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there's a lot that's familiar in this excellent @1843mag piece on models, money, access, and the global rich from China business, but I wanted to single out one bit in particular. https://www.1843magazine.com/1843/the-economics-of-fun/the-secret-economics-of-a-vip-party
"Getting access to the kind of circles where you might find a serious investor, for example, is almost impossible if you don’t display the right markers of education and upbringing. Young women who weren’t born into the elite appreciated the fact that, by hanging out in vip areas
they were able to hear what books or news stories rich people were talking about, and recognise high-end brands, food and wines. Learning the codes of elite consumer culture, they reckoned, was important, even if they were vague on how it might be of practical use."
so, this also happens in China, but, IME, it's *more successful* than it is in the West, and more people are able to make that leap. Why? Because *the people they're trying to emulate* didn't grow up in that world either, and so the barriers are much thinner.
It's much easier for a KTV girl from Sichuan to transform herself into the kind of person accepted by businessmen when the businessmen themselves were once peasant kids or street vendors.
Now, as generational wealth entrenches in China, that will change. The class and wealth markers will become more ingrained, and harder to emulate when coming at them from the outside. Already visible with the 富二代, by the time you get to 富三代 will be much stronger.
this bit also ran true for multiple reasons
"Women also thought the social ties – the connections with successful men – would turn out to be valuable. Penny, a model and actor from London who went out with promoters regularly in New York
"Women also thought the social ties – the connections with successful men – would turn out to be valuable. Penny, a model and actor from London who went out with promoters regularly in New York
, explained, “Yeah, I’ve met like movie directors [and] stuff like that. And if you know them and keep in contact with them, it’s a beneficial thing for you.”
“Does that actually work?” I asked.
“You never know,” she replied."
“Does that actually work?” I asked.
“You never know,” she replied."
lots of unpleasant social actions in China were justified by people I interviewed as being necessary for 'trust' or 'connections,' but when pressed they'd admit that the system didn't actually really work, or was just based on hope
