Relationships Between Men and Women in China

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqo4beQ6C_4
Click on image to play video
What follows is a set of interviews about relationships in China. As revealing as they might be, consider that they come from a total of 80 interviewees who work in Beijing. In addition, the video clip was prepared to stir up controversy before the release of 'A Big Deal' (巨额交易), which premiered on December 2, 2011. Although the movie has none of the interviews, the motivations of its male protagonists to get rich arguably arise from their needs to be validated by greedy women. The video was first shown at Peking University and has been translated as High Stakes Mating (巨额交配). Finally, take into account that the national average salary for urban workers in the private sector is about 2,000 RMB per month.


Question 1: How much money does a man need for you to marry him?

Woman 1: Monthly salary must be at least 5000 to 6000 (RMB)

Woman 2: He should make over 10,000 RMB a month

Womant 3: At least over 10,000 per month. I feel in a big city this is the least you need

Man 1: I feel a lot of women should consider first whether they have the wherewithal to ask for so much. If she's like Sister Furong [a not so attractive young lady celebrity], she shouldn't ask for so much.  Even Sister Furong wants Chen Guanxi [famous Hong Kong actor]

Woman 4: Have a new house...has a car...then that's OK

Man 2: Don't even get considered if you don't have a car, a house or savings. This really gets me mad, because I'm such a person

Woman 2: I feel if there's no house there's no feeling of safety, so having a house is a pre-condition

Man 3: Do you know now how much it costs to buy a house/apartment on the 3rd or 4th ring road [Beijing]. At least 1 to 2 million, a bit more it's 3 to 4 million. Do you know how much money that is? If I had this much money I could go find a prostitute every day. I could do it for 20, 30 years and every day it'd be a different one. So if a woman you're dating asks you do you have a place, a car? And you say I don't, then she says "Then why are we still talking?" Then you should say "Why do you demand that I have a place and a car?  Why?!" Do you look like Ling Zhiling or Marilyn Monroe?

Woman 5: Definitely have to look at economic ability. If my quality of life is at this level and I find someone who's at this [lower] level, then after I get together with him, I have to become like this [live at a lower level]; that's not realistic

Man 4: I have confidence. I have a place and a car so what am I afraid of?

Man 5: Getting married but not for love, that's screwed up

Woman 5: Romancing without intention of marrying is what's screwed up

Man 3: If you don't have money or a place then I won't marry you. If I meet this kind of woman, I just have one word for them: Scram!


Question 2: How much money does a man need for you to have his child?

Woman 3: Savings of about 300,000 rmb, then we can consider having a kid

Woman 2: On the condition that he has a place, he also needs about 400-500 thousand.

Woman 6: For me to have a child, my condition is at least 100,000 in savings. And a place that only my husband and I live in

Man 3: Does things like marriage, having a kid really need that much money?

Woman 4: I feel if you have a kid you need to be able to care for him. If you can't guarantee him a good living environment at least on a level about the same as others his/her age, then I feel the child will have issues

Woman 2: I feel if living conditions haven't achieved a certain level it's better not to have a child

Man 5: If you say it takes 1 or 2 million for me to have a child. Problem is, do you need that much money for the kid? That's enough to raise him to adulthood!

Woman 7: First you have to be able to afford the birth; even the birth will cost 100-200 thousand. Then the child has to go to school, then go abroad. That's at least 1 to 2 million right? Then the child has to get married. That's another 1-2 million! So for me he needs at least 5 million

Man 4: I feel that she loves the 5 million and not me, so I won't marry her.  It's very simple!


Question 3: If a man doesn't have this much money, is he garbage?

Woman 5: I do feel salary is a yardstick for a man's ability

Woman 3: If my husband's salary is not as high as mine I would mind

Woman 8: If he wants a better life and he wants the wife to go work for it.  That just won't do

Woman 7: This society these days, money is the most realistic standard for measuring a person's ability

Man 4: Then she should marry money. She doesn't want men; she wants money. Her mind's been corrupted; it's become glue! Her life values and morals have collapsed. This type of life is meaningless

Woman 6: In my heart, I feel it's sufficient if I can afford whatever I want to buy, whatever I want to eat

Man 4: Typical corrupted morals spewing nonesense. If my other half says she wants to eat and buy whatever she wants, then I feel she won't treat me well. She's just looking for a contract to sell her body to me.

