As Coca Cola replaces bottled yogurt at many street vendors' stalls in Beijing, it is getting harder for Chinese people to stick to things that distinguish them from people of other countries. However, Popcorn, an innovative group focusing on publishing projects, has offered some interesting insights in their newly published English book, Chinese Stuff.
On the front cover, four items are pictured: the golden piggy bank, the Erguotou (a strong liquor favored by Beijingers), the green Liberation Shoes once worn by almost every Chinese person, and the spittoon that was seen as Chairman Mao met foreign leaders.
These are examples of the more than 100 things listed in the book that take the reader into the home of any common Chinese family - and even into the bedroom and bathroom.
These items are so common in the daily life of Chinese people that they are usually given little attention. But when people observe them from a different cultural perspective, the common "Chinese stuff" suddenly becomes fascinating.
The plastic bag with red, blue and white stripes, for example, is used widely in China. Many migrant workers will carry their quilts and clothes in such bags on the long trip home before the Spring Festival. However, when Louis Vuitton introduced a luxury handbag last year with exactly the same pattern, many Chinese could hardly associate it with a world-famous fashion brand.
"We have abstracted their Chinese things from their settings, so we could dig out their structural meaning and cultural context," says Wu Xuefu, a representative of Popcorn.
Well, if you are tired of being lectured about the long history and grand achievements of China, this book offers a fun micro-perspective that could lead to surprising discoveries. Liu Jun
