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SCMP Reporter

Two books, co-authored by a Canadian and a Briton, are offering advice to Chinese anxious to find western partners

Chinese women should wear black or red lingerie, and skirts for easy removal, to add some spice to their sex lives with foreigners.

And Chinese men who find themselves in a sexual relationship with western women should learn how to talk dirty.

These are just two pieces of advice to be found in How to Marry a Western Man and How to Marry a Western Woman, two recently published books that are causing a stir on the mainland.

They were co-authored by Karl Lacroix from Canada and David Marriott from Britain, who have lived in China for 10 years and four years respectively.

They introduce such concepts as the 10 easiest places to meet foreigners, including the workplace, bars, hotels, supermarkets and markets.

The books are published in Chinese but a selection of recommended chat-up lines are introduced in English, such as 'Let me guess which country you're from', 'Do you think Chinese girls are attractive?' and 'Will you tell me an English joke to see if I'll laugh?'

The authors offer advice to help readers assess whether a foreigner is wealthy, and warn them not to be lulled into a false sense of security just because they see their foreign partners spending lavishly. The incomes they earn in China could be just an average sum in their own countries, or even as low as a cleaner's, they say.

Marriott said that they did not write the books because they believed that Chinese people ought to or wanted to marry western people. 'That's not at all our feeling. Instead, we saw that more and more western people were being drawn to this great country, and so interaction between western people and Chinese people becomes inevitable.'

He said he thought people would like the books because they were by westerners writing for Chinese people. 'And that's very rare. Nearly every western book we've seen in China has been written by westerners for other westerners, and then translated into Chinese.'

Lacroix said he believed cultural barriers were far from insurmountable. He said he was prompted to write the books as he had always found Chinese people to be curious about people from other cultures and countries.

The books were released this week and a total of 5,000 copies have already been bought by bookstores. Zhao Weihua, the publications' editor, said their popularity would stem from the fact the authors used very direct language. 'It's very detailed and is really a directory for anyone wanting to marry a westerner,' she said.

Li Xingzhen, a 25-year-old Shanghai woman, said she was keen to read the new publications.

'A majority of Shanghai people want to marry a foreigner and live abroad because we know that foreigners earn more than us, they are more respectful to each other, and their living environment is better.'

She said that she believed many people would read the books to help them track down foreign lovers.

But Zhao Chen, a 26-year-old  researcher at a science academy, said he would not be buying as he had no desire to marry a foreigner. 'I am far too patriotic to ever think of that,' he said.



Guides to foreign lovers cause a stir