I think I’m guilty of this myself and will try to focus my blogging on concrete images, quotes and obs. Better to let the reader make conclusions himself, my dear.

I couldn’t link to Ian’s blog. Are you blocked?

I think you’ll have to change your name if you want to continue commenting here

China didn’t have a coffee culture to speak of before Starbucks, and you will find that the now existing coffee culture only covers a very small amount of Chinese even in the larger cities mentioned.

I would have to put it this way: The Starbucks culture is far more dominant than coffee culture in China. Whereas other countries have several chains of coffee stores and many European countries even a much larger amount of indie stores, China has Starbucks. I do realise that other brands/stores/cafes exist, but they cover an even much smaller demographic group than Starbucks currently does.

And on the matter of College Entrance Exams vs. Toys: You would not believe how many middle class children I have tutored at age 7 – 10 that have been preparing for just that exam.

*smirk*

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Gross’s article underlines something I call Stranger in a Strange Land Complex. It is so very easy – - – and especially for a dilettante blogger such as myself – - – to latch on to an observation or trivial fact, and use it to extrapolate “truth,” connect dots, and form constellations in one’s own image. The danger is that this myth-making is the stuff of broad sweeping generalizations and stereotypes.

I love coffee but haven’t had any since coming to Hunan. Earlier this semester, students came over to discuss literature – - – Thoreau and transcendentalism of all things – - – and were disappointed when I told I didn’t have a coffee maker.

Despite the remark about the lack of coffee culture here, Gross is probably guessing (wrongly, I believe) that Starbucks is participating in a China coffee shop bubble that resembles the coffee shop bubble in the US. But I don’t see any evidence that Starbucks is going to have to shutter stores in China the way it did in America. He’s simply ignorant of the way new Chinese money and educated Chinese alike loves Starbucks.

As for the toys, sweet Jesus does he know Chinese love the crap out of Transformers and Playstations, with or without Toys ‘R’ Us kicking about? The bigger danger to Toys ‘R’ Us will be competition from the online world, not Gaokao prep (which starts in senior one, around 16 years old).