On Chinese grannies

There is a certain coolness about Chinese grannies that I’ve always admired. These Shanghainese ladies for example gang up in my neighborhood every day – they just sit, drink tea, sit, play mahjong, chat and sit. After dinner they go a public square and dance to old Chinese folk songs, Rihanna or Gangnam Style. People think it’s funny – they don’t care. They would never stay at home and watch TV all day like a lot of old people elsewhere do. There is nothing that can upset them: They grew up during civil war, experienced the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, they suffered from the Nationalists, the Japanese, the Communist and now the Communists turned Turbo-Capitalists. During all these decades their wardrobe didn’t really change: it’s always been colorful silky blouses, simple cord or linen jackets and canvas shoes. They can go head-to-toe floral (and wear braided hair) in a natural, elegant way that most young Chinese women wouldn’t be able to pull off. In a country where it’s still considered fashionable to wear hooker-dresses and drive pink Ferraris, they are the ones who have true style.