Page 10
THE BATTALION
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1980
world
Peking cafe — oasis for western culture
United Press International
PEKING — The prostitute,
cheeks rouged and hair curled,
stared self-consciously out the win
dow of the noisy, smoky cafe that
vibrated with Western disco music
and laughter.
At another table, six raucous stu
dents, one fingering an American
cigarette lighter, happily tossed
questions to a pair of equally inquisi
tive foreigners.
Near the door two youths in ex
pensive, Western-style overcoats,
offspring of the “new class” of well-
heeled Chinese bureaucracy,
sprawled in their chairs trying to
look sophisticated and bored.
The Peace Cafe is one of only two
European-style cafes in Peking
where Chinese can lounge over
Western-style coffee. The other is in
the Peking zoo.
But the Peace is the only place
where prostitution is frankly evident
in a country that claims not to have
any.
It is also the only cafe where re
spectable Chinese mix with fore
igners. Government bureaucrats
come to show off their leather jackets
and other signs of China’s slowly
growing affluence.
Six youths came in with two girls.
The young men slouched around
their table like villians in a 1930 “Fu
Manchu” movie.
After a while, one of the youths
approached two Africans at a table
and then scurried back to confer with
his companions. Soon the foreigners
— diplomats or students — left and
the girls shot out the door after
them.
The youths, cigarettes dangled
beneath mustaches, swaggered off,
padded winter coats thrown over
their shoulders in the best Mediter
ranean style.
“You sometimes see prostitutes
here,” said a Chinese teacher who
frequents the cafe.
“I do not like black men,” another
customer hissed. “They go after our
Chinese girls.”
Peking’s “nightspot” actually
closes at a demure 9 p.m. But it
opens at 10 a.m. and by day is a
haven for unemployed youths or
workers with weekdays off.
The cafe made its debut Jan. 1
under the liberalized post-Mao re
gime. Exuberant customers enter
through a traditional Chinese portal
with a tiled roof into a long, narrow
room with beige walls and dingy cur
tains on the latticed glass doors.
Each table is covered with a white
cloth and glass top and cheerful vase
of paper flowers.
A girl behind a glass case sells pas
tries that hint of wallpaper paste.
Waiters wisely collect before filling
orders for the table-hopping crowd.
The cafe is an annex to the Heping
(Peace) Hotel, built in 1952 on a nar
row sidestreet off Wang Fujing shop
ping street. Like all first class hotels,
the Peace is reserved for foreigners.
But both Chinese and foreigners are
allowed in the cafe, while Chinese
are barred from other hotel cafes. In
restaurants, foreigners usually are
hustled to special private rooms with
higher prices.
A second smaller room in the
Peace Cafe is patronized by older
Chinese, well-dressed couples who
sip coffee in a more dignified atmos
phere.
The Peace is expensive for the
Chinese. Beer costs theU.S. equiva
lent of 33 cents a pint, more than the
price of a quart in ordinary re
staurants. A lychee sundae costs 80
cents, equal to a day’s pay for some
workers.
Sundaes, soda, beer and pickles
are consumed at once — with forks
and spoons. Not a chopstick is in
sight.
The prices keep customers in the
well-to-do category. “We have lots of
money,” said one pub crawler.
One student wore an expensive
leather jacket. Another patron wore
a gold chain necklace outside his
heavy winter coat, the better for
everyone to see. Even indoors, stu
dents all wore new fake fur Russian-
style hats.
A youth in a blue padded ski jack
et, the new Western fashion in Pek
ing, slapped expensive leather
gloves against his palm in an attempt
at casualness as he surveyed the
house. His Peking “slash-and-burn”
haircut identified him as a native,
not overseas, Chinese.
A tipsy young man examined a
foreigner’s Mickey Mouse watch and
repeated, “I saw a cartoon in the
party newspaper that said President
Carter is a mouse. ”
None of the young people had
heard of Mickey Mouse.
