The People’s Republic of Desire

3 The Chinese Feminist and the Little Duck

If Lulu is considered a white-collar woman, women like Beibei are called gold-collar. As president of Chichi Entertainment Company, Beibei is a member of China 's nouveaux riches. With an income twice that of her husband and one hundred times that of the average Chinese, Beibei drives a BMW 750. Even though it is used, it cost her more than $100,000. Imported luxury goods like cars and cosmetics are taxed almost 40 percent in China, but it doesn't stop Beibei from carrying Fendi handbags and wearing Estée Lauder makeup. Even her maids get Estée Lauder gift bags. Beibei buys her clothes only at the Scitec and World Trade malls in China. Still she complains often that the luxury brands sold in China aren't most up-to-date so she has to fly to Paris or New York to shop.

Her career success doesn't surprise me. As a matter of fact, I anticipated my friend's achievement. Among the three of us, thirty-five-year-old Beibei, granddaughter of a Chinese general, is the oldest, tallest, and most self-assured. She has always been a smart, aggressive, business-oriented go-getter, whom I admire and am disgusted by at the same time.

Beibei invites me to have dinner in the stylish and pricey Courtyard Restaurant owned by a Chinese-American lawyer near the Forbidden City. She is wearing a red dudou - baby doll clothing that shows off her belly button like Britney Spears and exposes her shoulders like Nicole Kidman. Beibei has a narrow face. She wears dark bangs that make her look much younger than she actually is. Youthfulness is worshipped in China to a ridiculous degree, and Beibei can't risk being thought of as old or out of date. Beibei's heels are dangerously high, but she never seems to have trouble navigating even the most difficult terrain. As she walks to the table, the lace of her Victoria 's Secret underwear peaks out from above her waistline.

Lulu isn't with us. She is dashing off to Tibet with her lover Ximu, whose art show will include a hundred people taking a shower in front of the Potala Palace. But she calls us long distance, "Guess what? As I'm standing right in front of the Potala Palace, I see many Tibetan protesters! They say that Ximu tries to make fun of them and perpetuate the stereotypes that Tibetans don't like to wash themselves! But come on, this is fucking art!" Her voice reveals her deep admiration for Ximu.

"I guess being controversial is what Ximu wants. We wish him good luck!" Beibei quickly hangs up the phone.

"I hate Ximu. I can't stand Lulu's obsession with him. Why is she so stupid when it comes to Ximu?" Beibei complains to me.

"Everybody has her blind spot, I guess," I say.

"Have you found out that Lulu loves to mimic George Sand?" Beibei asks me.

"You mean the feminist writer who was Chopin's lover?"

"Yes."

"But I thought Lulu was more a fan of Simone de Beauvoir and Marguerite Duras!" Lulu's love life can get confusing.

"Marguerite Duras, the author of The Lover. The woman who had a twenty-something lover when she was in her sixties? Did she smoke too?" asks Beibei.

"I can't remember, but it's very likely."

"I think Lulu picks up smoking and swearing from George Sand. But it's all on the surface. George Sand was so ahead of her time. Lulu isn't a feminist. She is still a slave of men, but I," Beibei blows a smoke ring proudly, "am the master of men."

Beibei has a tendency to put down others in order to elevate herself. She even does this to her best friends, like Lulu and me, but without evil intentions. Sometimes, she just needs to feel like a queen. Her fortune-teller says that she was a queen in her previous life, and she genuinely believes it.

Beibei has been married for seven years and has had four lovers during that time, all young guys in their twenties. They call her Big Sis. Her latest lover is called Iron Egg, a twenty-one-year-old journalist for a local tabloid. As the owner of an entertainment company, Beibei is following the new fashion of dating young studs. Hong Kong singer Faye Wong and American actress Demi Moore are her relationship role models.

"Men had legitimate lovers for thousands of years in China. They were called concubines. Why can't we women have our male concubines?" Beibei reveals a seductive smile.

Before I can say anything, she continues, "You know Western feminists have gone too far. They are men haters. I agree with them that men are jerks. You can't give up everything for them. But I don't hate men. I love being their master. It's fun!"

"How can a woman become a master of men?" I ask while sipping fresh apple juice.

"Don't believe any of that love bullshit. You have to realize that the stupidest investment in the world is an investment in love," says Beibei. "Only when you are immune from love will you have the chance to be a master." The lesson continues.

Of course, I know Beibei has no faith in love because her husband – the one they call Chairman Hua – betrayed her.

When Beibei was studying at the Central Minority Nationalities Institute, she met Hua Dabin. Because he was chairman of the students association, everybody called him Chairman Hua – after Hua Guofeng, Mao Zedong's designated successor. Hua Dabin came from Xinjiang, was tall and striking and very popular with the girls.

Beibei fell in love with Chairman Hua, and was soon living with him off-campus. This was major news that year at school – because at the time it was forbidden for college students to marry or live together. The institute almost expelled them, and only because of Beibei's family connections were they allowed to stay.

Hua majored in literary and historical archives, and after graduation it was difficult for him to find a job. The school was going to send him back to Xinjiang. It was nearly impossible for people from the outer provinces to remain in Beijing.

Beibei decided to marry him immediately. That way, he could obtain Beijing residency and stay in Beijing. Beibei also did not hesitate to use her old revolutionary grandfather to pull some strings and find Hua a job. Her grandfather had been incorruptible all his life, but he couldn't remain so in his final years, all for the sake of his much-loved granddaughter.

