NYTimes Documentary: Rent a Foreigner in China

[Bertalan Farkas]

To further contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the so called “white monkey” phenomenon, the New York Times have kindly produced a short documentary for our viewing pleasure:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000003652442/rent-a-foreigner-in-china.html

(Recognise anyone in it??)

[Charlie]

That is a fantastic short documentary. Very authentic, well shot, and insightful. I have heard about the director of this, David Borenstein, apparently he lived in Chengdu for quite some time although none of us at CL know him personally.

I did notice one person that I know in the video… Dutch bodyguard Dick! A legend in the Chengdu white monkey scene. I believe we might have mentioned him in the White Monkey podcast that we recorded a few weeks ago.

[WoodWERD]

This is amazing, thanks for sharing. Took less than 30 seconds to burst into laughter. Then it just gets wacky/sad…really well shot though. If anyone needs me to rep their international city of the future, give my agent a shot via my pm box.

[Al the Dead]

Sad thing it is, indeed.

[Chris Ziich]

Those “models”.

Funny how they’re ranked. White, black, eh, Indians less than or about the same as black. White Power.

[Charlie]

Chris Ziich wrote:

Those “models”. Funny how they’re ranked. White, black, eh, Indians less than or about the same as black. White Power.

Yeah. What’s really striking about this documentary is their candor.

[Ian]

When I first moved to Chengdu unfortunately I used to drink in The Shamcock. Dick was always stood at the bar in his bullet proof vest equipped with pepper spray and taser. To me he will always be known as Herman as in Munster.

http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/blog/item/2313/guarding_the_bodies_in_the_line_of_duty_dick

[Charlie]

Ian wrote:

When I first moved to Chengdu unfortunately I used to drink in The Shamcock. Dick was always stood at the bar in his bullet proof vest equipped with pepper spray and taser. To me he will always be known as Herman as in Munster. http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/blog/item/2313/guarding_the_bodies_in_the_line_of_duty_dick

That’s pretty funny. Among my social circle we call him Lurch. I actually had to Google Herman Munster to see who that is.

I met him at Cafe Paname in maybe 2006. He was standing in front of me while I was DJ’ing just staring for 15+ minutes until I said hi and asked what he was doing. He said he was a bodyguard on duty which I was immediately suspicious of. I think he could tell, so he whipped out his taser to show that he is for real. He is a nice guy though, it’s just very strange to have a suited-up expat bodyguard hanging out in bars.

[Author]

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