Mainland Chinese women have a bad reputation in Chinese communities outside of China. Sons like me were warned by our parents and relatives before coming to China to be wary of Chinese women, because they would stop at nothing to seduce us in order to get our passport and money. Shanghainese girls have the worst reputation by far and they have the special distinction of being despised by mainland Chinese as well. The women in Shanghai have a reputation for being strong mistresses and mainland Chinese sons are cautioned from courting a Shanghainese girl.
On the first night out with Californians, one of the guys stated that Shanghainese women rob men blind while also whipping them into submission. I have heard this stereotype many times, but in my opinion, it does not reflect the reality on the ground. However, when I began to reflect on my experiences in Shanghai in order to support my argument, I realized that I had no idea how things on the ground would look if the stereotype was true. With that in mind, these are some of the observations I recall.
Dr. Connery, my professor for last semester’s class on Shanghai, said that women in Shanghai have historically had more rights than other women in China and even the world. The expat book I bought mentioned that Shanghainese women are much less willing to put up with sexism at the work place. In addition, women in Shanghai occupy many more high ranking positions in corporations than many places around the world.
When I am walking around Shanghai, I often see boyfriends holding purses and shopping bags for their girlfriends. I realize that boyfriends holding shopping bags is the norm even in the states, but the same cannot be said about purse holding, though this might be some sort of Asian practice that I am not aware of.
All these previous observations might support the stereotype but it is the way that I have seen men treat women on the street that makes me think the stereotype is nothing but a sham. Right out in public, I once saw a man grab a fistful of a woman’s hair and violently shake her head around. In another scenario, while in a mall I saw a man drag a woman forcefully down an escalator. I was not the only one to have witnessed scenes of men strong arming women, when I talked to other UC students last semester, they reported seeing similar events. Women abusing men are almost never seen in Shanghai, and when it does happen it is usually just the woman publicly berating the man. I have only heard of one story where someone saw a woman hitting a man.
Such public displays of domestic abuse from men in Shanghai are the reason that I do not believe the stereotype.
-muffinman
