By Peter Hessler
The New York Times - Letter from Egypt August 10, 2015 Issue
The city of Asyut sits in the heart
of Upper Egypt, at a crescent-shaped bend in the Nile River, where the
western bank is home to a university, a train station, approximately
four hundred thousand people, and three shops in which Chinese migrants
sell racy lingerie to locals. These shops are not hard to find. The
first time I visited Asyut, I hailed a cab at the entrance of the city
and asked the driver if he knew of any Chinese people in town. Without
hesitation, he drove along the Nile Corniche, turned through a series of
alleyways, and pointed to a sign that said, in Arabic, “Chinese
Lingerie.” The two other shops, China Star and Noma China, are less than
a block away. All three are owned by natives of Zhejiang province, in
southeastern China, and they sell similar products, many of which are
inexpensive, garishly colored, and profoundly impractical. There are
buttless body stockings, and nightgowns that cover only one breast, and
G-strings accessorized with feathers. There are see-through tops
decorated with plastic gold coins that dangle from chains. Brand names
include Laugh Girl, Shady Tex Lingerie, Hot Love Italy Design, and Sexy
Fashion Reticulation Alluring.
Upper Egypt is
the most conservative part of the country. Virtually all Muslim women
there wear the head scarf, and it’s not uncommon for them to dress in
the niqab, the black garment that covers everything but the eyes. In
most towns, there’s no tourism to speak of, and very little industry;
Asyut is the poorest governorate in Egypt. Apart from small groups of
Syrians who occasionally pass through in travelling market fairs, it’s
all but unimaginable for a foreigner to do business there. And yet I
found Chinese lingerie dealers scattered throughout the region. In Beni
Suef, at an open-air market called the Syrian Fair, two Chinese
underwear salesmen had somehow embedded with the Syrians who were
hawking cheap clothes and trinkets. Minya, the next city to the south,
had a Chinese Lingerie Corner in a mall whose entrance featured a
Koranic verse that warned against jealousy. In the remote town of
Mallawi, a Chinese husband and wife were selling thongs and nightgowns
across the street from the ruins of the Mallawi Museum, which, not long
before the Chinese arrived, had been looted and set afire by a mob of
Islamists.
READ MORE.....
