IKEA: Beijing China’s Playground
The LA Times had an article recently that’s worth checking out: Beijing loves IKEA — but not for shopping. It highlight some of the differences between Chinese and American culture, where malls are places to play rather than shop, and the wonders of a Swedish furniture store are more like Disneyland than a foreign K-Mart.
Every weekend, thousands of looky-loos pour into the massive showroom to use the displays. Some hop into bed, slide under the covers and sneak a nap; others bring cameras and pose with the decor. Families while away the afternoon in the store for no other reason than to enjoy the air conditioning.
Purchasing anything at Yi Jia, as the store is called here, can seem like an afterthought. “It’s the only big store in Beijing where a security guard doesn’t stop you from taking a picture,” said Jing Bo, 30, who was looking for promising backdrops for a photograph of his girlfriend.
In the IKEA at the West Edmonton Mall in Canada I fondly recall a ball playpen where children could be left unattended (well supervised by IKEA personnel) until their parents returned from shopping. In China, IKEA itself is the playground.
China Mobile Bans Sexy Texting
The popular US sport of sexting is becoming illegal in China, with Henan province instituting harsh penalties of 10 days in jail and a fine of 500 yuan. According to Penalties ordered for dirty texting in China Daily, the new law is to curb text message spam, banning “sending an erotic, insulting or threatening messages, which interrupt receivers’ normal lives.” Zhang Kai, 26, was quoted as being pro the measure:
“I’m totally for the rules. It’s uncomfortable to get dirty text messages from male friends and even more gross when they are from strangers. But I’ll take them as jokes and reply if they are from my female friends.”
Members of the communist party in Shenze country in Hebei have been diligent in stamping out ‘inappropriate’ text messages:
“Obscene information not only harms the people’s soul but harms the people’s morality as well,” it quoted the party rule as saying. Since July 10, Shenze party officials have held 480 meetings to discuss the harmful effects of obscene messages.
In the United States of America, sexual harassment via text message (or any other method) is already illegal, because it’s harassment. So, a law specific to the deliver of the harassment is not necessary. However, if in China text message spam is growing problem (as say MSN spam is here), then something like this would be useful in shutting down mass spam enterprises.