DIETING?
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\it possible for many to enjoy a nutritious meal\
while they follow their doctor’s orders. You will\
Mbe delighted with the wide selection of low\
M calorie, sugar free and fat free foods in the\
MSouper Salad Area, Sbisa Dining Center Base-
mment.
OPEN
Monday through Friday 10:45 AM-1:45 PM
QUALITY FIRST
MSC Great Issues
Presents
Who Should
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Impacts of Genetic Engineering
with
Ted Howard
Tuesday February 5
Rudder Theater 8:00 p.m.
Students 50<£ Non-Students 1.50
BIAS-PLY POLYESTER
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Prices good through Feb. 15,1980
PILGER’S TIRE & AUTO CENTER
400 E. University Dr. College Station 696-1724
Home owned and operated
The customers chain-smoked
American cigarettes and cigars.
Western disco music faded in and
out from a portable radio on a teen
ager’s table. Finally, the news came
on.
“Good God, the Voice of America
in Chinese,” a foreign student said.
The young people erupted with
questions at the foreigners’ table.
“Is Chinese food good?
‘Are there cafes like this
United States and in Francec
Italy?
Millions.
w
They looked awed.
or
Portillo orders new canal
to end flooding in Tijuana
United Press International
TIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican
President Jose Lopez Portillo has
ordered construction of a $130 mil
lion concrete canal from Rodriguez
Dam to the U.S. border to end
perennial flooding in Tijuana, a bor
der city of 1 million.
Announcement of the presidential
decision was made Saturday in En
senada by Baja California Norte
Governor Roberto de la Madrid.
The canal would follow a zigzag
course roughly along the present
channel of the Tia Juana River, a
distance of 14 miles, including a
stretch of downtown Tijuana where a
$120 million concrete canal is
already in place. It was built follow
ing destructive flooding two years
ago.
This week s flood caused $98 mil
lion damage in Tijuana, threatened
to burst Rodriguez Dam, killed at
least 11 people and inflicted another
$1 million in damage across the bor
der in the Tia Juana River valley of
San Diego County and in Imperial
Beach, Calif, where thenven
the sea.
Under terms of a border!
the United States wa<
emergency water Saturday ini
Juana at the rate of 3,150 gal
minute to relieve a shortagec
by destruction of a strip of aquedii
. ove in
About 2(K),(KK) residents o[« The st
ern Tijuana, which draws waterta | ew y<
the still muddied Rodriguez, ■; ^jude
without drinking water Saturdai yd n0
irthem
The D
ooooooooooooooooo
O CAMPUS O
Showtimes 7:45 & 9:45 846-6512
Dracula is star in TV soap
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
MANOR EAST 3
MANOR EAST MALL
DUSTIN
HOFFMAN
Kramer
Kramer
MIQL6R
United Press International
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil —
Count Draeula has been trans
planted from Transylvania to the
movie screen to the Broadway stage
and now turns up in an even stranger
scene — a Brazilian television soap
opera.
Every night for 50 minutes begin
ning at 7 p.m., viewers of the Tupi
network watch “Dracula,” a soap
opera its creators call more of a ro-
nng
ing ret
mance than a horror show.
“From the beginning our
sion Dracula is going to haveapi
tical focus, " writer Rubens Enj
Filho said. “Vampirism wil
shown not only as a mere terroif—
nomenon but also in the pysck®^ ! c
gical aspect, the human relatioidB muc 1
and principally the socio-politioiff,! 11 ' ,
lationship." 1^
jhi' publi
ited ;
THE
ELECTRIC
HORSEMAN
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SKYWAY TWIN
DON’T MISS OUR MONDAY NIGHT SPECIAL.
EVERY MONDAY ADMISSION IS ONLY
$1.50 PER PERSON
7:15 EAST 11:20
THE ONION FIELD
ALSO AT 9:55 CITY ON FIRE
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