Random Thoughts of a Neophyte in Beijing: Dragon meets Kitty

Xin Nian Kuaile!! Happy lunar New Year! I have been excited about this because we are transitioning from year of the rabbit to year of the dragon! No offense to people born under the sign of the rabbit especially my girlfriend but I was getting a bit tired of the fluffy bunny imagery that was everywhere during Spring Festival last year. Giant cartoonish rabbits were the main attraction at temple fairs. Now when I think about China, I think powerful! I think proud! I think exotic. Remember most of my knowledge about China before I arrived was from kung fu movies. Somehow fluffy bunnies didn’t really hit me as a symbol that fit my ideas of China. Now a dragon! That’s more like it!! When I arrived I got a bankcard, which had a little bunny on it. If I had arrived this year I would have one with a dragon! Missed it by one year!

To me the dragon has always been a symbol for China. It must have been the earliest image I saw probably in a Bruce Lee movie poster. In fact, Bruce was the little dragon and Jackie Chan’s Mandarin name Cheng long means become a dragon. For some reason I could relate more to the Chinese version of a dragon than to the ones you see in English mythology. Chinese dragons don’t breathe fire and they don’t have wings. They usually sport beards and are a symbol of strength and wisdom. In fact a recent controversy arose over the year of the dragon stamp. The stamp depicts the dragon and it is really a strong image. The dragon has it’s mouth open as in a roar. To me it is a very cool symbolic icon. To some Chinese though, it sends the wrong message. Many Chinese people think the image is too aggressive. They want a cute cartoonish dragon. There was a story in China Daily about the controversy. "When I saw the design of the dragon stamp in a newspaper, I was almost scared to death," said one blogger. "The dragon on the stamp looks too ferocious," "It is roaring and intimidating," said another netizen . These were quotes from posts on Weibo.com a Chinese social media site.

New stamp

Houtong bunny

I was surprised this was an issue but then I started to realize that there are fluffy bunnies and cartoon characters everywhere. What is China’s compulsion to have cute characters running around on the street. I have seen it at the Olympic Stadium, The mascots for the Olympics were beibei , jingjing, huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. They were the Fuwa or good luck dolls. They were going to be called the friendlies but the name was changed because of fear that the “Friendlies” name would be misinterpreted. The dragon was in consideration for the Fuwa as was a drum. Both powerful symbols but they lost out in the end. The Fuwa for the olympics consisted of a fish, panda, olympic flame, Tibetan antelope and a swift. They were all of course cute depictions of the animals.

The Fuwa.

Where does this obsession with cute things come from I wonder? Why does China love cute?? I think a lot has to do with the panda. The panda is loved here. It is a lot like China itself. Powerful but friendly looking. They seem to be very concerned with the idea of being friendly. I have run into many Chinese people who when they find out I am from the U. S. comment on the fact that our two countries are friends. I see it especially with older people. I think many Chinese citizens are also very aware about possible fears other countries may have about China’s power. They are a huge country with a lot of money and resources. The stamp controversy sort speaks to that. Many would rather send out a “look, I am a dragon but a friendly one” kind of message than one of “look at how strong I am” kind of message.

Mini in a houtong © Michael Paul Franklin

Mick at the bird's nest © Michael Paul Franklin

So we have cute animals and cartoon characters running around all over Beijing. I have run into people wearing bunny heads in houtongs, I have seen all sorts of imagery showing cute characters for almost everything. They even opened a Hello Kitty restaurant in Beijing. Talk about an overdose of cute!!! Ok so before you revoke my man card. Please realize that my career as a photojournalist made me curious. I that curiosity had a lot to do with my decision to join some friends at the Hello Kitty restaurant. I figured what the heck, it will be weird at least and funny at best. So I girded my loins and said bring on the kitty. If China does love cute, this is the place to find it in heaps.

The HK Dream Restaurant is more of a nightmare if you ask me!! I don’t think I am in the demographic they were aiming at but I am not sure what that demographic is supposed to be. The food is trying to be high-end. The décor is definitely little kid, stuffed animals, pink and full of bows and balloons. The poor waiters have to wear these ridiculous outfits and as I sat trying to look as manly as possible, I just thought, at least I don’t have to dress like that. I looked at the chefs working in the kitchen, which was also covered with images of the famous kitty and they just had this depressed look. They were probably thinking about how they will ever get another job after having this on their resume. The food was not great, in fact it was just bad. They were trying hard, too hard maybe. It seems like they are trying to create a western menu with fancy looking food but reviews have been universally bad. It had only been open a short time with lines out the door and already the crowds have thinned. Seems like Chinese people love cute but not cute with bad food.