China’s ‘Green Tea Girls’ – love them or hate them
She has the innocent face of an angel, complete with a creamy complexion, beautiful silky long hair and perfect skin. But under that unambitious and pure looking facade lies a climber of the social ladder and a gold digging monster whose main goal is to snag a rich boyfriend or husband.
In China, this woman is known as a 绿茶婊 (lu cha biao) or Green Tea B*tch -- a derogatory term that has been spreading like wildfire on Chinese social networking site Weibo, as well as online news portals.
The term first appeared online when angry netizens read about "sex parties" in Sanya, Hainan -- attended by rich, second-generation young men driving super cars and gold-digging "models".
Shanghai Daily reported allegations about a party where the "models" were paid US$97,000 for participating in three-night sex parties where over 2,000 condoms were used per party.
The male participants? Allegedly members of China's Sports Car Club, super rich young men who own at least a Porsche Carrera 911 and who can fork out an RMB10,000 membership fee a year, or half the annual income of an urban resident in China.
The scandal sparked off the term "Green Tea B*tches", typified by the girl-like, innocent looks favoured by these models.
Contradicting characteristics
According to netizens, additional attributes of these Green Tea ladies are that they work hard to appear like they have virtually no make-up on to convey an "untouched" look and like to pose with sad or vulnerable expressions which encourage protective feelings in unsuspecting men.
"The Green Tea B*tch loves to adopt a wide-eyed look, and will stare at other people, especially men, with doe-eyed expressions. Next to men, she will appear bubbly and lively but if she is with women, she will be sullen and bored," reads a popular "Green Tea List" circulating on Weibo.com.
"She needs to be really artful with her makeup skills, so despite her wearing a lot of foundation, men will somehow say she looks barefaced and natural," states another bizarre "list" that has received over 1,000 likes.
"Pretending to be simple and pretty to the point of hypocrisy," another China netizen said, summing up the Green Tea B*tch.
Beijing-born model Sun Jing Ya, 25, is one of those who have been branded with the term.
Her Baidu profile lists her hobbies as "shopping, listening to music, and travelling to Paris" while her favourite brands are Chanel, Dior and luxury skincare brand La Prairie.
Sun says her friends see her as a "romantic, positive, carefree and active" person.
While her skimpy barely-there outfits and dreamy posts, which muse on the meaning of life may have gotten the men intrigued, Sun has been the target of hate campaigns online. Netizens are saying that she is with a man who has a had a sex change, and most recently, as being HIV-positive.
Despite all the vitriol and hate directed towards the Green Tea Girls, China's netizens can't get enough of them -- on Instagram, many have upwards of 60,000 followers who frequently make rude comments on their self-taken sexy-kitten photos but still feverishly follow their lives with morbid interest.
Variants of Green Tea Girls
The term has spawned off a whole new sub-culture of slang used to describe different women.
The "Coffee B*tch" is used to describe high-end office ladies who like to speak in a mix of English and Chinese and love taking photos of themselves enjoying the high life.
The "Black Tea B*tch" on the other hand, is a rougher version of her Green Tea counterparts, applying thick eye make-up, and openly smoking and drinking while wearing revealing clothes.
Finally, the "Milk Tea B*tch" is typified by a woman who talks in a child-like lisp and affects a generous and giving nature to everyone around her with the aim of attracting men who will shower attention and gifts on her.
Do you think these women exist in Singapore's culture or do you know someone like them?
