Saturday, April 28, 2007

Great Leap Forward

The Chinese have established "women's town," with special rules:

Chinese tourism authorities are seeking investment to build a novel concept attraction -- the world's first "women's town," where men get punished for disobedience, an official said Thursday.

The 2.3-square-km Longshuihu village in the Shuangqiao district of Chongqing municipality, also known as "women's town," was based on the local traditional concept of "women rule and men obey," a tourism official told Reuters.

"Traditional women dominate and men have to be obedient in the areas of Sichuan province and Chongqing, and now we are using it as an idea to attract tourists and boost tourism," the official, surname Li, said by telephone. ...

The motto of the new town would be "women never make mistakes, and men can never refuse women's requests," Chinese media have reported.


This is not quite as unique as you might think. The idea is far broader than the Chinese government states.

The real model is drawn from every other location in China, which are called "Commie Towns."

In those towns, all people must follow the basic rule that the communists rule and the people obey. In those towns, the motto is "communists never make mistakes, and people can never refuse the party's requests." So really, women's town is not so novel as a basic concept.

Yet it might be quite the subversive force in the long run. After decades of party rule of the vast majority of people, when half the population of women's town runs the place, even that will represent a giant stride in the concept of popular rule.

So I hope the women of Longshuihu village will rule wisely. Peking might rue the day they broke the party monopoly of power, even if only for a novelty tourist trap.

This could be a great leap forward, eh?