Hooters arrives in the capital -- and it's not entirely welcome
I remember, a few years ago, when the first Hooters outlet opened in China, in Shanghai's Hongqiao area. I was new in China at the time, and when a friend and I visited Shanghai on a road trip we figured we'd better check it out. Truth be told, as a Canadian and frequent visitor to the United States, I had never been to a Hooters restaurant before (honest!). So the Hongqiao branch was the first time I went.
Sure enough, it was kinda what I expected. Although the women weren't... erm... as "well-endowed" as I imagined (possibly as a result of the water in China... no?). When I moved to Shanghai a few years later, visiting Hooters become part of the tourist trip: first to the Bund, then the Pearl Tower, then the French Concession, then Xintiandi, then Hooters. For whatever reason, the Chinese seemed more enamored about Hooters than my foreign visitors did.
And now, Beijingers have no more need to head to Shanghai (or Hangzhou) to visit America's infamous restaurant chain. I think other North Americans can vouch that Hooters isn't exactly highly regarded in America... in fact, the only outlet in Vancouver went out of business. So I can't quite understand why a restaurant associated with low-end American culture seems so eagerly anticipated in China.
I had a talk with my girlfriend the other day about this very topic. She comes from a government family, and is fond of Mao, to say the least. She visited Hooters in Shanghai when I lived there, but was sorely disappointed that it had invaded the heart of China's capital, and her hometown. In fact, she swears she'll write an article on the editorial page of her newspaper denouncing Hooters' presence in Beijing, a la Rui Chenggang's campaign against Starbucks in the Forbidden City. (I'll let you know if she ever gets around to it.)
I live a few minutes walk from the Hooters in Beijing, which is on the northeast side of Worker's Stadium. It's a prime location, and I'm surprised that the government allowed Hooters to erect such large signage and lights around the restaurant -- believe me, you can't miss it. This, for a low-rent kind of chain.
It reminded me of local campaigns (both in my hometown of Sidney, and in parts of Vancouver) to ensure that Wal-Mart didn't set up shop and pollute those communities. Or of other areas in Canada, that fight to keep corporations and chains out of the area. It's clear that China is still having a love affair with foreign brands... but something also tells me that if the authorities fully understood how Hooters is regarded, perhaps they would've toned down the signage a bit - or asked Hooters to move to another location.
Personally speaking, I don't really have a problem with the place. It serves a certain clientèle and makes money, at least in China. Although on the night I was there, we saw an older fellow, with greasy hair flowing out from under his baseball cap, grab the rear-end of one of the waitresses. She giggled and continued talking with the two men at the table, but I couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted about what I had witnessed. My girlfriend was nearly in tears (it wasn't my idea to hit up the restaurant, by the way).
When the girls started dancing and singing songs, my girlfriend mentioned that they have probably been completely brainwashed by the company. She also said that if she ever tried to work at a place like this, her parents would give her all the money she needed just to stay home. She said she couldn't bare this kind of job, and would never be able to tell her family if she worked there.
To be fair, western girls could say this about other western girls working at Hooters. Again, I'm a practical kind of guy, and if there is a willing worker and a willing employer, and everything is above-board and consensual, then I don't see a problem. But yet, something about this rubs me the wrong way.
First, I have visited the Hongqiao Hooters twice, the Pudong Hooters twice, and now the one in Beijing. I have yet to meet a girl in any of the locations who are from Beijing or Shanghai. They are all -- 100% according to my unscientific poll -- from the countryside. Apparently Hooters pays fairly well, so the restaurant becomes a bit of a magnet for girls that need the money.
Second, I can only imagine what Mao would think (if we really care -- and most times I don't). Depending on the perspective, and if I was to spin this in a PR fashion, one could argue that China is selling out its girls from the countryside for the amusement of foreigners. (And yes, I know this has been happening for centuries -- but this situation just seems a little more overt, and with the government's obvious blessing). The fact this is occurring several blocks from China's Forbidden City leaves one with an odd feeling.
I'm not about to get too sentimental about this, because I happen to like the buffalo chicken wings at Hooters and they are now only a 5 minute walk away. One can argue whether Hooters should be here in the first place, and one can argue whether it should be promoted with giant signs and glittery lights next to a stadium honoring China's proletariat. Regardless, I can understand how my girlfriend feels.
I guess next time, I'll go with my buddies.
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It's so cliche for foreigners to complain about life in China. In fact, a whole website has been set up for this very purpose. When I first arrived, I had my fair share of gripes: the spitting, the pollution, the... Read More
The buffalo wings are indeed excellent, but if you let your mind wander from the hot chicks doing the serving, you might notice that the service there is really good. The Hooters here in Taipei has service that is out of this world -- the girls are trained to be outgoing, flirtatious, friendly, and polite. If only every restaurant offered such excellent service -- and there is a possibility for another kind of social change: western models of service.
