wire mesh extravaganza

Having decided that tutoring English is most definitely not my calling in life, I've been searching for other means of supporting myself.

Last week I took a short, ahem, business trip, to attend the wire mesh capital of the world's 7th annual convention. Yes, I answered an add online to "earn 1000 rmb in a day" to pose as a Western businesswoman interested in wire mesh.

Nine other exotic foreigners and I were loaded onto a bus Thursday afternoon, carted to this little town of 320,000, put up in a fancy hotel, 'baijiu* and dined' with local businessmen, stood on stage for the opening ceremonies the next morning, toured the wire mesh convention, attended yet another banquet, got back on the bus and were back in Beijing by Friday evening, a taste of the *real* China under our belts and 1000 rmb richer for the trouble.

Thursday evening we went out on the town in search of KTV and wound up at the local evening dance party. They have these outside my apartment building as well -- kind of like a neighborhood get-together with ballroom dancing. Except when we showed up to this one someone changed the music to this awful rave techno music. A small mosh pit of sorts formed (with a larger circle of curious onlookers) around us. When we broke away the crowd actually followed us, taking pictures and trying to get us to come back.

I had more people come up and ask to take my picture in those two days then in all of my travelling in Asia thus far. I keep thinking -- where are all these pictures of me ending up?? I guess keep your eyes out on the internet...

Honestly I had mixed feelings about the whole experience. On the one hand I met a lot of interesting people (including one Swede who's lived here for almost 3 years and never had a real job, and at least half of them had been to this type of convention before). I also made a good amount of moolah and got to see a bit of the countryside. But at the same time, I couldn't quite kick the nagging feeling of guilt for leading these people on. Every time some hopeful-looking young person came up to me at the convention, handing me their business card and information packet, eager to practice their English, sometimes asking for a picture, they inevitably asked for my contact information...

On the other hand, it wasn't my idea -- someone much higher up than me was running the show. In the end we were just a form of entertainment, something to be gawked at, to play with. Now who's being objectified, who's being taken advantage of? Well, in the end I can't say I'm too worried about it. I think it was an interesting experience for everyone involved.

* baijiu is a Chinese liquor that tastes something like glorified rubbing alcohol. Apparently, being able to hold your baijiu bodes well for success in the business world here -- guess I won't be going too far.