Female Supremacy Articles - Page 22

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She believes that in Western countries doing chores has never been equal to being henpecked. "Partly because of the colonial history, Shanghai men have learnt the courtesy of Western gentlemen and show more respect to women."

She jokingly added that men from other parts of China are only rude about Shanghai men because they are jealous of their fortune in having Shanghai women whom they consider to be arguably the "best" women in China as their wives.

Different decisions

James Dai is a Chinese Canadian who emigrated to Toronto, Canada, five years ago. He has returned to China and is now a senior architect with a renowned property developer in Shanghai.

"As far as my knowledge goes, at least 60 per cent of the decision to buy a house is made by the woman in the family."

Dai admitted that he sometimes asks for advice from his wife for his designs. After all, he said, women are the decision makers.

This is a view interior designer Yu Kuai confirms.

Yu, senior designer for the Shanghai Modern Architecture & Design Company, said that at least 70 per cent of the time it is the women in a family who have the final say on how to decorate a new apartment.

"Women are very concrete in their thoughts. They will directly tell you which colour they like, however, their husband will analyze the wife's favourite, and explain it to the designer. Sometimes the husband will offer two similar colours for designers' consideration," he said.