【文稿】中国大妈，所向披靡

Xiaohua: Since 2013, the word “Chinese Dama”, or “Zhong Guo Dama” has rushed into public attention. All of a sudden, the word appears very frequently in the media. In headline news, they fight for seats on bus, bicker with members from some other square dancing groups, or purchase gold like buying discounted eggs. And somehow, dama has become a negative word. So do you think that this word has kind of been stigmatized too much? John: Well, maybe. But I think it’s interesting. First it was the 70后，then it was the 80后，then it was the 90后. And depending on who you ask, either of these groups of people are bad. If you are in the group, you think it’s great because you are in the group. But other people outside of you, especially if they are older than you, think that the 90后，they are all just spoiled, they are horrible people, they never give up their seats, blablabla. And the same thing is basically happening with middle-aged women. I mean, I think we can almost make any generalization about middle-aged women here in China, and it’s going to be true, to a certain degree, for a small subsection of these people. But when we start grouping all of these people together: all middle-aged women in China are dama, they all love gold, they all love houses. Then that’s when we get into some pretty big problems. Heyang: I think it’s quite easy to make dama or older-aged women an easy target. But I think some of the stuff that’s done by some of these people really deserves some criticism. Let’s see the two events that have been commonly associated with the damas. One was the Gold Rush in 2013. I think it’s more of a media sensation and a very crude grouping of Chinese people altogether, rushing to buy gold and sort of making history and all kinds of stuff. Xiaohua: I think the Wall Street Journal came up using the word firstly in main stream media. Heyang: Yeah, it certainly did. And also, about all the square dancing, which could be a source of noise pollution for people and a lot of people complain about it. I think it shows that, in terms of aesthetics, because there has been a difference between the younger generation and the older. And I don’t think the damas should be blamed for wanting to socialize. But they should be blamed… John: But you still hate them! Heyang: No, I don’t! John: The number of times you’ve complained about them dancing in our office. Heyang: Well, I think that is certainly something that is not really… John: Keep explaining, keep explaining. Heyang: …not really favorable if you are living near a square and there is loud music after 9 pm. But I think what really should be done is create more venues for them to dance, to want to socialize, to play, that kind of thing. John: But until then, get the heck away from your window, right? Heyang: After certain times, probably yeah. But just keep it quieter, please. Xiaohua: Yeah I think one thing a lot of people fail to see is that, first of all, the dancing dama are not the same one as the gold-buying dama, or the property-buying dama. So everyone is grouping all these different kinds of people with different backgrounds, different dreams, and different personalities together and calling them dama. And like Heyang says, even as individual people with these behaviors, there is nothing too wrong about that, apart from maybe loud speakers and bickering with people. Heyang: And also I think people are being judgmental, especially the younger generation. When they see that these people dress, dance to the kind of music, all kinds of things that they don’t really agree upon, that they sort of frown upon and think: that’s bad taste. John: There is a huge gulf in values, especially young versus old right now. While older people, they grew up in a time where it was all about the community, communal living, everyone had the danwei(单位), they all work together, they live together, they eat together. So this type of communal behavior, in terms of the square dancing, is very normal. This is just what you do. Whereas the younger generation, they are being brought up living in a more individualized, more self-centered world so private activity is the center of their life. So that’s really the kind of tension that we’re looking at here. Xiaohua: Also I think people are being more willing at slamming each other, just being less tolerant in general. John: When you have these huge tensions, anger is very easy. Xiaohua: Yeah.