Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bottom
By Chip Tsao | published Jan 15, 2009
It was no big deal, just a couple playing around on a private beach in the Caribbean. But the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi was branded by her own countrymen as a traitor as well as “the shame of all Asian women” when the topless photos of her with her Israeli multi-millionaire boyfriend Aviv “Vivi” Nevo, also a powerful man in Hollywood, appeared online.
Nevo, in a crouching tiger pose, was pawing all over her bottom, which had bounced out like a hidden dragon on the loose. It’s no surprise that this unexpected slide show, a series of snapshots more spectacular than the acrobatic stunts in any Jackie Chan movie, has captivated a worldwide audience. It’s also understandable that while the world was watching with some amusement, the Chinese alone felt deeply insulted. It would have been a national celebration had the pictures been of a Chinese male celebrity such as Chow Yun-fat petting a topless Angelina Jolie, but thanks to the generally prejudiced stereotypical perception held in the West of the not-so-sexy Oriental male, such a scenario seems a little too far-fetched. Vivi can hardly be blamed for enjoying the supposed most beautiful woman in China like a trophy in his hands. He’s but an innocent man acting out his most basic instincts with no concern that his act might be perceived more sensitively than a private meeting between a Western leader and the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese fury bubbling over on the Internet is again bound to be short-lived. Since Israel is one of the few countries selling modern weapons to China, calling for a boycott of Israeli products is out of the question. More intriguingly, the Chinese government has avoided bashing Israel over their new war with the Palestinians in Gaza, a sign that could be interpreted as a no-objection vote on Vivi’s occupation of that attractive piece of Chinese territory.
And what about the label, “the shame of all Asian women”? A middle-aged Western man, looking as burly as a bull with the torso of a Roman warrior, is seen giving a massage to an Asian girl. Shouldn’t that be something like a Cinderella dream for all those who struggle day and night in the bars of Bangkok, Pattaya or Shanghai? The photos offer hope to Asian women that one day, thanks to some street-smart social-climbing shrewdness and a bit of luck, they could end up on that beach with a newly divorced Brad Pitt. And the clock will never strike 12 and it will never be time to return to a reality of poverty. As Ziyi awakened in a five-star hotel in Tianjian after returning to film a new movie, the only thing she had to worry about was a little jetlag and a few photos on the Internet.
It was no big deal, just a couple playing around on a private beach in the Caribbean. But the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi was branded by her own countrymen as a traitor as well as “the shame of all Asian women” when the topless photos of her with her Israeli multi-millionaire boyfriend Aviv “Vivi” Nevo, also a powerful man in Hollywood, appeared online.
Nevo, in a crouching tiger pose, was pawing all over her bottom, which had bounced out like a hidden dragon on the loose. It’s no surprise that this unexpected slide show, a series of snapshots more spectacular than the acrobatic stunts in any Jackie Chan movie, has captivated a worldwide audience. It’s also understandable that while the world was watching with some amusement, the Chinese alone felt deeply insulted. It would have been a national celebration had the pictures been of a Chinese male celebrity such as Chow Yun-fat petting a topless Angelina Jolie, but thanks to the generally prejudiced stereotypical perception held in the West of the not-so-sexy Oriental male, such a scenario seems a little too far-fetched. Vivi can hardly be blamed for enjoying the supposed most beautiful woman in China like a trophy in his hands. He’s but an innocent man acting out his most basic instincts with no concern that his act might be perceived more sensitively than a private meeting between a Western leader and the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese fury bubbling over on the Internet is again bound to be short-lived. Since Israel is one of the few countries selling modern weapons to China, calling for a boycott of Israeli products is out of the question. More intriguingly, the Chinese government has avoided bashing Israel over their new war with the Palestinians in Gaza, a sign that could be interpreted as a no-objection vote on Vivi’s occupation of that attractive piece of Chinese territory.
And what about the label, “the shame of all Asian women”? A middle-aged Western man, looking as burly as a bull with the torso of a Roman warrior, is seen giving a massage to an Asian girl. Shouldn’t that be something like a Cinderella dream for all those who struggle day and night in the bars of Bangkok, Pattaya or Shanghai? The photos offer hope to Asian women that one day, thanks to some street-smart social-climbing shrewdness and a bit of luck, they could end up on that beach with a newly divorced Brad Pitt. And the clock will never strike 12 and it will never be time to return to a reality of poverty. As Ziyi awakened in a five-star hotel in Tianjian after returning to film a new movie, the only thing she had to worry about was a little jetlag and a few photos on the Internet.
Labels: Politically Incorrect, 陶傑
posted by Gemini Saga at 12:00 AM
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