devotion is there and I am just unable to see it through the lens of my Western beliefs.

A friend told me that in Japan people would go to Temples to give thanks by saying “what will be will be”. The process was fast because they weren’t asking for anything, or confessing, but simply showing their gratitude.

At times I to feel the urge to give gratitude, to kneel down, to close my eyes and just sit there, feeling the energy around me. I resist the urge because I am not actually Buddhist and I would feel like an impostor or like I was being disrespectful by taking up the space of devotees. But I am deeply moved by the space, by the feeling of something bigger than myself in those halls (and I don’t just mean the statue of Buddha which was enormous – the second largest in China).

When we entered the main hall we could hear the eerie echo of a devotee singing sutras. Behind the gigantic Buddha was a wall of carvings, like an enormous fresco, of a Buddhist pilgrimage recounted in the Huayan Sutras. The carving, which is made out of clay and over 20m high, is composed of over 150 statues divided into three parts: heaven, earth and sea. I stood craning my neck (despite my recent neck injury) for at least 20 minutes, trying to capture all the details of the majestic work of art before me.

As we walked through the third hall, the Hall of Medicine Buddha, the sun began to set and a the bell rang for prayer. I felt a bit uncomfortable going to watch, I didn’t want to turn their prayer into a spectacle but at the same time, it felt like a privilege to witness this moment of sacredness. As we listened to the monks chanting, I observed the people all around. Most of them had their eyes closed, bowed heads and hands clasped, following the prayer of the monks; Although a few appeared to have been on a shopping spree before coming to the temple and held designer handbags between their joined hands.  At one point, a visiting monk wearing an expensive watch and sneakers with neon stripes on the side, walked in front of my buddy and me, pulled out an iPhone and took a selfie with the praying monks in the background. My buddy and I were shocked by his behaviour.  How does someone like that become a monk? I’m not an expert, but I believe letting go of material attachments is the first lesson in Buddhism 101. It is not my place to judge the path his is on, but as I looked around me at all the excess, I can’t help but feel a sense of disconnect between teachings and practice.

As we are leaving, my buddy comments on the commercialization of temples and how tourism has impacted the meaning and symbolism of sacred sites. In Asia, temples have for a long time been places of commercial activity and it is not unusual for monks to sell flowers, prayer beads, incense and other trinkets as offerings to Buddha. So while these commercial activities might appear disruptive and out of place to someone like me who is used to the separation of religion and commerce, it was probably not shocking to other visitors there. Similarly, I find that large crowds can be disruptive to the peacefulness of a temple, but to Chinese people, large crowds are a part of everyday life. Perhaps they have more practice than me being able to focus their mind and find quiet even amidst all the jostling and chaos of visiting tourists.

Despite these differing cultural perspectives, I still was awed by the temple and the rock carvings all around the hillside. The detail and magnificence of the carvings and statues were mind blowing and well worth the visit. I stayed until closing time and left reluctantly, wishing I had had more time to explore. The visit was an interesting experience and a lesson in intercultural approaches to sacred spaces. It also provided me with a research question for one of my assignments: How has globalization influenced the commercialization of temples and transformed the meaning of sacred spaces?

Pictures from Ling Yin Temple

There are no pictures of inside the temple because it is disrespectful.

Dancing queens

21/11/14

A decision to hang out downtown with some friends turned into a random afternoon exploring an art college where we watched some student presentations and stumbled on a ballroom dancing competition. The competition was a stroke of luck while waiting for the art class to finish preparing their presentations we spotted some girls in sparkly dresses on the street below. We went to investigate and somehow managed to sneak our way into the dance hall (it was closed to the public). We found ourselves in the midst of couples all lined up waiting anxiously for their turn to dance.

I found their faces most intriguing to watch: some looking nervous and jittery; others with a fierce look of concentration; some were counting during the dance; others had pasted a smile on for the judges. You could usually tell how their dance had been judging by their faces as they came off the dance floor: some looked close to tears while others were elated.

The girls’ outfits were also a point of interest: bright swooshing skirts, open backs, glitter and sparkles everywhere, fake long lashes and gelled hair with flowers and tassels woven in. Even after exiting the dance hall, we stayed sitting on the sidewalk for a long time watching the dancers coming and going. As we were leaving, the girls had changed into some more carnavalesque outfits with flashy colours, short skirts with tassels, shakers or frills and a bit of animal print.

