Pentagrams on tower of babel
Updated: 2014-06-27 07:53
By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
|
|||||||||
Li Feng / China Daily |
Chinese turn out for distant World Cup |
How I help to bridge the gap |
Discovering Beijing through bicycling |
What's weird is, this didn't seem weird.
After years in China, I take for granted that locals who display such symbols that are provocative in the West usually have little inkling how they may be interpreted by other cultures. They often don't know the meanings at all.
And this happens the other direction, too.
I've gotten used to conservative "grannies" wearing shirts that read, in English: "Everything's better on acid."
While this woman's shirt suggests all experiences would be more pleasurable if enhanced by the psychedelic drug, she almost certainly has no idea what LSD is.
And if she did, she'd probably be the last person to take it. Or wear the shirt.
Take, for instance, our nanny-a typical Beijing native in her 50s, who sometimes shows up in a shirt printed with satanic symbols.
She simply doesn't know what upside-down crosses, inverted pentagrams and goats' heads mean-and that her shirt reveres the deification of evil.
She's certainly no devil worshiper.
It's against our parenting philosophy to leave our daughter in Satanists' care.
But our nanny isn't demonic. Actually, she's angelic to our girl.
She simply has no clue one of her shirts exalts evil's premium incarnation in other cultures.
For more stories by expats in China, clickhere
- Jackson fans mark anniversary of star's death
- Chen Kaige out of hospital
- Photoshoots of actress Li Xiaomeng
- Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards
- Fan Bingbing, first Chinese actress in Barbie Hall of Fame
- Awarding ceremony of 2014 hito Pop Music held in Taipei
- Zhao Liying's photo shoot for Children's Day
- 'Taken 2' grabs movie box office crown
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
China helps fight international war on drugs |
Crackdown on terrorist attacks |
My China Story: Meeting the master |
Tongues tied around tatu-bola |
A market that's not such a hot property |
Tough regime cranks out test winners |
Today's Top News
Alibaba plans to list shares on NYSE
Top hospitals abroad target nation's rich
PLA vessels join Pacific naval drill for the first time
Pentagrams on tower of babel
Recycling tycoon criticized for charity event in NY
Envoy rejects a 'zero-sum' strategic race
Chen Guangbiao's charity event provides lunch, no cash
Google unveils new products
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |