我在《时尚旅游》的专栏出来了！
The August issue of National Geographic Traveler has hit news stands throughout China. It contains my first column on China-based stylish travelers. This four page pictorial and interview will feature monthly in the magazine for at least the next few issues. Profiled will be one male and one female traveler in travel garb and photos of the items most essential to them on that long trip. First up are TV host Cao Difei and designer Currie Lee.
This feature of mine seeks to inspire travelers to appear more elegant while moving toward their destinations. I am echoing the common complaint that travel has became too “commercial” and unglamorous.
《时尚旅游》8月刊有我的一个“时尚旅客”栏目. 我在每期都会采访一个女和的一个男的。穿的风格是能体现时尚性格以及符合自己实际旅行需求。第一期男性是曹涤非，北京电视台主持人。女性是Currie Lee，时尚产品设计师 在三里屯开设门店。
Nostalgia for a “golden age of travel” now unrecoverable cannot have much resonance for mainland Chinese. Two decades ago, only a tiny minority would ever have boarded a plane. Even just ten years ago, China was only starting to get a sizable middle class. Travel can be said to be exploding at this very moment and it really is kind of glamorous. Compared to riding on trains and buses, the experience of going to the airport and boarding a train here in China does feel somewhat civilized.
Of course the real reason for the gilding on the golden age in the West derives from the fact that only elites traveled back when travel was glamorous. It is less stylish and elegant now precisely because everyone is doing it. In China, this is actually less the case. The majority of people still cannot contemplate boarding a plane.
I like the “travel back” part. Of course, plenty of immigrants were traveling in the holds of dirty ships across the Atlantic when first class passengers lounged in glamorous salons on the upper decks.
I guess being smuggled in container ships and airless trucks amounts to the same thing.
travel too commercial and unglamourous ? a view shared by the bourgeois no doubt.
When we are unconcerned with the superficial, when
we are unaware of the state in which we travel, that
is when the true spirit of travelling begins.
To be aware of our surroundings and not of our trappings.
That’s a good point. Of course, the Chinese name for the magazine is Shishang Lvyou (时尚旅游), which means literally “fashionable travel”. This name is used mainly because the magazine is part of the Trends （时尚）group and not because it is a fashion magazine. However, in general, it is a very fashion-oriented magazine publisher. That said, perhaps there should be more emphasis on the true spirit of the topics they cover.
I check this site because it is the only site that I know of for consistent street fashion in Beijing, though I’m sure there is more.
But way more often than necessary, there is this background drone of a snide, affected, judgmental, and actually very plebeian running commentary that is more annoying and off-putting than enlightening.
The best fashion blogs celebrates style and beauty – celebrating its existence inside of mocking its absence. Maybe the text should be written by an intern who is actually genuinely excited about style and fashion instead of this mediocre complaint sheet.
Ah yes, “plebian” is predictably the ultimate insult for incorrigibly affected and pretentious people like me. Plebian indeed for me to be photographing so many commoners in such ordinary streets. I’m a level up from wielding a broom or collecting cans. My site is nothing if not plebian. What have you against plebes and what sort of person uses words like plebe anyway? Not pretentious, snide, people like me.
But yes, sorry about my boring drone…check out p1.cn if you want just pics without snotty commentary. I can give you my login if you email me. You can even write snarky comments in my name to further blacken my name, already associated with archness and artificiality – and certainly not taste and a love of beauty.
There are also plenty of other sites from Paris, London, Tokyo, etc. that feature only high style. I imagine you already prefer those.
I’m slightly curious as to why this particular post inspired an outpouring of ungratefulness and – dare I say it – dullness. This was merely announcing my new column. If this ranks as offensive, I can’t imagine what you would think about me after we had a few drinks together.
All of that aside, I must say that I appreciate the comment. I would like to push this site in other directions more interesting to me, but perhaps the reality is that most readers want simply photos of Beijing street style. If this is indeed the case – and my comments and interviews are merely for my own amusement – perhaps I must think seriously about finding a sponsor and hiring people for the task of plowing the streets with a camera.
Must have been the reference to class in this post. Americans in particular, but most contemporary people, are always galled by reminders of class. Do not forget that the relationship between fashion and class is longstanding and still existent – even if it has been altered since the ’60s.