Friday, September 16, 2005
COMMUNIST HAIRCUTS, MILITARY PROPAGANDA & MTV
After dinner, our homestay family took us around Hua Shun. We visited the Yunnan-Burmese Anti-Japanese War Museum (WWII.) Learning about how the sun and moon gloriously came together to bring great victory to the Chinese (with minimal help for the rest of the world) was interesting and quite educational. I also learned that Japanese people eat human hearts. I didn't see it when I was in Japan but that's probably because they do it behind closed doors.
All the little children have haircuts here that look very similar to an Iroquois haircut - shaved with a little circular patch in front. I went to the Communist barber - a man who was dressed as Mao dressed 40 years ago - and for $.37 I got that haircut and a shave. I've heard 3 reasons Chinese kids get this haircut. 1) Hygiene; 2) to make the kids ugly so the devil won't take them; 3) to promote wealth in the family becausae a symbol of wealth (little boy) has the same haircut.
That evening we watched a DVD of the 50th anniversary of the revolution. Chinese parading around Tian'anmen in tanks, soldiers with kalashnikovs, MiGs and warheads. Quite a spectacle. The homestay family sawe how much I liked the video and gave me a copy. I noticed on the back that it was produced with the help of MTV. Now, I knew that MTV was solely responsible for the influence of western culture on China but I didn't know they were in the business of manufacturing military propaganda., Perhaps they are so overanxious to be a part of the worlds fastest growing market that they are willing to sell their soul to do so. But honestly, would anyone expect anything less of MTV?
After dinner, our homestay family took us around Hua Shun. We visited the Yunnan-Burmese Anti-Japanese War Museum (WWII.) Learning about how the sun and moon gloriously came together to bring great victory to the Chinese (with minimal help for the rest of the world) was interesting and quite educational. I also learned that Japanese people eat human hearts. I didn't see it when I was in Japan but that's probably because they do it behind closed doors.
All the little children have haircuts here that look very similar to an Iroquois haircut - shaved with a little circular patch in front. I went to the Communist barber - a man who was dressed as Mao dressed 40 years ago - and for $.37 I got that haircut and a shave. I've heard 3 reasons Chinese kids get this haircut. 1) Hygiene; 2) to make the kids ugly so the devil won't take them; 3) to promote wealth in the family becausae a symbol of wealth (little boy) has the same haircut.
That evening we watched a DVD of the 50th anniversary of the revolution. Chinese parading around Tian'anmen in tanks, soldiers with kalashnikovs, MiGs and warheads. Quite a spectacle. The homestay family sawe how much I liked the video and gave me a copy. I noticed on the back that it was produced with the help of MTV. Now, I knew that MTV was solely responsible for the influence of western culture on China but I didn't know they were in the business of manufacturing military propaganda., Perhaps they are so overanxious to be a part of the worlds fastest growing market that they are willing to sell their soul to do so. But honestly, would anyone expect anything less of MTV?