A dancer checking out her competition while waiting her turn.

photo credit: Frances Wintjes Clarke

One girl in particular drew my attention, because unlike the others, she was not a stick figure. She had more Mongolian features with a very round face, big cheeks, broad shoulders and wide hips. She had a very generous smile and secretly I hoped that she would win. I wondered how the others might perceive her: if she gets teased or discriminated against for her size (she was about my size, so not fat, but big in comparison to most Chinese people) or if it is seen as normal? I also wondered how much their appearances counted for in the dance competition: were their appearance and outfits also being judged? Were the costumes mandatory? What would happen if someone just showed up off the street wearing no makeup and the clothes they wear to go to work and just started dancing? Would they be judged the same way as the others based on their ability as a dancer or would they be disqualified because of their appearance?

After the ballroom show, we found a group of breakdancers practicing in a park. Their leader was a young woman with a peculiar hairstyle, baggy clothes and visible tattoos. She was intriguing in part because she was the first Chinese person I saw with tattoos and in part because she was one of the rare women in China I saw that wasn’t girlish. Attitude usually comes with being a breakdancer, but it was refreshing to see a woman not acting out the role of a delicate flower for once.

On the way home, I chatted with a buddy about the film her group had watched on the cultural revolution (Farewell my concubine). As we discussed some of the horrors of the cultural revolution, the buddy told me that Mao was not to blame, but that his wife, Jiang Qing, was responsible. “According to official Chinese history [Jiang Qing] shoulders the blame for the evils of the cultural revolution” while Mao remains their infallible great leader who can do no wrong (Schaffer & Xianlin, 2007). Of course, there is nothing surprising about the woman being blamed for history’s mistakes. And while Jiang Qing certainly did do some bad things, it should be recognized that she wasn’t acting alone.

While researching influential women in Chinese history, I found that most famous women who at some point seized power were portrayed negatively in the annals of history. Women like Wu Zetian and Cixi who were two of the most powerful women in Chinese history are described as power hungry and ruthless villains; however, as Wikipedia helpfully points out, “she was no more ruthless than other rulers” at the time. It all comes back to the whole double-standard thing where if a man acts aggressively then he is showing strength and being a good leader, but if a woman acts in the same way than she is labelled a villain and a b*tch.

Not to mention that women are often discredited by attributing their success to their beauty rather than their skills or cleverness. Both Wu Zetian and Cixi were considered beautiful and started off on their road to power as concubines. Mao also had a preference for young, modern, pretty women like Jiang Qing who started off as an actress and became the face of the revolution as the head of the Communist’s Party Propaganda Department (Ip, 2003). Myths like the four beauties reinforce this idea that women must “exploit” their beauty and sexuality in order to gain power by seducing, manipulating and even distracting their opponents. Under the cultural revolution the “deployment of feminine beauty for political ends” was known as the “beauty tactic” in which women used their appearance to advance the political and ideological goals of the revolution (Ip, 2003).

Even today beauty plays a significant role in establishing power and women in politics are often scrutinized and discredited based on their looks. It all comes back to what our buddy said: that if a woman isn’t beautiful enough, then no matter what she does it will never be good enough. This has got to change. There are some brilliant and beautiful minds out there, who regardless of their physical appearance, deserve to have their ideas, their talents and skills recognized and appreciated. These people have something real and valuable to contribute to the world and it both disgusts and saddens me when their work is minimized and cheapened by superficial concerns. Like my hypothetical dancer from before; she could be the most phenomenal dancer out there, but if she doesn’t look the part then she probably won’t win the prize…

Ip, H.-Y. (2003). Fashioning Appearances: Feminine Beauty in Chinese Communist Revolutionary Culture. Modern China, 29(3), 329-361. DOI: 10.1177/00977004032

Schaffer, K. & Xianlin, S. (2007). Unruly Spaces: Gender, Women's Writing and Indigenous Feminism in China. Journal of Gender Studies, 16(1), 17-30. DOI: 10.1080/09589230601116125

Dancers and performers reliving their glory days in People's Park, Chengdu

Traditional on the inside, modern on the outside

21/11/14

I wanted to address the topic of beauty in my blog because it has been a predominant theme throughout residency. It defines so many aspects of our lives and often unconsciously (or maybe consciously?) influences how we are treated and treat others.

