Petite Bourgeoisie

I finally went out with my junior high school friend who is now working in a bank. She took me to a restaurant (Chamate) near the CBD of Bei Jing. Chamate is a franchise and has many restaurants in the country. Apparently it is a very popular place for people like her. I must say that the restaurant has some sort of atmosphere and people pay the money not only enjoying the food but the atmosphere. Interesting when you look at the menu, most food are Asian style, but they are served in western style, appetizer, main, desert and drinks. It is a typical place for Petite bourgeoisie.

In China, “Petite bourgeoisie” is a popular word used to describe young people who have a new type of life style which is opposite to the Chinese traditional life style. "Petite bourgeoisie" is normally white-collar workers and they have the following characteristics:

















1 enjoy music such as jazz, classic, western pop, new age, techno and Chinese classic
2 enjoy literature
3 rich but not so rich
4 fluent at least one foreign language
5 enjoy western life style and café culture
6 into coffee, wine, tea, home making and laptops
7 enjoy backpacking
8 technologies oriented
9 into fashion
10 show no interests in politics

I would say that the bank working culture turned my friend into a Petite bourgeoisie. For my friend, she enjoys the food here. For the restaurant, they sell food and the atmosphere. But it becomes interesting when I was curious and asked the waiter where the chief is from. Since it is a Taiwanese style restaurant, I expected the chief to be a Taiwanese. Surprisingly, the waiter looked at me in a indescribable way and then slowly said: ”we do not have a chief, all the food are pre-cooked”. Aha! My understanding of this answer is that this is an Asian style McDonalds with an expensive look. So you possibly can run this restaurant with McDonalds’ staff dress in tuxedo.

Quote my friend’s description of Petite bourgeoisie’s restaurant----“expensive but small potion”. Yes, there is always a reason for its existence; so if it is not yours, do not bother to understand it. For me, may I order a big plate of sweet sour pork?













Photos from:
www.chamate.cn