Looters, kneelers and the ‘Shamate’: China’s newest minorities

HOME >> CHINA

Looters, kneelers and the ‘Shamate’: China’s newest minorities

Source:Globaltimes.cn Published: 2014-2-13 20:13:00

Photo: people.com.cn	*Dama* The term dama has been popular since April 2013, when international gold prices plunged. A number of Chinese middle-aged women bought gold in vast amounts at this opportunity, which attracted the public's attention. A large number of dama are travelling all the way from China to places like Jeju Island, South Korea, and San Francisco, USA, paying in cash for property and driving up prices. Experts say this phenomenon shows the improvement of living standards in China.

Photo: people.com.cn

Dama

The term dama has been popular since April 2013, when international gold prices plunged. A number of Chinese middle-aged women bought gold in vast amounts at this opportunity, which attracted the public's attention. A large number of dama are travelling all the way from China to places like Jeju Island, South Korea, and San Francisco, USA, paying in cash for property and driving up prices. Experts say this phenomenon shows the improvement of living standards in China.

Wenzhou wizards Out of all the talent in the Chinese business world, no group enjoys a better reputation for having more market savvy than entrepreneurs from Wenzhou. From real estate to Bitcoin, businessmen from this city of around 2 million are known to make the most of the latest business boom and investment opportunity before anyone else.	Photo: nbd.com.cn

Photo: CFP	Sightseeing shoppers Chinese tourists seem to travel abroad less for the sights and more for the shopping. Chinese consumers are not only sating their appetite abroad for luxury goods, but using their purchasing power overseas to sweep up supplies of milk powder and cosmetics.

Debt dodgers It is estimated that 40 percent of SMEs in Wenzhou will have gone bankrupt or halted production by the end of 2011, with some 50 SME owners running away to avoid debt. The phenomenon is referred to as Pao lu in Chinese, or “running away from trouble.”	Photo: China.com.cn

Photo: xkb.com.cn	Youth on their knees From disgraced officials to husbands caught cheating, groveling on bended knee in public goes a long way in China. But debate has sparked online over the exact motivations of self-effacing youth who are making public spectacles - and the news - on bended knee for their parents, relatives or women in general.

Fruit looters No matter if it’s apples or oranges, finders-keepers seem to be the rule for any overturned truck carrying produce on China’s rural roads. Photos and reports of police struggling to maintain order as villagers swept up spilled fruit from tipped trucks have popped up in recent news, shocking Chinese netizens as to how fast produce disappears - if it’s free for the taking.	Photo: CFP/163.com

More in pictures
Policeman draws gun on villagers looting overturned orange truck

Photo: Beijing Evening News	Air ragers Incidents of air rage at Chinese airports are all the rage in domestic and foreign media. The idea that bad behavior caught on tape is pure Internet gold holds true as video and reports of surly Chinese passengers bullying airline crews, rushing the tarmac or opening emergency exits continue to garner clicks online.

Shamate: China’s new loser A sarcastic transliteration of the English word “smart”, the Shamate are a growing number of urban migrant youth that dress in punk and Goth-inspired clothing, outrageous rainbow-colored hairdos and heavy make-up. Largely hailing from the lower economic class and employed in unskilled jobs, their exaggerated look seems to demand attention from the fringes of society.	Photo: IC

Shamate: China’s new loser

A sarcastic transliteration of the English word “smart”, the Shamate are a growing number of urban migrant youth that dress in punk and Goth-inspired clothing, outrageous rainbow-colored hairdos and heavy make-up. Largely hailing from the lower economic class and employed in unskilled jobs, their exaggerated look seems to demand attention from the fringes of society.

Photo: IC

Related news
Fashioning China products

Web editor: pangqi@globaltimes.com.cn

Posted in: Society