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Q: Stupid Chinese beliefs created to boost consumption?
Let's talk about the beliefs that have been created in modern China to boost consumption (and thus the economy).
For e.g. I have met quite a number of Chinese girls who believe that drinking dairy milk or taking milk baths will whiten their skin. This "belief" was obviously created by Chinese dairy manufacturers to boost their sales as most consumers don't trust them anyway.
These are more 'sales pitches' than beliefs, IMO.
Chinese economy must turn to domestic consumers, because of its size and largest population in the world.
China lived long time from cheap export, what was possible because of cheap labor.
Cheap labor will now became consumers, what will increase living standard of all Chinese.
I'm not sure about one thing: 'Where they will drive and park all cars, if every Chinese family will be able to afford a car?'
They must turn to cheaper/affordable public transportation instead.
add-it: Chinese might invent folding 'pocket' car. Drive, stop, exit and fold the vehicle, and 'stick it/park it' in the back jeans pocket….I know…. no 02 again.
You can tell to all 'milky bath' Chinese girls, that whitening of their skin will accelerate, if milk is massaged (by me) to their skin.
That talking on the phone gives off harmful radiation. This one actually comes from a US headset producer, but all of China knows this "fact" that I am surprised people even use phones. It is a great booster for selling aprons that shield "radiation" to pregnant women. (similarly to umbrella holders sold in the UK due to the belief that opening an umbrella indoors is bad luck)
There is a slew of "appliances" that basically cater for stupid beliefs. E.g. my MIL has two blenders, both blend stuff, but one is for "Chinese medicine" the other for food.....
The ever present "water cooler" for hot water as drinking cold water is bad. This one I am sure has its share of CO2 emissions. Learn to drink fucking room temperature water (oddly, I see people don't stress about drinking cold tea)
People believe they must have apartment and car to start a family. The apartment MUST be new, but you cannot live in a new apartment due to the toxic building materials. This means a decent amount of apartments are built, bought and just waiting until it is safe to use. (our community was all painted with paint that checked out vs. my safety paranoia)
Generally I find that people think a lot of things are necessary. Things that didn't exist in China just a few decades ago like cell phones, cars, moisturizing creams etc. People have zero understanding that humans survived prior to the advent of a lot of things. Yet those things that actually keep people alive, like seatbelts, chemo and clean hands, they are completely oblivious to. (yeah, clean hands, someone just realized he has never been vaccinated for tuberculosis, yet I am in a country where the disease is common)
Ben_Carter:
The worst thing is the water 'cooler' only has a hot function! Room temperature in summer is way too hot for me, I have to keep a jug of water in the fridge all the time. And at the same time ice cold cokes and ice-pops are considered refreshing and pleasant. What did plain old water do so wrong to become the font of all cold-based evil?
I wouldn't employ the word "Stupid" in this case. There's more than abundant examples in the west of people being market manipulated and having lifestyles engineered by advertisers (Apple, Nike, P&G, etc.).
When I first came to China, milk was seen as something for old women and babies to drink. Gradually, the health benefits for all children and adults was introduced. The horizontal marketing of milk is a natural progression seeing as how dairy farming took off and there's more competition to offload the milk surplus.
Keep in mind that also in the past, Chinese consumers disdained bread and cheese. It was the U.S. Wheat Board that introduced better flour and methods of producing palatable breads. The dairy folks jumped on the bandwagon and now good pizza spread across China ("good" being a relative term here).
As the furball states, a rise in disposable income means a rise in consumption. It is the job of advertisers to vie for a share of that money. Chinese advertising techniques for Chinese consumers is not "stupid." Note that the number of Caucasian foreigners with glasses in white lab coats is on the wane in t.v. advertisements. Hell, my hs students do not even know who Da Shan (Mark Roswell) is!
Methinks it is the lack of critical thinking that is being taken advantage of more so than the actual belief system.
