廣州無美女

Disclaimer: No offense to Guangzhouites

我有一個朋友是保險經紀。他的一名客戶是中國廣州來的盲人按摩指導師。廣州佬雖然名義上是盲人，其實還看得到東西，只不過讀保單時需用放大鏡。他還對我和我的朋友說：馬來西亞的女生沒有中國的美。

甚麼話！馬來西亞超過二成的人口是華人，吉隆坡的華人比率更高。華人的祖先多半移民自中國南方。大家同源同宗，為何說這裏的女生不漂亮？

後來我有機會到廣州去，在那兒遇到一位大馬的工程師。他姓周，也即是和我同姓。當時中國通訊業蓬勃發展，跨國的電訊公司都聘請了許多外國人到那兒短期工作。我就是在這種情況下去中國的。不過，我在中國的時間很短。一些在中國工作較久的大馬人，都有了女朋友。甚至一名印裔大馬人，也有美女陪伴。那位姓周的工程師，已經在廣州三年，卻不幸的還是隻影孤身。他的解釋是：廣州無美女。

他說得沒錯。我在廣州期間，鮮少看到漂亮的女孩。按理說，廣州作為一個繁華的大都會，應該能夠吸引到很多打扮入時的女性才對。

廣州為何無美女，我到現在還不明白。

The City of Plain-looking Girls

A friend of mine was an insurance agent. He had a client who worked as the instructor for blind masseurs, and he hailed from Guangzhou, China. Despite officially blind, he actually could see. He just needed a magnifying glass when he read the insurance documents. He even told my friend and I that Malaysian girls were not as pretty as those in China.

Now that is funny. Over 20% of the people in this country are ethnic Chinese, whose grandparents or great grandparents migrated from Southern China. The proportion of ethnic Chinese is even higher in Kuala Lumpur, where the Guangzhou guy worked. Why did he say Malaysian girls were no match to those in China?

Not long after that, I had a chance to work in Guangzhou. There, I met a Malaysian engineer, who shared the same surname with me. China had the world’s largest number of cell phone subscribers, and mobile network were expanding fast. To cope with shortage of engineers, network vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia hired foreigners on temporary basis. That’s why I went to Guangzhou.

I didn’t work long in China, though. Many Malaysian engineers work for longer duration in the Middle Kingdom, and some of them already got Chinese girlfriends. Even an Indian Malaysian guy had a Chinese companion. Surprisingly, the engineer in Guangzhou, whom I mentioned earlier, was still lonely despite his 3-year stint in China. His explanation was: There are no beautiful girls in Guangzhou.

True to what he said, I hardly came across pretty women during my stay in Guangzhou. Common sense tells us that, as a prosperous city, Guangzhou should be able to attract many fashionable girls.

Until today, I still do not understand why pretty women were so lacking in Guangzhou.

Chinese beauties - in short supply in Guangzhou

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