中国式誕生会 Birthday Parties Chinese Style
たまにフライドポテトが食べたくて、油は動物性って分かっててもKFCとかファーストフード店に行くんですが、いつも店内の「お誕生会スペース」ってゆうのが、気になってました。
そこで、一緒に来てた中国通の華僑系スウェーデン人の男の子に聞いてみた所、中国の誕生会はちょっと凄いです。欧米や日本の誕生会は、同じクラスや近所の仲良し友達を10人以下位招待しますが、中国はクラスの同級生全員招待しなければならないとの事。例えあまり会話した事がなくても、仲があまりよくなくても。そして、子宝の国、中国で1クラスの人数は何と50人、60人！大人数なので自宅には入りきれません。そこで、誕生会は大広間があるレストランで行われるのですが、そこに目を付けたのがファーストフード店。１フロア全てを誕生会スペースとして貸し切って大パーティが行われ、紙で出来たパーティ用の帽子を皆にプレゼントし、誕生日の子にはちょっとした玩具をプレゼント。…ちょっと凄いです。
にしても、なぜ話をした事がない同じクラスの子まで必ず呼ばなきゃいけないかと言うと、中国は人とのコネ、「関係（グワンシと読む）」を重んじる国。金持ちや地位の高い人との関係が強いと、物事が裏の裏まで全てうまく行く。つまり、このケースで言うと、全員を誕生会に呼ぶ（平等の「関係」を貫く）→彼らの親達の顔も立つ→後々お互い何かの時の「関係」として助けになる。…ちょっと恐いです。
::Birthday Parties Chinese Style::
Sometime I go to fast-food restaurants, like KFC, to eat french fries, even though I know that they use animal fat to fry them. And I always wondered about the “Birthday Party Spaces” in the restaurants.
So I asked a Chinese-Swedish guy, who knows a great deal about Chinese cultures, about that, and I found that Chinese birthday parties are really amazing. In Europe and/or Japan, kids invite less than 10 of their classmates who are their best friends and friends who live near their houses. But Chinese kids have to invite all of their classmates to their birthday parties, even though they aren’t good friends or haven’t talked to each other. And in China, which has an enormous population, the number of students in one class is about 50 to 60 kids! Such a large number of kids can’t go into their friends’ house at the same time. So the parties are often held at a big restaurants, and realising that this makes good business sense in China, most of the fast-food restaurants set up a “Birthday Space” for all the kids taking up a whole floor and give them party hats, which are made from paper, and they also give the birthday boy or girl small toys as presents. …It sounds amazing.
But the reason why they HAVE TO invite all of their classmates is because of the Chinese concept of “Guan xi (connections)”. In China if you have good “guan xi” with those who are rich or have suceeded their business, you can get things done and even bend a few rules along the way. So in order to preserve “guan xi” the parents make sure to invite everyone - so no-one loses face by not being invited. This goes for both the parents ‘guan xi” but also the childrens - who have to make sure they don’t offend someone who might be helpful to them in later years. …It sounds scarey.