Hua and Beibei joined the propaganda team at a factory. Their job was to write down socialist slogans on the blackboard of the factory every day. Their salaries were low, and they had no place to live, so they had to live with Beibei's parents.

Hua was a fiercely ambitious young man, not content to live under somebody else's roof. He recognized China 's need for English-speaking businessmen and began to spend all his time studying English. He applied for the United Nations' postgraduate program held at Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and was admitted. He slaved there for three years, and during those years, Beibei worked to support them both.

After Hua graduated, he found a marketing job at Motorola China. Motorola has done well in China in the beeper and cell phone business. By 1997, Hua's monthly salary was 20,000 RMB – about $2,400 – twenty times the average salary. He bought a condo for Beibei and him. They moved out of his father-in-law's house.

As the popular Beijing saying goes, "When women turn bad, they get money; when men get money, they turn bad." The word that Chairman Hua had a lover eventually reached Beibei. She refused to believe it. She was completely loyal to Hua, and couldn't imagine that he'd betray her.

But one day she returned home early from a business trip and found the door of her apartment locked. As she stood there, perplexed, the door opened a crack, and there was Hua's startled face and stark naked body. Before either of them could say anything, a woman's voice came from the room. "Is that the food delivery? You've tired me out – I'm starving."

Beibei burst into the room, kicking over a vase and toppling a fish tank. With an explosive crash, the living room floor was covered with tropical fish, flipping all over in desperation.

Hua's lover was so scared that she started to leave the apartment, still not properly dressed. Hua held his lover by the waist. "Don't go. What can she do to us, anyway?"

With Hua's support, the naked woman sat down on the sofa, crossed her legs, produced a cigarette from somewhere, and started to smoke.

After that incident, Beibei thought of divorce. But if she divorced Hua, what would she do then? At that time, her factory was about to go bankrupt, and she needed money to be independent. She didn't want to beg her grandfather again to find her a more profitable job.

Beibei did not get divorced. Instead, the girl who had always behaved like a princess swallowed her pride. She started spending her time tracking down old contacts, and soon she was representing singers who came to Beijing to break into the big time. She founded the Chichi Entertainment Company. Nowadays, the company is one of the most powerful agencies in town. It represents the hottest bands, like Made in China, Peasants, and Central Leadership. It also brought hot international singers such as Whitney Houston and Sarah Brightman to China, which allowed Beibei to make bundles of money.

And every time there is a concert, Beibei gives Lulu and me the most expensive tickets. It's not just because we are her buddies – both Lulu and I work in the media. Beibei knows the importance of promotion and publicity.

Straightforward and outspoken, Beibei is a real sharp-tongued Beijinger. She likes to be the center of attention. This, together with her extraordinary family background, means that she has been overbearing ever since she was young.

Compared to the soft-spoken feminine Lulu, Beibei is tough and even bossy. When Lulu had her abortion after being made pregnant for the third time by the despicable Ximu, and Ximu did not once go to visit her, Beibei wanted to hire a thug to castrate him. She had even taken an exquisitely carved Tibetan knife she had brought back from Lhasa, its blade shining, and given it to the thug, hidden in an envelope. Had it not been for Lulu's repeated pleading, Ximu would have been a eunuch.

Chairman Hua has confessed to Beibei that the reason that he sought a lover in the first place was because of Beibei's temper and arrogance. Although Hua's excuse is ridiculous and self-serving, he has managed to win a lot of sympathy from other Chinese men.

"Most Chinese men don't like strong women," Beibei tells me. "They like servile women who suck up to them. But a servile woman who relies on her man financially can be miserable. No matter how much she has done for him, he will still underestimate her. If he abandons her, he'd say it's because she is too needy or not smart enough. But if she makes good money, he can't ever look down on her."

Hua treats Beibei with more respect now that she has become the breadwinner at home. "But once bitten by a snake, you don't want to even come close to a rope," says Beibei. She feels things can never be the same between them, and she no longer trusts emotions. She takes her own lovers. The couple has an open marriage.

I have met Chairman Hua a few times. His eyes are always darting back and forth, his gaze fierce. This man is too ambitious and calculating. Beibei tends to like this type of man. Her lovers are all younger versions of Hua. But I don't think ambition is a terribly attractive characteristic in a man. I'm always more attracted to gentle, laid-back men. I can't explain why. Perhaps it has to do with my Buddhist background. Or perhaps because I am short-tempered, I need a relaxed person to balance my life.

Since I returned, Beibei hangs out with Lulu and me every day, working out, having makeovers, and eating out, just as if she was as single and unattached as we are. Sometimes she brings along her sleek lover, Iron Egg. We all know that Iron Egg is a gold digger. Once Beibei complained to me, "Five thousand yuan pocket money a month is not enough for Iron Egg. He asks me to buy this and that for him all the time. He won't let me sleep with Chairman Hua. Tell me, is that Iron Egg a bastard or what!? He thinks because I'm older than him, he's getting a raw deal sleeping with me. I'm like his customer. I may as well go and find a xiao yazi - a little duck, a real gigolo. At least he would be honest about the fact that he loves my money."

Sometimes I wish Beibei would divorce Chairman Hua and marry someone she really loves. But Beibei doesn't have much confidence in men. On the surface, Beibei is cynical, but I know that she desires true love just like everybody else.

DUDOU: Sexy baby doll clothing that exposes the shoulders.

XIAO YAZI: Little duck, a gigolo or male prostitute. Because female prostitutes are called "chickens," male prostitutes become "ducks."