While I was having dinner with friends, this topic came up
to me as my friends are going to Europe for a holiday and was planning on what
to buy. Of course it would be those luxurious brands. Well people would rather
buy in Europe as it is cheaper compared to Malaysia! Besides that, they were
saying chinese from China were the tourist spot in Europe and they buy A LOT!
Here’s the thing…
Luxury is a necessity in mainland China and motivations are
based on functional utilities. It is true that Chinese from China has a
powerful demand on luxurious item as they have the money to spend. Sociologists
suggest that an increase in social capital boosts people make self-distinction.
China has a big social class gap between the rich and poor. Rich people tend to
be super rich while the poor are super poor. After the implementation of
opening and reform policies in 1978, China’s economy moved from being centrally
planned to market-oriented. Private sector began to flourish. People had
different rates of increase of social capital, such as personal wealth,
education resources and family resources. The needs of social distinction
change social structures from a flat equal system to a vertical distinctive
system. One of the ways to differentiate oneself in society was through luxury
consumption for its rareness and superiority. However, sorry to say that majority
of the Chinese are rude, just not because they are born like that but they are
not being taught to be courteous.
While I was scrolling on Facebook, this article from bbc.com
about social etiquette came to my attention and how it has become a STATUS
SYMBOL. So now, even though you own a designer bags, fancy watches, jewellery, cars
etc, all of that don’t matter anymore( perhaps we still need a few as self
reward or self accomplishment) but it's now all about how you behave!
The article was about how China people behave. My friends
visited China before and he said it was normal to talk loud in the public. So,
they acted like a Chinese gangster-like throughout the holiday trip shouting in
the mall like nobody’s business.. lol.. Nobody would ever think you’re psychotic.
Fyi, if u acted like a very civil person, those local Chinese will bully you as
an outsiders. Another thing is mostly all of them having a luxury item on hand.
Can u imagine, the basic sales promoter in mall carrying an LV? For them, they
would save months to own one. (*die die also need one) But yet, I wouldn’t
confirm whether it’s authentic or not but still they are using luxurious brand
as a status symbol. For a girl like me, I would have think an average class people
carrying an LV, what about those rich ones. They would have opt for Hermes! Even
in KL, I saw some carrying a Hermes already.
But here’s the thing, good manners plays an important role. If
you don’t have manners, it would ruin your image and reputation even though you’re
carrying a Hermes. People would think
that, that luxurious brand that you’re carrying doesn’t suit your attitude at
all.
# MANNERS MAKETH MAN -Harry-
‘MANNERS MAKETH MAN’ which got me inspired from the
Kingsman movie *btw great movie. In China, there are now classes that teaches
you how to behave well to help improve your business, especially for the
nouveau riche, or to prepare you for
holidays overseas so that you won't embarrass yourself for being rude inside
the luxurious shops like pasar malam. They will teach you about how to
raise your children, proper table manners on how to sit, how low can you bend,
how not to break the wine glass if you are about to make a speech and how to
pronounce luxury brands so that you won't embarrass yourself. Yes, I must learn
to pronounce it right too, not only those Chinese. I myself think that, we must
learn more and upgrade ourselves from time to time. There many to learn,
including things like which fork to use for which food *especially fine dining
where I always mistakenly use the wrong one! There would be 3 forks if not
mistaken and spoons and all are for different type of food.
It is great that China now has this kind of class, to help
educate people about manners. I hope Malaysia would come up with this concept
too as not everybody knows which forks and knife to use during fine dining as
they come in a few sizes! *typical Malaysian, just joking=)
