Searching for a Role Model

I guess I first starting wondering about this issue while I was enjoying the Shanghai Auto Show this past winter.  And now you are wondering what I was perplexed about, was it how the country can afford to have some many models of cars?  Or why there are so many car manufactures in China?  Or how can a low income economy sustain such a huge industry?  Or how is it that they have the highest number of Rolls Royces, Astin Martins, Bentleys and Ferraris?  Good guess but actually this was not high on my mind, rather it was how do they find so many very tall Chinese Models (beautiful girls).  And let me just say that there were more pictures being taken of the models than there were of the cars (by far!). 

So although I know there are millions of Chinese on the streets everyday, I have yet to see a tall woman on the street.  So I asked one of my colleagues if they were actually from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan or some other Asian country.  He let me know that China is very proud of their “Models” and that the Shanghai Motor Show was all about the Chinese Models!!  Only the Ferrari stand was allowed to have Italian girls. 

But after I obviously insulted my colleague with this question I dare not ask where they grow them this tall.  Well they actually  borrowed a system from the Japanese.  Yes the Sumu wrestler system.  Now the two couldn’t look any more different but actually the methods are similar.  So come to find out, the girls are identified at and early age for their beauty and for their apparent capability of growing tall and are “Breed” this way.  Now as you can imagine, things can change so the Chinese have invented a procedure to cope with that as well.  Believe it or not, they have invented a surgery just for this purpose.  If you are a bit queasy then stop reading now.  They actually go in and saw the leg bones apart being careful not to cut into the bone marrow and then add steel “stretchers” to their legs and continue to pull the bones apart as the bone re-heals.  This can add as much as 4 inches to their height and is becoming a popular elective surgery.  So why are the tall girls preferred?  I think it is that the Chinese culture tries to model itself after the US culture in many ways and this is one of them.  They like the look of the tall American models but they prefer the Chinese culture, therefore there is a growing demand for this “LOOK” in a Chinese model. 

This type of surgery is gaining in popularity, and cosmetic surgery is becoming more popular as the middle class emerges.  The most popular cosmetic surgery is the Eye Lift, giving their eyes more of a American/ European look; this is followed by the nose lift and then by the breast augmentation.  I guess this should not be surprising but I must say I WAS SHOCKED!

So I think we all know that the Chinese are great at copying most everything but I never really thought that they would go this far!   I must say that it is very interesting to watch the culture grow at an alarming rate.  I guess if we were in their position and had the means to grow at such a fast pace and really did not know how to do I,t then we too would probably start off by copying the traditions of others.  They should be able to pick the good things of each culture and establish themselves as the best of everything but I see that they want to grow big overnight and that mean cutting corners (I eluded to this issue in my previous blog entries).  So as they continue to “SEARCH FOR A ROLE MODEL” I am sure we will see them slowly loose their own Chinese culture as they scramble for success but I just hope one day that they look back, remember who they were, and where they came from and restore some of the great things about the Chinese Heritage.  The one thing that I hope they do not loose is the “FAMILY”.  Today it really is the most important thing and even if they have nothing they are happy because the family is strong.