Thanks to WeChat (China's hottest
social media) and a fairly decent grasp of written Chinese, my eyes
have been opened to a whole new world of insights. I can't help but
want to share some of them because they really shed light on Chinese
pop culture.
I recently wrote a post about Chinese
beauty standards. In that post, I explained the different tiers of
women based on weight and one of the Chinese words within the
original post that I struggled to translate was diǎosī (屌丝).
There are some similar terms in English used to describe a certain subset of the underclass
such as redneck (in the US), chav (UK), and bogan (Oz), but none of
these words exactly capture the essence of what a diǎosī exactly
is. I tried asking Ming, but being the old man that he is, he didn't
even understand what it meant in Chinese, let alone how to translate
it into English. I guess I should cut him some slack because it took
me a while to figure out what twerking and catfish meant. Once out of
high school, slang is a tricky thing to keep up with.
Diǎosī is a fairly new word in the
Chinese lexicon and keeps popping up all over the internet. Today I
was finally able to get a better grasp on the word, thanks to a
friend's post on WeChat. I realized that Ming and I are both very
much diǎosī, Chinese rednecks, by the standards outlined in said
post. Check out if you match any of the criteria (translated into
English below):
 |
| Illustration of two diaosi. photo via weixin |
For men:
1. Your entire wardrobe costs less than
1000 RMB (US$150).
2. You only drink baijiu (Chinese
liquor made from sorgum) or beer.
3. You wear clothes from 361 degrees or
Jeanswest (Chinese brands a step below their foreign equivalents of
Adidas or The Gap).
4. You had less than three girlfriends
before getting married.
5. You drink Kangshifu (ordinary
Chinese brand) green tea.
6. Your annual bonus is less than
10,000 RMB (US$1500).
7. Your cigarettes cost less than 20
RMB (US$3.50) a pack.
8. Your car cost less than 100,000 RMB
(US$15,000).
9. You haven't taken a real vacation in
several years.
10. Your shoes cost less than 800 RMB
(US$130).
For women:
1. You haven't changed your hairstyle
in the last 6 months.
2. You have a resting bitch face (don't
dare give a sexy pout).
3. You've never bought a bikini.
4. You don't wear sparkly nail polish.
5. You don't wear matching panty sets.
6. You've been struggling to diet for
the past five months.
7. You like to walk behind your man(?).
8. You don't like looking in the
mirror.
9. You don't wear shoes with more than
a 5 cm (2 inch) heel.
According to this list, many people I
know, both foreign and Chinese, are diǎosī. It seems to encapsulate
your run-of-the-mill middle class adult. I do find it interesting
that men's standards focus on finance and women's more on appearance.
However, I don't find being a diǎosī anything to be ashamed of. I
guess I could make more effort to be more of a girly girl and have my
under garments match, but now that I'm in my 30's my sparkling nail
polish days are over.
The good news, even if you are a
Chinese redneck, you probably aren't an American one. The checklist
for that is much harder for the average person to accomplish (and to
understand, for that matter).
Are you a diǎosī (Chinese
redneck)? Do you have a similar term where you are from? Do you find
this kind of thing offensive or funny?
3 comments:
A very interesting post!! In Taiwan most women (and men, too) try to stay as white as possible. It is a status thing as well. White skin signifies that you have an office job and are not a laborer. I know some of my friends wear gloves, jackets, and facemasks during the summer just to keep their skin as white as possible. Is it the same in China as well?
I have always translated diaosi as loser (well, translated in my mind, not on any document haha). I guess by Chinese standards, not earning enough money (for men) and not being beautiful enough (for women) does mean being a loser.
Anyway, I think diaosi refers more to 20 something year old people, we don't have to worry too much about fitting in the category :D
Have you watched 屌丝男士？
@Constance, yes, white is definitely good, especially for females.
@Marta, yes, loser might hit the mark better. I listened to a chinesepod cast and they discussed diaosi. I think that was one of the words that came up. It's interesting because the financial standard set for men is kind of ridiculous, even for those out of there 20's.
Post a Comment