| Girls that Dare |
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| China | |
| Monday, 27 November 2006 | |
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'I do not oppose love, but I oppose loyalty. If love has to be based on loyalty, I will not choose love.' --Mu Zi Mei  As chance may have it, one of the most famous bad girls in Chinese contemporary literature history, was two years my senior at Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU). She called herself MU ZI MEI (Muzi Wei) in the media. MU and ZI (木子) are the dissembled two parts of her surname; MEI (美) is the synonym of her first name, which means beautiful.She had shown her talent through various writing clubs - the uniqueness of her metaphors and phrases. While she was studying at SYSU, she started appeared in public as talented and eccentric - with a shaved head, a black Qipao, and usually walking alone around the campus and the lake…. A death metal fan and Law school postgraduate had told me, ‘if you go to Linyuan West (a popular place for rock musicians to hang out), most of them would tell you that they have slept with her.’ At first glance, it just sounded like a bitter rumour. However, it turned out to be close to the truth. After she graduated, she wrote some lifestyle articles (quite often sex related) for a young and trendy magazine in Guangzhou. Suddenly she was made popular overnight by her online personal blog. In one of her diaries, she revealed a one-night-stand experience (on a deserted land) with a promising rock star, which subsequently involved more and more revelations of her sex life. As you can imagine, the whole society was boiling, young people rushed to click on her blog – it caused a huge traffic jam that the weblog had to shut down for a while – and old people angrily stood up to criticise her. While she attracted more and more attention, there were many more criticisms arising, from a group of parents who worried about the impact on their innocent adolescent children. One night MU ZI MEI was slapped in the public after she watched a concert…  Wei Hui She might well claim herself as an outspoken feminist, who is merely fighting to flag the point that freedom of love and literature should be accommodated in a healthy society. However, whether she’s simply an outspoken and courageous girl who is free to express her sexual freedom, or she is just an eccentric and outrageous girl who wants to obtain a shortcut to fame, is not of my interest. The interesting thing is that, due to the long history of sex repression in the Chinese general public, the extent of the effect of her articles and behaviour had brought is so extraordinary, that it wouldn’t have the same effect in a western country, say, the UK. And that the Chinese audience have such strong mixed feelings towards her, and are divided into three different categories, is worth another thought. On the other hand, most of the girls are taught to be ‘shu nǚ’(淑女) – ladies. Publicly expressing your sex life or desires is regarded disgraceful and shameful. For example, S.H, a final year law school graduate that I know, who has been with her boyfriend for more than 6 years, still claims that she’s a virgin. L.O, a long-time friend of mine, who has been unhappy with her current relationship, still put up with her boyfriend who has cheated on her. And one of the reasons for that is: I think it’s better to be with only one man in your life….’ she said… For more information see: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-01/18/content_300012.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzimei http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1137697-1,00.html |
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