Page 81 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

68 WANNING SUN
product that acquires a reputation and currency due to a growing visibility and circulation
in the market, dealing with competition is a fact of life.
By the mid-1980s, the monopoly of the Wuwei baomu in Beijing came under threat
with the arrival of rivals: Sichuan mei (sisters from Sichuan). Like Wuwei baomu, Sichuan
baomu are also known to be competent, efficient and clean; in addition, they are reputedly
hard-working, gentle, soft-spoken and, above all, ‘good-looking’, with fairer complexion
and prettier features than the Wuwei maids. These reputed qualities prove to be a
winning combination, as Beijing residents seemed to prefer Sichuan baomu when given a
choice. The popularity of Sichuan baomu is also said to be linked to a traditional local
superstition in Beijing, which holds that one’s baby may grow to look like the person who
cares for them. Since Sichuan baomu are known for their good looks and pleasant
demeanour, they naturally hold more cachet. Sichuan baomu are also known to be shorter
than baomu from other provinces, but their height clearly does not bother most
employers. Beijing’s baomu market was dominated by Sichuan baomu for several years in
the 1980s, but disappointingly to Beijing residents, the number of Sichuan mei started to
dwindle, and by the end of the 1980s, Wuwei baomu recaptured the market by sheer force
of numbers. Currently in Beijing, the Sichuan baomu is still a favourite ‘brand’, with an
estimated population of around 10,000. Nonetheless, in terms of raw numbers, the
market is dominated by maids from Anhui and Henan, with maids from Sichuan, and
Gansu Provinces in third and fourth place (Liu 1998).
Although the Wuwei baomu still dominates the market in Beijing, in comparison with
the competition, she is now perceived to have acquired some ‘disappointing’ traits, the
most significant of which is her reputed tendency to spread gossip about her employers.
Wuwei baomu, according to some Beijing residents, like to ‘hang out’ together, which,
some believe, leads to another ‘undesirable’ tendency: veteran baomu teach novices how
to ‘cut corners’ and manipulate employers. Gradually Wuwei baomus acquired the
reputation of being ‘slippery’ (hua, cunning and disingenuous). By mid-1980s, the Wuwei
baomu realised that they had to reckon with a somewhat tarnished image.
The production and consumption of ‘brand-name’ maids is sometimes location-
specific. In other words, while some brand names such as the Anhui baomu seems to have
acquired a national reputation thanks to her history and availability, there are some ‘brands’
that are only known to and favoured by a particular market. Chifeng baomu—maids from
Chifeng, a poverty-stricken rural mountainous region in Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region, unknown to most people in China—is a favourite ‘brand’ among residents in
Tianjin. Chifeng baomu are known to be honest, hard-working and resilient, and are
clearly the preferences of many prospective employers. The creation of Chifeng baomu
started in 1998, when, as part of the nation-wide, state-initiated policy of ‘helping the
poor’, the grass-roots Women’s Federation in Chifeng, under the auspice of Tianjin
Women’s Federation, secured an agreement with Tianjin Domestic Service Introduction
Service to supply fifteen young women to Tianjin to work as maids. The success of this
initiative paved the way for more maids from Chifeng to Tianjin, enabling maids from this
region gradually to acquire a ‘brand name’ reputation (Meng 1999:19).
The baomu caters not only to the practical and material needs of the consumer, but
more importantly, she helps to enhance the social status and identity of the person who