June 19, 2018

"Yang [Bingyang] has developed a panoply of pseudoscientific theories that she claims are guaranteed secrets to success in the marriage market."

Writes Wang Qianning in "Ayawawa, Wang Ju, and China’s Confusing Female Role Models/Complex and contradictory images of women allow a hyper-conservative relationship guru to exist alongside an empowered, independent pop" at Sixth Tone.
Most of her advice equates happy marriages with material comfort.... Yang advises women to dress and act conservatively so that their male partners don’t feel insecure or threatened by perceived public displays of sexuality. She also says that women should not aspire toward conventionally attractive husbands... She encourages women to find themselves a man who will buy them a home and spend money on them. In her world, a man’s wealth and drive outweigh the need for him to be attractive and kind....

Yang is so influential in China because she has exploited the shallow opportunism of the country’s marriage culture.... Yang’s adherents argue for a hyper-practical view of marriage built around transactional relationships between husbands and wives. But they are not representative of Chinese society as a whole...

During the most recent season of the online girl group show 'Produce 101,' a 25-year-old contestant named Wang Ju became the poster girl for this emergent movement.... On a recent episode of 'Produce 101,' Wang made an impassioned speech in favor of female independence. Meanwhile, several old photos of her appeared on the screen, showing how she used to look. The long hair, white skin, slender frame, and a fresh-faced, wholesome appearance were every inch the romantic ideals of most Chinese men. In her monologue, Wang said that despite the fact that she now looks 'unconventional' by Chinese beauty standards, she loves herself more the way she is now....

As Wang sang in a recent rap, riffing on another female icon, Beyoncé: 'You don’t have to put a ring on me, I can buy my own.'"

39 comments:

David Begley said...

Rap has invaded China? Can Jay-Z move there? Like forever?

I'm surprised the Commie overlords allowed it. Probably a bread and circuses thing.

buwaya said...

If you are concerned about the rise of Chinese power, then you should be cheered by such feminists as Wang Ju.

Thats a start in the society-destroying road to decadence.

Its no coincidence that a consistent feature of failing Chinese dynasties was rule by dowager empresses - and corrupt eunuchs.

Fernandinande said...

Yang Bingyang love you long time!

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

buwaya said...
Thats a start in the society-destroying road to decadence.


You could just give everyone a BMW to finish the job.

gspencer said...

"She encourages women to find themselves a man who will buy them a home and spend money on them. In her world, a man’s wealth and drive outweigh the need for him to be attractive and kind."

There was a really terrific James Bond film in the mid-'60s about just such a girl. And because there are so many females who aspire to this end, the movie was a smash hit. Called "Gold Digger."

buwaya said...

A large number of them will have BMW's no doubt.
There are always plenty of very wealthy people around, when the fall begins.
Also a lesson in the cycles of Chinese history.

Anonymous said...

"As Wang sang in a recent rap, riffing on another female icon, Beyoncé: 'You don’t have to put a ring on me, I can buy my own.'"

The SJWs may have a point about the evils of cultural appropriation after all.

Bay Area Guy said...

I don't know about Yang Bingyang's panoply of pseudoscientific theories that claims guaranteed success in marriage, but I have one: daily Blow Jobs!

Sebastian said...

Meanwhile, the real gender problem in China is the male surplus.

buwaya said...

The US has a considerable "male surplus" also.
This is not just a matter of physical numbers, but of availability of women to the "surplus". A male surplus can be created by culture as well.

Without a cultural convention of near-universal monogamous marriage you have a large number of single women pursuing a smaller number of desirable males, cutting out a large male surplus. The US situation is of large numbers of single but unavailable women.

damikesc said...

Why is "be nice" such a bizarre concept for these experts?

buwaya said...

Nice guys finish last.
Or, perhaps, nice guys are those who can afford to be.
I have "nice guy" privilege.
I could always afford to be "nice".
What truths lie beneath "nice"?

The Drill SGT said...

" In her world, a man’s wealth and drive outweigh the need for him to be attractive and kind...."

"an ugly man is an ugly man, but an ugly rich man is a rich man"

damikesc said...

