Betel nut beauty
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Betel nut beauties, or betel nut girls (檳榔西施, pinyin: bīnláng xīshī), are scantily-clad young women selling betel nut on roadside kiosks in Taiwan. A uniquely Taiwanese phenomenon, they are named after the legendary beauty Xi Shi from the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China.
Taiwanese betel nut kiosks, heavily decorated with bright neon lights, are most common on highways and suburban roads in the western part of the island, such as around Taichung. The main clientele is composed of truck drivers who chew the mildly addictive nuts for the stimulant to help them stay awake on long trips. The high profitability of betel nut production and commerce has led to a multiplication of such kiosks, and as competition for customers' attention increased, the girls staffing them have been wearing less and less. This eventually led to the point in 2002 when local governments began to ban excessive nudity in betel nut kiosks, first in Taipei City, then in neighbouring Taoyuan County. As of 2004, although betel nut beauties still exist, they are more modestly dressed than they were in previous years.
Betel nut girls are of working-class background. Some are secondary-school dropouts; others may be the primary wage-earner in the family. Most have difficulty finding work in such places as convenience chain stores because of their lower education or young age, or else prefer the comparably higher wages of working the kiosks.
Some women's groups have controversially defended the rights of working-class betel nut girls to dress sexy as part of their legitimate efforts to improve their economic lot. They point out that sexy images of international supermodels, pop stars, trade show models are no less provocative, yet are condoned, even admired by society. Policies to regulate betel nut girls, therefore, smack of hypocrisy and class discrimination.
Others, too, have criticized the media for sensationally portraying the girls in a negative light while largely ignoring the underlying social and economic issues. The anti-sexual exploitation group Garden of Hope, for example, is less optimistic about the autonomy of betal nut girls, whom it sees as child labour exploited by management and sometimes their own family members, as well. Working as a betal nut beauty is seen as starting on a slippery slope leading to substance abuse and prostitution.
External links
- Betel nut brouhaha exposes disagreement - Asia Times article 9 October 2002 (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/DJ09Ad01.html)
- Taiwan's Betel Nut Beauties: Under Pressure from All Sides - Taiwan Church News article 25 October 2002 (http://www.wfn.org/2002/10/msg00279.html)
- Austrian artist explores island's unique 'betel nut beauty' culture - Taipei News article 15 April 2003 (http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2003/04/15/1050368037.htm)
- It's a girl's world at the betel nut stand - Taipei Times article 17 August 2003 (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2003/08/17/2003064150)
Betelnut Beauty is also the English title of the 2000 film Ai ni ai wo (愛你愛我, literally "Love you, love me") by Taiwanese director Lin Cheng-Sheng. This film, whose story revolves around a betel nut beauty, won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2001.minnan:Pin-nn̂g Se-si zh:檳榔西施