Michael
Don't get me wrong, I am not into treating women badly or viewing them as objects to be played with, but it seems like your puritanical point of view is getting in your way.
There are a million and one things that Mao would not be happy with, I do not think this makes a good example of what is cool or not.
Open societies work under the premise if you like something great, take part (as you seem to be doing even though you do not like it) or you leave it alone. You know the ol' live and let live thing.
Compared to all the KTV, teahouses, massage parlours, and hair washing places, this is such a small part of the problem, maybe it's the flag that is bothering you.
Wow - i have to say your girlfriend doesn't come off very well in this post. "She comes from a government family, and is fond of Mao, to say the least....she also said that if she ever tried to work at a place like this, her parents would give her all the money she needed just to stay home. She said she couldn't bare (bear) this kind of job"
Her fondness of Mao excluded (many Chinese political types have some fondness for Mao, but the sophisticated ones understand his mistakes), this sounds just like another elite, well off part of the oligarchy sticking up their nose up at what is beneath them. While she can't bear "this kind of job", an estimated three million Chinese women are engaged in the sex trade, most of them involved because of basic economic need. Maybe your girlfriend and her government family should realize how lucky they are and spend more time thinking about these (proletarian) issues that they are responsible for as part of the government.
Hooters, tacky or not (from our bourgeoisie perspective), is providing jobs and economic growth in the service economy (where China needs it the most). As for the over sized signs and location, that is a matter of zoning and building codes - something the Beijing government doesn't really seem to get.
some points:
1.anyone who visits hooters with their girlfriend is, in the immortal words of alan patridge: "saaaad"
2. I hope your girlfriend has her self-righteous pen ready to write similar editorials against Beijing's many KTV parlours, faux-nightclubs (Maggies) and non-foreign owned establishments that not only use sex to sell their wares, but actually sell sex.
3. hearing a foreign company accused of brainwashing its chinese employees has to be the biggest laugh on this whole post (except of course for the image I have of your red book waving girlfriend sat in Hooters fighting back the tears at the site of her fellow country women being so ruthlessly exploited (for a decent weekly wage plus tips I don't doubt)
4. hooters is shit. it may well have a market, but it is still a painfully shit and soul-less place.
by the way, sounds to me that you quite like Hooters, but have been brow beaten by your lady friend Jiang Qiang. Grow a pair and tell her she can have cadre school and you can have your hooters!!
@dd: Yes, I guess my girlfriend does come off badly in this post. She is a great girl, believe me, and in no way looks down upon other segments of society. I think she's more concerned that these girls HAVE to take this job, not that they are. I also think the greasy laowai groping a girl's rear-end had something to do with the way she felt (understandably so).
As I said in the post, I actually don't mind Hooters. Not to throw a cliche at you, but "it is what it is." Guys want to see pretty girls and drink beer and eat hamburgers... so where's the newsflash? That being said, I UNDERSTAND her point of view, and others who might not feel comfortable with it.
Fred.. your comments are hilarious! And, don't get me wrong.. I truly do like Cam's girlfriend.. but on more than one occasion, I have been forced to -- shal we say -- engage in philosophical debates with said girlfriend which have gotten me no where! Kudos for hitting the nail on the head in the last comment! ha!
Taiwan is a part of China.
The island saw Hooters first, and that would have been around 1997, if I'm not mistaken.
I talked with one waitress in Pudong, she is a medical student, makes good money. Unlike many other restaurants in China, the staff speak good English and actually run back and forth to serve you. These Hooters are better than those in America, more upscale. But not part of the sex trade--the women are not allowed to give out their mobile numbers. "Delightfully tacky," "Hooter's makes you happy" --not really. But almost all Western franchises here are a lot different, the brand and some of the design is the same, but not the food or other things. As labor prices increase, service may change. The Chinese consumer likes to try out Western brands but is not as loyal. They are willing to pay high prices now but later they will learn to look for quality like the Japanese. Meanwhile it is a sort of halfway-point where Chinese hosts think Western businessmen will be comfortable and not have to struggle learning Chinese culture. There is no point in attacking Starbuck's or Hooter's as Western culture, in China they play a role different from the West. Better, learn from their business models how to do things that customers want. If customers want sex, decriminalize the sex trade, tax it, and make money from it, instead of prolonging corruption and exploitation. Still, don't pick on Hooter's, unless you want to point out that you can't watch American baseball games on the big TVs there.
When you said your girlfriend was "nearly in tears" when she saw the one Chinese hooters girl have her rear end grabbed by a male customer.
Did you mean she was laughing at the Chinese hooters girl having her ass fondled like that... or crying?
Was it an American guy doing it? You said the waitress just "giggled" and continued talking to the guy as he did that, I gotta think she rather liked it! What did she look like -- better looking at THAT end inside those orange hooter shorts than the other end and the face??
I don't think so. You have to revise your looks. In general your blog is good, but sometimes your posts are creepy.