If you want a bellyful of laughs, check out the most popular summer fashion for Chinese men.
When the heat is on, they like to roll their shirts up to their chest to expose their stomachs. And there’s usually plenty to see. It’s rare to see rock-hard abs. More often it’s a bulging mound of flesh.
So why do they do it?
Most say it’s a cheap form of air conditioning, which is in short supply in China. However, sticklers for etiquette don’t think it’s so cool.
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Although graduation ceremonies have yet to take place at my university, every day I see seniors getting their pictures taken in their black caps and gowns.
The Chinese like to have formal photos taken well before the event they’re going to celebrate. Brides and grooms pose for photos in their wedding dresses and tuxedos many months – sometimes, even a year – before they actually get married.
So college seniors don’t want to wait for a ceremony to get photographed in their graduation garb. I’ve seen them posing on the library steps, sitting atop a giant rock at the main campus entrance and standing on the field at our sports stadium.
Temperatures have been in the 90s lately, so most of the students have been drenched in sweat. They must really want those pictures right away.