"Shut mobile phone when at ease, order foods rich in vitamin C, always hike on weekends and litterbug greatly offends." This somewhat exaggerated rhyme describes the trendy "green collar" lifestyle of young urban Chinese and reflects the self-discipline and seriousness in the lives of "green collars," China News Service quoted a Xinhua report today.
While traditional white collars, grey collars and golden collars are classified by their economic strength and social status, "green collars" are rather classified by their internal quality and character, like loving life, advocating heath and fashion, reveling in outdoor sports, supporting public welfare, taking good care of themselves and caring for the environment.
Most "green collars" were born in the 1970s and early 1980s and entered college in the 1990s or later, where they were deeply affected by many newly-arising thoughts and gained a spacious view. After graduation they work in big cities with polluted environment and enormous pressure of living, and therefore uphold the idea of taking good care of themselves and caring for the environment, which becomes a prevailing idea among fashionable urbanites.
One "Green Collar Club" founder, a Beijing PR consulting company's China president Zuo Shiguang, explains "green collar" this way: "One keeps one's job, but does not give up one's life; One keeps some money, but is not kept by money; One goes after a tasteful way of life, but will not be faddish or hypocritical; One approaches nature, but will not live apart from society; One enjoys life, but will also be compassionate and helpful towards the less unfortunate; while living a life of good taste, one will not forget to go out and take a look at the wide world."
"Green collar" Gao Junlin is a staff member at IBM's China software development center. Every Friday afternoon, he always visits travel websites and gather information for short trips during weekends. Liking outdoor tenting, he will catch the light and shadows of an early rising sun and then take a train back to the city the next day.
"Green collars" tend towards simplicity and healthy rules in food, transportation and lodging. They worship organic foods that do not harm the environment and are biased in favor of clothes made of natural fibers; they will rationally choose suitable residential housing. All this in fact reflects the "green collar" crowd's return to simplicity and basics and their faithful response to interior needs as well as reasonable consumption and lifestyle.
(China News Service March 24, 2006)
