When too many A's become C's the elders worry

The occasion was a business dinner at a “supper club” in Chengdu, a lively city in the heart of China’s colorful Sichuan province. The entertainment that night was a pair of dancers and their unique version of a tango soon digressed into a provocative and vivid reenactment of sex. Even more startling, in the blink of an eye, the young lady’s ample breasts were exposed to the enthusiastic applause of the mostly male audience. My secretary leaned over and matter-of-factly whispered in my ear, “this is why Chairman Jiang is worried”. This was shortly after Jiang Zemin, China’s then president and secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made his September 1995 speech to the Fifth Plenum of the Central Committee where he warned that economic development must not take precedent over ideology, and open displays of sexuality such as the one I had just witnessed was definitely one of those pesky flies that had flown in the window that Deng Xiao Peng had opened so wide.

Jumping ahead a little more than a decade and what did I find in today’s headlines? “China bans bra, underwear and sex toy ads” (AP-Beijing bureau). http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_re_as/china_sexy_ads_2. Once again the “sex police” are out in full force and on the offensive against social pollution. One of the most entertaining aspects of China is the often-clumsy attempts to clean up the moral landscape ahead of major holidays, party meetings or large-scale media invasions such as the upcoming Olympics will bring. But what made this latest proclamation particularly interesting was the fact it targeted, among other things, push-up bras and “figure-enhancing underwear” and the ban was being enforced to prevent “misleading consumers” with “outrageous” or “insupportable” claims and to clean up “social pollution” that harms the image of the Communist party. I’m not even going near that one on misleading consumers but perhaps there is more here than meets the eye!

As a keen observer of China for more than a decade now, I have admittedly noticed an unusually large increase in average cup size during that period. Ok, I carry the Y chromosome, and as hard as I try to the contrary, in the presence of the superior sex my eyes tend to drift toward the vicinity of the breasts. This observation is of course personal and devoid of any scientific support, but it was reasonably confirmed in the Shanghai Daily last year in an article that began with this teaser, “A recent report suggesting Chinese women are growing larger breast made headlines around the country”. The article goes on to attribute this in part to change in diet but I am not so sure of that. And why should this be held in any doubt?

On an average day in Shanghai, where 3 out of 5 taxis are adorned with advertisements for breast enlargement clinics, ironically, most carrying a picture of a pair of decidedly “western” 34d’s staring back at you, the breasts of 40 young women miraculously blossom overnight. For those seeking a more natural approach, the shelves of supermarkets, pharmacies and even the local version of 7-11 are stocked with an amazing array of breast enlargement creams, soaps, herbal supplements, breast enlarging teas and a host of electro-mechanical devices all touting the ability to transform you into Pamela Anderson in a matter of weeks! There are even massage parlors devoted to breast enlargement (sorry guys, female attendants only) and the ancient art of acupuncture has gotten in on the act as well. The most imaginative one though, I swear I am not making this up, is a collection of ring tones being marketed to turn those A’s and B’s into C’s and D’s. Honestly, it sometimes seems to this humble observer that the entire nation might be preoccupied with breasts. I often wonder why that is.

Perhaps it is partly the blame of “western” pollution as Playboy, Baywatch and Angelina Jolie are as much a part of modern day culture of China as in the US. Perhaps it is partly the fault that in China, where job qualifications often include the requirement of “appropriate appearance”, beauty is an important factor to get ahead and a shapely pair of breasts probably is useful in the male dominated world of business. Maybe it is a “tribal” sign of sorts that you have moved up in the world; after all, the cost of a set of implants is roughly 2 times the average annual income of most. Or is it done only to please a husband or lover in exchange for the hope of greater security in the relationship? Chinese men, well actually most men for that matter, are particularly vulnerable when it comes to these matters. Even more improbable, maybe it is defiant act and outwardly open grab at power that has traditionally been vested in the male species. The author Anita Wise once noted, “A lot of guys think the larger a woman's breasts are, the less intelligent she is. I don't think it works like that. I think it's the opposite. I think the larger a woman's breasts are, the less intelligent men become”.

Most likely it is a combination of all these things in different doses and I am sure I will never know the answer. But what I do know is that the trend of “bigger is better” is unlikely to change soon and maybe this time the “moral police” got it right. What better time than ever to inject an element of “truth in advertising” into that particularly deceitful business of push up bras.