Woman 1: Instead of asking women, why don't we ask the men if they feel they should have money?

Man 1: I feel society now is actually very egalitarian. Why should men have so much money. Can't women make their own money? Do they have to depend on the men?

Man 2: I feel with this kind of thing you need to take a broad view

Woman 9: Men want to convince you that they'll work hard in the future. But anyone can speak empty words; why don't you show me with your actions?

Woman 4: If he has no ambition, lives aimlessly and just likes to play, then I feel he's not far from garbage

Woman 2: If a man is just happy with his current state and has no ideals and doesn't want to improve his life then he's garbage

Woman 6: No ambition, no skills and doesn't have looks, then this type of man is not far from garbage

Man 3: As for those women who say men who don't have money are garbage, I feel this type of woman is best suited for working at a night club or being a mistress for rich men. This way she can reduce her chances of running into garbage


Question 4: If you feel a man with no money is garbage, then does that mean relationships are like high stakes financial transactions?

Woman 7: Marriage is actually just like doing a deal, you need to maintain your calm and your reason. First you have to protect yourself

Man 5: If women have to make themselves into products for sale, Ok, that's fine, but doesn't mean I'm interested in buying!

Woman 4: All animal mating in the world requires resources. I feel this so called high stakes mating is really necessary. No matter if it's animals or humans for mating one partner always needs something to attract the other

Woman 5: You're responsible for earning money for the family and I'm responsible for being beautiful like a flower. If I ask that you have earning potential, but if you can only make 2000 rmb per month, then you shouldn't expect the woman to have 36C breasts and be 1.68, 1.7 meters tall. That's just not realistic

Man 1: Actually those women who look for money and see their youth from 20-25 as a bargaining chip, actuallly these women are pretty sad. They only have 5 years of youth and during this time they want to trade it like a product. Trade their youth for something of more value...it's really sad. Really sad

Woman 5: It's not that if I find a man with money then I'll definitely not have true love. If under the condition of there being true love and I find someone with money, that's maybe not idealistic but certainly understandable

Man 2: I feel these women are so pragmatic, then we men don't need to be so pure hearted either, right?

Melonheads Had Long Tongues to Speak Sanskrit

The extinct species known as the melonheads not only had elongated skulls, they also had long tongues in order to speak their language: Sanskrit. Sanskrit has nine short phonetic vowels, as opposed to seven in English and five in Spanish. In order to pronounce two of those nine vowels, it is necessary to flex the tip of the tongue while the rest of the tongue remains still and the mouth is wide open. To pronounce one of these two vowels, start sounding a prolonged 'i', as in ship, and raise the tip of the tongue so that it points to the palate without touching it. Similarly, to pronounce the other of these two vowels, start sounding a prolonged 'i' and raise the tip of the tongue to behind the upper front teeth without touching them. And you have to pronounce them while the mouth is so open that you can fit two fingers between your lips. If you have an above average tongue, you will be able to pronounce the first vowel. But you need a very long tongue to properly pronounce the second vowel.

Sanskrit was constructed on the basis of mouth biomechanics. Their inventors studied the dynamics of the tongue, throat anatomy and respiratory limits in order to create an efficient language that encompass all biomechanical positions. They explored the full phonetic potential and then proceeded to establish certain rules in order to avoid speech inefficiencies. For example, they were aware that in order to pronounce 'e', as in pet, after pronouncing 'o', as in dog, you have to go through 'a', as in cat. And their language was constructed with this sort of observations in mind. By having the full array of phonemes that could be pronounced by their mouths, words could be shorter and fluid. And they were made as fluid as possible with the rules. So Sanskrit is a language of efficient phonetics and breadth. If you are interested in getting the gist of this language, you can look for 'A Practical Sanskrit Introductory' by Charles Wikner.

Melonheads had to have long tongues in order to pronounce Sanskrit properly. And their long tongues might be the reason why they worshipped snakes — they identified with snakes since they could see a reflexion of their own beings in them.