Due to my crippling fear and loathing of technology, I’m not normally one to geek out about web design. The bloc site We Live in Beijing, however, has a cool, eye-catching layout and a multi-functionality that combines elements of facebook (may we who live in China continue to mourn this loss…), twitter, and any clever news and events source. The site contains especially great previews and reviews of the Beijing music scene, as well as pithy little articles on dating, travel, sex, and all that makes up Beijing life.
Fuck yeah! These guys are all over the China music scene…I have no idea who they are!
While the site is funny and informative and helmed by style-conscious Norwegians, does somehow lend itself to certain stalkerish habits.
As much as we facebook-stalkers of bygone days might have longed for the ability to see who’s been visiting our profile…be careful what you wish for. On weliveinbeijing.com, a member can not only see who’s been visiting their profile of late, but also what any given member is currently doing. If Klaus is looking at Zhang Wei’s profile, I know. If Ning is contributing to a forum entitled “Don’t Marry a Foreign Man,” I know. This is weird and awkward, but just seems to just encapsulate a larger truth about life and love in Beijing: this is a city of creepsters.
Within the expat community, it kind of makes sense. When you have people coming from all directions and cultural backgrounds, you’re going to get some signals mixed and some wires crossed when it comes to communication between and among the sexes. But…also, this seems to be a breeding ground for desperate, tactless losers. New York is not exactly a cathedral of chastity, but I’ve never felt so grossed out when I go out to bars and such. Men have no problem eyeballing you in a way that’s not exactly, um, subtle, saying totally inappropriate shit, and touching you within minutes of meeting you. Mostly it’s harmless and non-aggressive, but sometimes it’s best to signal your friends, do the Wolverine thing with your keys between your fingers, and grab a cab.
I’m not trying to be a puritan here, but the extremely explicit advances and general forwardness, excessive hair gel use, and Chinese dudes’ totally unironic use of the phrase “baby girl, I wanna get wit you” has caught me a bit off guard. (Maybe I’m just used to hanging out with socially-idiotic hipsters for whom eye contact is a notch too intense for bar banter.) To address the social networking thing again, I’ve only just joined weliveinbeijing, but I already have a mailbox full of totally weird messages from men I have never met, none of whom feel compelled to actually spell out the incredibly complicated and lengthy word Y-O-U. From the fairly innocent (What u do? Where u frum, girl?) to the more forward, (”i wish to know u better and be a good friend. you feel it. i feel u. give me cell phone.”…On this one, I couldn’t tell if this person wanted to have sex with me or steal my cell phone.), to the plain inexplicable (”u have a good profile. i like ur name. it mean tree.”) I am fairly certain that there is no language in the world in which my name means “tree,” but that’s one way to get a girl’s attention…
Of course, not all of Beijing is swarming with creepsters, but there’s a fair bundle in the land of of the 10 kuai beer, uninhibited nightlife, and social networking that practically begs you to stalk other people. Until I figure this out, I’ll be going out in my habit, Wolverine costume, and telling all inquiring minds that my name is Tree.
This entry was written by , posted on October 8, 2009 at 11:07 pm, filed under Uncategorized, adventures, beijing, chinese and tagged creeps, dating, facebook, trees, weliveinbeijing.com. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.