13 August 2007

This post is actually a few days old but I had to run it by a friend or two before I posted. So... voila!

It’s my last weekend in Beijing! Today, a friend and I decided to spend the afternoon shopping at Wu Dao Kou. Wu Dao Kou (a well-known Beijing shopping area) is close to our school—less than a ten-minute walk away—and until today I’d hardly explored it at all! It turns out, besides a subway stop, Wu Dao Ku has a lot of clothing stores (ranging from very cheap to mid-range), a few restaurants, a few bars, a grocery store, and several electronics stores. Ting Ting and I knew our destination: we headed straight to the clothing stores.

(This blog post has a PG-13/possibly way-too-much-information rating. Read on at your own risk.)

We had little success at most of the clothing stores—that is, until we stumbled into a Chinese lingerie shop.

For those of you who don’t know, I am not a particularly busty chica. You might compare my chest to, say, a tabletop. My bra-shopping history goes something like this:

(I walk into Victoria’s Secret.)

Saleswoman: “Hi, can I help you?”

Me: “Yes, do you have any bras in (my bra size)?”

Saleswoman: “Hmm, let’s see…” (She pulls out a plain, white, akin-to-training bra.) “We do have this one.”

Me: “Anything else?”

Saleswoman: “I’m sorry, they just don’t come that small.”

Anyway, I was expecting the same experience here in China. But then I realized: the typical Chinese woman is, well, a lot closer to my size! And so when I asked what my options were, the saleswoman pulled about fifteen bras off the wall and dragged me into a dressing room. This was another aspect of the experience that I wasn’t expecting: she didn’t wait outside. Instead, she walked behind me into the room, told me to take off my shirt and stood there waiting. Once I was topless, she helped me into a bra and (rather invasively, but hey, it’s China…) started pulling at it until it sat right.

“See?” she said in Chinese. “This bra will make you look much sexier.” And sure enough: the bra fit, was comfortable, was nicely designed and—shockingly!—made me look like I have cleavage. My friend, whose build is a lot like mine, was having a similar experience in the next dressing room over: “Ah!” she squealed in English, “These Chinese bras are amazing!”

I’d have to agree. So when I get back to the states, if you notice an extra spring in my step, you'll know: I'm wearing really fantastic underwear.