|
For Love or Money
It is common practice in Chinese night clubs that the more outstanding singers and dancers receive red envelopes of cash from some appreciative members of the audience, and this accounts for the lion’s share of their earnings. In some establishments, sending a single flower to the performer on stage means a cash gift of a certain amount, perhaps 50 or 100 RMB. Well-heeled patrons occasionally send entire bouquets.
10 years ago, Xiao Duan was the most attractive dancer in the local performing arts troupe, and was not only in great demand for her grace on stage, but was also the target for the amorous attentions of no small number of male suitors. She had been happily dating her boyfriend of 2 years when she caught the eye of a rich and powerful local businessman, and her personal life took a big turn for the more complicated. Over a period of three months, Mr. Big Wig, who many say to this day is still well-connected in organized crime, attended her evening performance without fail, and without fail, gave her an envelope stuffed with 10,000 RMB, every single evening. She began to keep company with both men at the same time, but this arrangement did not last. When he found out about her regular boyfriend, he demanded that she stop seeing him, and offered him a compensation package of 1,000,000 RMB to sever their relationship. Both Xiao Duan and her beau agreed to be bought out by Mr. Money Bags, and they parted ways.
After a while, Xiao Duan began suspecting that she was just one in a network of kept women he supports throughout the country. Often away on “business”, weeks would pass before he returned “home”. To this day, no proposal of marriage has ever come, and this in spite of her giving birth to his son.
Nowadays, this is how she leads her life, having given up dancing for good, and being basically a single parent, relying on his bank account and cameo appearances in maintaining some semblance of a normal family. She recently told me that the best thing to have come out of this is that he is very fond of his boy, and spends more time with them now than before, and that when he is home, he is a decent man and has never abused her.
In developing China, money speaks very loudly. While it would be easy to condemn her for “selling out”, who is to say her life would have been better with her original boyfriend, or had she chosen another path? The Chinese tend to be more guarded with their inner-most feelings on issues of such a personal nature, but when we see her, we are impressed with her enthusiasm and confidence that the future will always be better than today.
last modified Aug 7, 2004 at 22:03
|