Fear the Fair
Guangzhou, the city of fast growth and false hopes, the city of expensive nights and cheap days, the city of Indians, Arabs, Africans, Europeans, the city that never sleeps. Guangzhou, my city, is as versatile and unexpected as my life in it.
What makes Guangzhou what Guangzhou is? Well, firstly, Guangzhou is a home for 153 different nationalities. All those people spend their days mixing and mingling and trying to find a common language to help them co-exist in this city.
Guangzhou, being the capital of Guangdong province, also gets a vast number of Chinese from different parts of the country arriving in the search of a better life. Many of them end up opening little shops selling clothes, snacks, household items or a tiny restaurant offering their region specialties. If you think you can speak mandarin come to Guangzhou and try out the mix of dialects here.
Known as the market place of China, Guangzhou is frequently visited by all sorts of businessmen from all over the world. They spend their days in one of the big wholesale markets, searching, bargaining and buying. Their nights? In the bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants, KTVs, hotels, motels and streets of Guangzhou, turning the place into even bigger mess than it already is.
Put all that together and you get a true Babel. Now, if you think that you know what living in Guangzhou means, you are wrong. For 2 months each year- March and October- Guangzhou is turned into an even bigger mess, and us locals, have to take it all. Why’s that so? Well, because of Canton Fair of course!
Canton Fair is the biggest trade fair in China and one of the biggest in the world. Over 25,000 exhibitors, 60,000 booths, and 4 weeks full of dealing and haggling. In Canton Fair you get everything. Positive versus negative. Angry and disappointed voices after the deal falls through or proud faces at the end of a successful business deal.
What Canton Fair brings to Guangzhou is money. A lot of money!
Obviously, the money doesn’t travel here by itself. No, it comes in the hands of the businessmen companies send, in the hands of traders looking for the deal of their life, in the hands of fortune seekers, in the hands of newbies trying their luck. It comes from all over the world. From Angola to Finland, from Spain to Lebanon, from Japan to Indonesia, from Argentina to Canada.
I really like Guangzhou, except during Canton Fair. Why? Well, number one, everything is crowded. The metro and buses are full, the restaurants are full, the bars are full, the streets are full. Number two, everything is more expensive. There are restaurants that even change their whole menu for Canton fair. But last and the most important reason are the businessmen who arrive to Guangzhou during the fair.
Indeed, Guangzhou is always full of businessmen, but the ones who join the fair are the ones who really disturb me.
You see, they come here for a very short time with a main goal to make as much money as possible. Meanwhile, as long as they are already here, they also use the opportunity to get away from their lives back at home, to relax and enjoy themselves. To experience all that’s possible and all that’s forbidden.
What do they do to enjoy themselves you ask? They drink endless amounts of alcohol, sleep or try to sleep with every girl on their way and often abuse drugs. They have no boundries. They are here just temporarily. They are not attached.
I have interacted with a few of those guys personally. They message me through a travelers club I belong to. They smile to me in bars and clubs. They give long looks while passing by on the streets.
How can you recognize them? Except the fact that they are usually well dressed and may be wearing Canton Fair participants neck badge, there’s nothing much more particular in their looks. That does not mean you cannot recognize them easily. Canton Fair businessmen have a special aura around them. They are more confident and straightforward than other men in Guangzhou because they stay here only for a short time and have nothing to lose. They will probably whirl around you like cats around hot porridge. They will give you long needy looks. They may even appear to give you their full attention.
Let’s be honest, to get the full attention of a man is quite a rare thing, which makes it a lot harder for women not to feel even a little bit curious. Of course, those men are always ready to buy you a drink, dinner or even more. They seem interested in what you say and may send you long, sweet messages during the time they spend in the fair. Don’t let yourself be fooled! They are here or a few weeks. They can do all this because they have nothing to lose. Most likely, you will never meet again.
Some of them may look nice and cute. Some of them may behave like true gentlemen. Some of them may seem like the perfect material for a boyfriend. Believe me, most likely they already have girlfriends back at home (just check their facebook if you want to find out). Most likely you are not the only girl they are flirting with and messaging during the fair. You are not sleeping with the guy? Don’t worry, someone is (remember, Guangzhou has a wide variety and big number of prostitutes)!
DON’T LET YOURSELF BE FOOLED! These guys have no respect, no feeling of wrong or right, no pity. Remember the fact that they are here for a short time. They have lives and wives back at home. They have work to return to. These few weeks or days in Guangzhou are just a little game for them.
So when you see a Canton Fair businessman… RUN! In the other direction!
To finish up this article that turned into an honest warning I have to apologize for myself in front of some people. I don’t imagine there would be any Canton Fair businessmen reading this but if there are, I am truly sorry and totally understand your anger.
All of this is a strong generalization.
There are businessmen coming to Canton Fair who are actually nice guys. There are those who come here to work seriously. There are those who respect women. I haven’t met them but I’m sure there are.
As for the rest of you, I imagine you are angry because you feel like you are not doing anything wrong. After all, those girls agree to be with you. Well, here’s news for you. Getting a girl in bed with you based on lies, lies and lies is not a fair game and should not be part of your Canton Fair experience either.
You are one of those girls who did get fooled? Find his girlfriend on Facebook and let her know too!
Want to see more and experience more? please visit:http://www.beingfunchina.com/magazine/the-getgo-vol-13/now!