MCLC: Shanghai hosts debutante ball

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Shanghai hosts debutante ball
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I find this just plain bizarre. What is the significance of holding this
event in Shanghai? Does it feed Chinese fantasies about European/American
aristocratic elegance? Or are the organizers trying to expand the
tradition into China? Or is it a strategy by the Waldorf Astoria to
promote its brand in China?

Kirk  

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Source: Global Times
(1/10/12):http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/691516/Shanghai-Plays-
Host-to-Chinas-First-International-Debutante.aspx

Shanghai Plays Host to China's First International Debutante
By Agencies

Shanghai plays host to China's first International Debutante Ball with 13
young women from across the globe charming audiences at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel next to the city's historic Bund area. Our reporter Wang
Ling has more.

A debutante ball is an event where a young female, or in some cultures, a
young male, is formally introduced into society. In some cultures, a
debutante ball is associated with wealthy and socially-influential
families. In countries like the United States, Ireland and Australia,
variations have been developed out of the tradition that started in
Britain in the late 1700s.

And here in China, people got a taste of this European aristocratic
occasion over the weekend.

Decked out in white gowns and tiaras, the girls made their social debuts
on the Shanghai scene as event organizers trumpeted the glitzy event,
foreign but attractive for the locals.

Vivian Chow Wong, Executive Director of the Shanghai International
Debutante Ball, said the event was less about social class and more about
an event for girls to be the princesses they want to be.

"I think girls will be girls, and they want to be princesses. A debutante
ball is about looking like a princess or pretending to be a princess for a
day, for some girls. And it's not just a classist thing. Debutante balls
are being held, for instance, in Australia or New Zealand in high schools."

For those who are taking part in the first Chinese International Debutante
Ball, the event offers them a chance to develop their confidence and
networking skills.

Seventeen-year-old Larissa Scotting of Britain is crowned the "Debutante
of the Year" at the event.

"I feel very honored. It's so wonderful to have been chosen, and I am very
excited and very happy. I am thrilled to be given this award here in
Shanghai. So it's been great. It's been a really wonderful experience."

Scotting said after the event, she looked forward to starting her
university life, studying English at King's College.

The 13 debutants include two Chinese -- one from Hong Kong and one from
Taiwan.

Despite the lack of a representative from the Chinese mainland, Vivian
Chow Wong expects to promote the event as a mainstay of Shanghai's social
scene.

"The first thing is that we have arrived in China. The reason why our
International Debutante Ball had no participants from the mainland is not
that we did not include them, but it's just that we have not yet found
someone suitable."

After the debutantes arrived in Shanghai earlier last week, organizers
immediately started training them on the strict traditions and etiquette
of the ball's 230-year-old history.