My reflection starts on November 21 when we held a focus group with my team members and our Chinese buddies to discuss a romantic comedy (If you are the one) we had viewed together. The movie choice was that of our buddies.  Anyone who knows me can tell you that rom-coms are not really my thing, but from an academic perspective they provide some interesting topics for discussion.  Universal themes such as love, marriage, family values, sex & sexuality, fidelity and beauty provided us with endless fodder for discussion. 

One of the things that struck me and my team members was the way women were represented in the movie (I was lucky enough to be on a team of awesome feminists).  The storyline consisted of a man searching for a wife through online dating. In his personal ad the protagonist writes: “looking for a woman who is traditional on the inside but modern on the outside”.  Meaning a woman who is willing to cook and clean and accommodate her husband’s needs but who is also beautiful and stylish so her husband can show her off when he goes out. “Chinese women today are expected to possess traditional Chinese virtues, such as being submissive and nurturing, along with physical beauty according to an Anglo-European standard” (Zhang, 2012).

Throughout the film a series of stereotyped women were paraded in front of the protagonist; the traditional woman, the career-oriented woman, the prude woman, the unwed pregnant woman, the “goddess”… All of them flawed, failing to meet the standards of perfection laid out in the image of the “ideal” woman. In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf (1991) compares beauty to an economic system in which women are each assigned a value based on their physical appearance which helps maintain the institution of male dominance by forcing women to compete with each other. Similarly, in the film the women were all evaluated and judged by the male protagonist according to a set list of criteria that he had outlined in his “profile”.

Brides in red (traditional) or white (modern) dresses were often found doing photo shoots in various sites. 

photo credit: Hope Hickli

We are on a quest to find perfection. Even the question “what do you look for in a partner?” implies that there is a list of criteria somewhere that a person must meet in order to qualify as a “match”. The problem is not having a preference for certain attributes or qualities in a person, but it is when we rely on those “lists” unquestioningly. It becomes a problem when we come to believe that circles are the only real shape and that all the other shapes should look like circles. It becomes a problem when all the squares, triangles, stars and octagons feel they need cosmetic surgery in order to fit into the circle hole. It becomes a problem when people are made to believe that they aren’t good enough or worthy enough of love because they don’t fit the criteria dictated by society.

The issue of worth was raised when the topic turned to fidelity. One of the buddies had asked what people thought of the female protagonist, who was having an affair with a married man, and whether or not she was to blame for the affair. During the discussion, the only man in the group commented that a man would be justified in looking somewhere else for satisfaction if his wife is “not beautiful enough or excellent enough”.  In other words, dignity and respect are not inherent in a relationship, but rather depend on a woman’s ability to fit inside the circle hole. This also implies that regardless of what the man did, the woman is to blame because if he did something wrong (like cheating) it was because she wasn’t good enough; therefore, the fault is hers even if he is the one who consciously committed the act. See what I’m getting at here?

As a result, beauty is not only a significant factor in finding a partner, but also plays a crucial role in a woman’s supposed ability to maintain the relationship and secure her boyfriend/husband’s fidelity. This could explain why some women will continue to make painstaking efforts to look young and beautiful even in their old age. I recognize that men also go through a lot of pressure to look good in order to attract beautiful women, but once they are married they stop trying. Women, on the other hand, continue to grasp at their youth, fearing old age and the possibility that their partner will leave them for someone younger and more beautiful.

Young women will often pay for a photo shoot in order to preserve their youth and beauty.

photo credit: Fiona Cheong 

Beauty is closely related to age with many people associating youthfulness with attractiveness and fertility. As a result, there is a significant amount of pressure placed on young women to get married before they are 30 years old. The deadline to get married came up several times in conversations with buddies who also informed us that some girls will keep a “backup” boyfriend on hand so that she will have something to fall back on if she doesn’t find “Mr. Right” before she turns 30. For some people, it is better to settle than to end up a spinster (possibly for the rest of your life). However, things appear to be changing because most of the people I spoke to, both men and women, said they would prefer to wait for the right time and the right person rather than get married before 30 just because they feel they have to. It’s just as well because I turn 30 next year so hopefully this shift towards a more liberal attitude towards marriage can buy me a few more years before I earn the spinster title.

Zhang, M. (2012). A chinese beauty story: How college women in china negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(4), 437-454. doi:10.1080/17544750.2012.723387

Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. Random House.

I have no idea what this is or what it represents - only that it is awesome. 

Transformer beauty - made by staff at the Hangzhou Waste Facility using old parts of machines and dump trucks. Titled: "Nothing is impossible."

photo credit: Andrew Staples