CHINA’S CABARET GIRLS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1930, Page 3

CHINA’S CABARET GIRLS

ißv Sir Percival Phillips in “Daily Mail.”)

i nter China’s latest symbol of new a.imiiuism —..nu caoarei girl, florin

..iK wic ctmiiVi industry was a kind o. . ussnui niuiiupoly. Refugees, near refugees, and iimiatmn reiugees flocked i .u u from .Manchuria to entertain tin fritting population of the Treaty ’oits, with Shanghai as their ultimate goal.

This Jix-less city opened wide the night to their really decorous activities. They included young girls, mothers working to support a fatherless family and even grand mothers who fought time with rogue and lipstick and kept young their feet. Thcv lived in community ‘fashion in flats er boarding houses, and the cabaret portion of. ♦bob- u VOS) a t least, was beyond reproach.

Vi--,- them -< vv p'-'T+enoe is threatened by the Chinese cabaret girl, whoso growing: has nut several of the most onpular European resorts out

of business and transformed others into fpjKh'rvous for young bureaucrats f- r the Var'- : n" f!>••vorement. Tt is tho 'hi story of hopeless competition

against cheap labour. The Chinese cabaret girl requires only a bowl of rice and. some gherkins for her midngdit. snnno". while tho European par 1 must have European food. The Chinpso "T,-’ dresses more oheaplv; although o s' effectively, in an. exotic way, and her dances cost less. Clr-4 1 i- ardde-lenortb brocade of a eolour that would defeat anv other tyre of r erfiale she is a striking and attractive figure. ‘she wears a I’tt'e, tighteg bodice, her slender neck is encased in a lrgh stiff collar of the same nv'+nidnl and her sleek bln'’ 1 ' hair is

rushed hack severely from her graceful head She sits demurelv on her side elf the room awaiting the call t’o dance, and returns with a pn’m “keep-vour-d’stanee” how when t'm mii«lc stops. Fome of them wear sheathl’ke dresses of shimmering silver material, others are all bine and gohl, or affeet colour schemes in mauve, or purple or violet. All of them are very voung. They dance well, as indeed they should, for they spend much of tliejr “off” time taking lessons from their rivals, the Russian professionals, who are glad to ek" out a dwindling income by acting as instructresses. One of the largest cabaret-dance resorts where formerly from thirty to fifty Russian girls danced nightly, is now almost wholly Chinese, On one aide of the long room sat more than forty of them. Onnosite were the forlorn remnants of the old Russian brigade—seven sad and anxious-eyed women in rather pathetic versions of evening dress. Although they'.had cut their “fee” from 50 cents (a little over, a shilling) to 30 cents a dance, they were hardly ever taken on to the ; floor.

Another once popular European cabaret. the Plaza, where excellent Russian ballets and costume dances, drew nmnv dinner parties nightly, is now the “Silver Dragon,” an all-Chinese resort.. There are 60 Chinese cabarets in fuO swing to-day as aginst three 18 months ago. T?<e patrons of the new type of dancehall are curious specimens of the Westernised student. Many are cival officials of the Nationalist Government. They flock down from Nanking for .the week-end in the International Settlement, wearing weird plus fours, or exaggerated tweed suits, usually rounded off by a flaming tie and horn-rimm-ed spectacles. They came in parties, like the Westerners, frequently with women of their own race and type who are hardly less emphatic in their determination to be European and not Chinese. There are “advanced” girls of the “batchelor” species, trying to wear sports clothes with an aggressive lv mannish air, and smoking cigarettes through long holders. I Have even seen thorn with a rnonocole.

These products of Western education live a strange unreal life. They have nothing in common with Chinese traditions, and yet they cannot mix with Europeans, who seek the same forms of diversion. They must make their own amusements.

The inferiority complex sometimes bet'ravs itself unexpectedly. One night recently a party of three Chinese men and three Chinese women of the “modern school” entered a cabaret still patronised by Europeans, and after drinkmore champagne than was good for them, became openly aggressive. One cnrl paused at a table where some Europeans were sitting, and deliberately flung a glass of their wine on the the floor, exclaiming as she did so “We are ruling our country now and we are going to turn you out.” It was ,a foolish action, and the Europeans took no notice, but it revealed the childish spirit of jealousy and resentment which animates many of these isolated enthusiasts. They are poised between East and West, and neither will acknowledge them .