I mean for women. A nice woman is eminently marriage material.

PM said...

Has a responsible father ever not asked the man who wants to marry his daughter if he has the wherewithall to provide a good home?

Infinite Monkeys said...

"As Wang sang in a recent rap, riffing on another female icon, Beyoncé: 'You don’t have to put a ring on me, I can buy my own.'""

Miss A in Korea did the "you don't have to buy it for me, I can buy my own" already - I Don't Need a Man

n.n said...

Sperm banks and Planned Parenthood for the female chauvinists.

Womb banks and Planned Parenthood for the male chauvinists.

Invest in Planned Parenthood futures (i.e. Posterity). Where one-child failed, selective-child will be profitable.

Immigration reform to compensate. Taxable commodities for politicians and businesses.

YoungHegelian said...

The problem with a woman being so amoral & utilitarian about her matrimonial intentions (e.g. "Say It Loud -- I'm a Greedy Bitch & Proud!") is that it mutually absolves her future husband from any moral obligations towards her. How's that gonna work long term?

When she gets older & little saggier than she used to be, well, he's still rich. Why shouldn't he just kick her to the curb & find a younger greedy bitch? After all, she's had her turn at the trough.

There's a reason marriage vows include all that booyah about having, holding, forsaking all others, in sickness & in health, etc. It's because it's what works in the long term. One day she's going to be old & one day she's going to get sick. Going through the inevitable decline with someone who truly loves you can do wonders to make the unbearable bearable. Telling a guy right up front that you think he's an ATM with feet isn't a way to build that true love.

buwaya said...

Utilitarianism like this is extremely Chinese, or rather extremely Chinese-peasant.
Romance was upper-class.

n.n said...

Where one-child failed, a voluntary selective-child will succeed. The communists need uncommitted, unreconciled, taxable commodities to drive their progressive leap.

Balfegor said...

Re: Infinite Monkeys:

Miss A in Korea did the "you don't have to buy it for me, I can buy my own" already - I Don't Need a Man

Korea has the one of the lowest fertility rates in the entire industrialised world:

The total fertility rate -- the average number of children born to a woman aged between 15 and 49 over her lifetime -- fell to 1.05, according to figures released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday.

The rate is not only below the OECD average of 1.68 (as of 2015), but also those of Japan (1.46) and Singapore (1.24). Only Taiwan (0.89 as of 2010) and Hong Kong have lower total fertility rates.


~2.1 is the replacement rate.

James K said...

She encourages women to find themselves a man who will buy them a home and spend money on them. In her world, a man’s wealth and drive outweigh the need for him to be attractive and kind.

This is "her world"? It's near universal. Even high-income professional women prefer successful men to handsome truck drivers.

daskol said...

Isn't it acceptable for a well-off man to take a mistress in China? There's no reason to discard even a utilitarian wife in such a place. An older wife, unless a shrew, could be useful still. Romance, or eros anyway, with mistress. Mutually utilitarian arrangements are a lot like friendship except explicitly so. Foreign and strange in the west perhaps but I can see the sense in it.

Balfegor said...

Re: buwaya:

Utilitarianism like this is extremely Chinese, or rather extremely Chinese-peasant.
Romance was upper-class.


Was it, though? I think elite opinion on that sort of romantic attachment was skeptical.
The Xuanzong emperor dearly loved consort Yang (Yang Guifei), but the court disapproved of this attachment. As they fled An Lushan's rebel forces, his guards forced him to approve her execution. She never became Empress. The Wanli emperor loved consort Zheng, but the civil service blocked him from promoting her to Empress, and also blocked him from promoting her son to crown prince. In a huff, the Emperor began withholding imperial assent from edicts and rescripts prepared by the civil service. These emperors were criticised for their romantic attachments. In fiction, Jia Baoyu may have a romance with Lin Daiyu, but he sensibly married Xue Baochai instead.

madAsHell said...

What's next? Wasted votes, and efficiency gaps?

readering said...

To think, but for crazy, homicidal Kim family these could be the problems of North Korean women. But KJU more popular than Pelosi?

Balfegor said...

