大陆的轨迹

Mostly I am talking about Chinese middle class who acquire most of their idea about an \"ideal life\" from popular literature and movies that portray European cities as the heaven on earth. Such influence is clearly shown in the real estate projects, consumption habit and pop culture. But they are just hollow names cos most Chinese have very little knowledge about the source of inspirations and the strength of creativity in these cities which they worship. When they arrive in these cities, many are disappointed and very much at a loss. They take pictures and go shopping. And they go back home complaining about the small size of the shops and architectures.
Same thing could happen to foreign tourists traveling in China, complaining about the \"unchineseness\" of a modern Beijing.

To me cities like Paris or London have exerted their charme even before I watched the movies or read the novels. But then, in Germany, the weather here is equally bad (London), and the food is even worse (Paris). The only drawback we\'d have to suffer is the arrogance of the people there. And that is something that you\'d probably not immediately notice as a tourist, or, at least, it\'s not as unbearable as it is when you live there and are dependent on social contacts.

For me it was the cities in the US, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles that turned out to be completely different from their fictional counterparts. Was I disappointed when I found out? No. Would I want to live there, as much as I liked to see the movies? Neither.

Still I don\'t think the attraction of these places is merely literary. Only that certain qualities can never be conveyed by these arts, like the smells or the feeling of cold rain, the real, shabby face of poverty. And in real life you are of course more probable to fall victim of circumstance that you\'d rather read about, like a good November drizzle at the Themse river. :-)

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