You're So Money! (and you don't even know it)

In May, I went to a Chinese co-worker’s wedding. First, my co-worker, Apple, told us to “save the date.” Later, she passed out invitations. So far, it was all normal. After giving everyone their invitation, Apple took the foreigners aside and told us that we’d be singing during her reception. Now, none of us are good singers. She knows this from the time the school forced us to sing at an assembly. So, everyone thought it was weird that she was asking us to sing at her reception. Chinese wedding receptions don’t even really have dancing or music.

I, immediately, offered to read a poem to avoid singing. The other foreigners were game. They picked a song and started rehearsing.  The whole thing just seemed strange to me. Why did Apple want us to be so involved in her wedding? It didn’t add up.

It turns out that foreigners, particularly Caucasian foreigners, are considered classy in China. At the least, we signify money. This is because we are clearly from abroad; there really aren’t any homegrown white/black/brown people in China. So, this means that we have enough money to travel. Since the average salary in China isn’t very high (maybe $10,000 a year in Beijing for a pretty good job) our ability to travel makes us comparably wealthy.

In addition to showing wealth, Apple’s connection to us shows off her education. While some foreigners speak Chinese well, many do not. Apple’s ability to communicate with us shows off her fluent English. Therefore, she is well educated with connections to wealthy people.

My co-worker isn’t the only person in China loading up events with foreigners. Some companies do this too. They will hire foreign people to pose as investors, potential clients, employees, etc. to bolster their image. I really wanted to try this but, then, I read about how the Beijing police held a fake casting call where they arrested a bunch of foreign models for working without the proper documents. Since I’m in China as a teacher, taking an acting gig as a fake foreign investor would violate my visa. So, I refrained from doing this. I don’t want to end up on Locked Up Abroad.

In the end, I went to Apple’s wedding and read from First Corinthians13:4-8. It may be common in the US but, it’s new and fresh in China.  Plus, I was totally foreign and classy while doing it.

Here is an interview with two foreigners who rent themselves out in China.

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