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August 21 Bangkok Tattoo因了涉嫌杀害6岁小美后的凶嫌卡尔的缘故，曼谷频繁在媒体曝光。这两天，曼谷的变性手术医生、整容医生又接二连三站出来，借卡尔大作广告。 并不想对曼谷以及其性文化妄加评论。只是马克同志知道我曾去曼谷旅游，因此把我当成了专家，问这问那。天哪，我只记得泰国的菜好吃，看那些变性人表演的事情，早就被我有选择性地忘记了。 可能为了“find truth from fiction”，马克同志买了《Bangkok Tattoo》。这是我们喜欢的一部小说《Bangkok 8》的续集。作者是英国人John Burdett，曾在香港作律师多年。他的《The Last Six Million Seconds》讲述了香港回归中国600万秒之前发生的一个血腥罪案。这位老兄很擅长将东西方文化哲学融合在一起，特别是佛教顿悟和生死轮回之说贯穿错综迷离的凶杀案，我读了轻轻一笑了之，像马克同志这样的西方脑筋则觉得“博大精深”。 买了《Bangkok Tattoo》之后，马克同志一口气读到第15章。之后被我抢过来，本来说等我读到第15章，我们可以一起看。但这两天他又“要案”缠身，而且，小说真的不好两个人一起品味，我就后来者居上，已经啃了一半。别的不说了，但从这一点，你就知道这本书好看：因为自从本小姐做妈妈后，看书还很少能看完前两章的。 话说回来，如果不想对泰国性产业作社会学研究，读读这两本小说，包你对曼谷的水深火热了解一二。 July 12 The Turtles-hai gui and tu bieJianying Zha depicted an interesting couple-"China's best-know real-estate moguls" Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi in her article "The Turtles" which appeared at the recent issue (July 11&18) of New Yorker. The success story of the couple, co-CEOs of the very prominent real-estate developer SOHO China, is heralded as "East meets West".
In her article, Zha says "The image that often arises when people speak of Pan and Zhang is that a pair of turtles. In China, people like Zhang, who have spent time in the West, are known as hai gui-a pun on 'sea turtle' and 'returnee from the sea'. As the Chinese economy has become more integrated into the global market, ha gui have grown numerous. By contrast, people like Pan are represented by tu bie, the local turtles. The hai gui are valued for their international perspective; the tu bie are the ones that know how to get things done....."
To some extent, Zha succeeded in conveying the ideal of "East meets West" by giving equal weight to Zhang and Pan's background and their roles in developing real estate, highlighting their international-ness and local-ness. Zhang's parents immigrated back to China from Burma. She worked in Hong Kong before and after she got her higher education in UK. She worked for a foreign investment bank until she married Pan. On the contrary, Pan is from a rural Gansu peasant family. He went to college at a Beijing suburban school. He worked as a civil servants in Beijing and later became an entrepreneur in Hainan. Zhang speaks fluent English and knows how to get foreign capital and talents. Pan on the other hand, knows how to deal with local governments and "get things done". But in the meantime, there is certainly friction when "East meets West". The couple's marriage almost fell apart because of different ideals and values. My sense is that hai gui Zhang is more like a decoration to her husband Pan. This is reflected in her own frustration. When being asked whether she had to make accommodations after she returned to China, she said:" Yes. As a matter of fact, for a very long time I was basically shedding baggage I carried back from abroad. I had to de-educate myself."
This is an exacting description of most hai gui feel about readjusting in the Chinese society and culture. Still, being a hai gui indicates you are somewhat accomplished and respected. Imagine being a hai dai (seaweed, also returnee from overseas waiting for hiring) May 20 LiliCould not put down the book Lili until I finished it. First picked the book because of the author Annie Wang (Wang Rui). She is my former People's Daily's colleagues' daughter. I heard about her long time ago. But never really thought highly of her. You know, her parents are PD staff, it is no surprise she starts writing early and gets good publicity. I heard she attended People's University for a year or so, and applied UC Berkeley. She finished her college education there in three years, majored in literature (?). She worked for State Department as a contracted translator for a while. I believe she has moved to Hong Kong, splitting her time among Hong Kong, Beijing and California. |
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