I'm honestly surprised that Yang Bingyang (杨冰阳) is still around talking, given the comfort women thing. Here's an article describing what she said:

The controversial remarks were given by Yang in a class she taught. In an attempt to explain why women are born with more “gender advantages” than men, Yang asked her students to imagine being Chinese comfort women who were forced to provide sex services to the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

“Do you think they are really miserable? Have you thought of men during that period of time? Many of them got killed during the war, but women managed to survive,” Yang said. “So you see, girls still have gender advantages during wartime. As long as you can exploit the advantages based on your gender, the benefits are beyond measure.”


If you said something like that in Korea, you'd get beaten up. Of course, in China, there were atrocities that so far exceeded the use of comfort women in horror and awfulness, so it probably doesn't have the same resonance as in Korea, where forcing women into prostitution is, if not the worst thing the Japanese did, pretty close (there were a couple of massacres around the March 1 movement in 1919, and they "assisted" the late Chosun government in eradicating the "Righteous Armies" roving around the country in the late 19th century. But nothing remotely comparable to the Rape of Nanking or, for that matter, the mass executions and reprisals carried out by both the North and the South in advance of and during the Korean War.)

On a lighter note, Wang Ju is 王菊, for anyone searching for her.

BUMBLE BEE said...

AND JIMMY SOUL SANG:
But if you make an ugly woman your wife
You'll be happy for the rest of your life
An ugly woman cooks meals on time
And she'll always give you peace of mind

buwaya said...

But China does not lack a romantic sensibility.
There is, after all, the "Dream of the Red Chamber".

Balfegor said...

Re: buwaya:

But China does not lack a romantic sensibility.
There is, after all, the "Dream of the Red Chamber".


Yes, that's the Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai I was talking about. I mean, the Dream of the Red Chamber has romance, sure, but it's full of cautionary notes about, you know, not falling too deeply in love. Or lust, at least, like Jia Rui, who falls ill and dies after Wang Xifeng toys with his affections.

PM said...

James K: "Even high-income professional women prefer successful men to handsome truck drivers."

Perhaps, but the second husband is usually a contractor.

daskol said...

I think the happiest guy I know runs the auto body shop in my neighborhood. He loves cars and works on them all day. There's no shortage of business, and he's always been completely scrupulous with me on both the insurance and uncovered work he's done. His wife is sweet and keeps the books for him. There are pictures of his happy looking kids in the office, and she loves to talk about them if I inquire. They have a large, friendly and almost serene dog in the shop. I get angry when I discover that someone has damaged my car, which happens 2-3 times a year (street parking in Brooklyn). But I'm always in a good mood after I leave Chris' shop.

Bob Loblaw said...

When I'm with a woman like this I prefer to pay by the hour.

n.n said...

Normalize Yang. Tolerate Wang. It's for the children and human relations.

daskol said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daskol said...

I'm going to try to find a way to ask her, next time I'm in there, how she and Chris got together. They're from Poland and have been here around 20 years. She might have good marriage advice. She's given me terrific advice before like "don't you want to take your sunglasses?" and "if you want us to fix that other thing now we can put it on the insurance bill." Wonder what she thinks about how one hunts husbands. She has a couple daughters, one very pretty, so maybe should start by asking what she tells them. Professional advisors sell advice. Most valuable advice I've gotten has been free of charge.

daskol said...

Yes, n.n. I think that's implied. Rich man is good for your kids. Evolutionary motive doesn't need mentioning in that society. She may be on to something. Maybe she's the Jordan Peterson of the Chinese Marriage Market. That's a strange market.

n.n said...

daskol:

Actually, I agree and disagree with both of them. Reconciliation is a hard, but not wicked problem, and requires a man and a woman to strive. My concept of men and women is equal in rights and complementary in Nature, where couples are a synthesis of the individuals.

daskol said...

That is a very beautiful, very Western conception, and I share it. She's Chinese. They're different. Hers may be just as beautiful to Chinese. That's all I'm saying. I like your conception, and mine, much better, of course. But per buwaya, her audience is "peasant Chinese," or common Chinese, and I think she's just trying to help. Like Jordan Peterson.