What status are we?

Society has an uncanny way of grouping people into different categories. Even on Steemit we have minnows, dolphins, orcas, whales and so forth, grouped by their stake in STEEM POWER. But status is actually quite difficult to define. For instance, it could refer to our marital status, a tangible and easily determined attribute, you're either single, or you're married. Of course, if we wanted to expand our definition of marital status, we could introduce additional descriptors such as : divorced, in a civil partnership, married but separated, widowed etc., showing how "complicated" defining even such a simple marital status could be.

What about intangible statuses? For instance, on a social network, people often update their statuses to reflect their feelings, emotions, thoughts or even opinions about something. Again, proving very difficult to define the status of an individual.

In a society, we often talk about "Social Status", a loose definition would be "the position or rank of a person or group within that society." Often attached to social status is occupation, because it is a straightforward determinant of status.
Yet, occupation could be earned through perseverance, knowledge acquisition, ability and skill, it can also be inherited without any of those prerequisites.

Today, i'd like to introduce what I would call the Status Matrix in China. A very simplistic "model", but highlighting some of the issues facing people in China today and how society has ascribed certain people to to certain groups because of their status.

Overview

In this matrix, we have the Y axis which represents wealth and the X axis which represents intellect, thinking ability or brains.
As we move from the bottom to the top, the people have more wealth, and from the left to the right, more intellect and "brains".

土豪 - tu3 hao2 - Nouveau rich

Belonging in the top left corner, we have the tuhao. A term that originated from ancient China which referred to people of prominent origin, particularly of influence and wealthy backgrounds. Over the course of the years, the term has been used to describe opulent spending behaviour, not necessarily from the rich.

It was used in a joke which became viral on Weibo in 2013.

A young man came to a Buddhist monk and asked, "I'm very wealthy, but I'm still not happy. What can I do?" The monk replies, "Define wealthy." The young man says "I'm a millionaire and I own houses all over Beijing, is that not wealthy?" The monk holds out his hand and says nothing. Confused, the young man asks, "Master, are you suggesting that I should be thankful and give back to the community?" Instead of suggesting the young man lives a simple and happy life, the monk replied, "Tuhao, lets be friends!"

The Tuhao was so rich that it even made the Monk Greedy!

Nowadays, the term describes people who have lavish lifestyles, garish tastes, and spend money recklessly. Although this behaviour is prevalent in a country with the highest number of new billionaires, it is definitely frowned upon, particularly as the government has begun cracking down on lavish displays of wealth and flaunting money.

屌丝 - diao3 si1 - Penis Hair

Origin of this term came from an online dispute between two prominent members of the baidu online forum. One user used the term 'diao' (penis) which another user considered insulting. In response, the other user threw 'diaosi' - penis hair (figuratively speaking) back in an attempt to gain authority and the upper hand. Surprisingly, people identified with the term and didn't take offence to it. Instead, the term became a humorous insult.

Diaosi is now considered a buzzword that describes young men of mediocre appearance, working a mediocre job, few prospects, and unable to purchase luxuries. They spend most of their time on the computer usually playing computer games and dream of dating their "女神“ - goddess (their idea of a perfect beautiful girl).

Although the term Diaosi might be considered negative, it has become a popular self-ascribed identity for not just young men, but also women too. In-fact, in a report by an internet giant Sohu, as many as 40% of the total population of China would identify themselves as diaosi. Where before it was used to describe "loosers", it has slowly become a descriptor for ordinary Chinese people who face everyday struggles and hardship.

高富帅 - gao1 fu4 shuai4 - Tall, Rich and Handsome

The term gaofushuai is literally describing a man who is tall, rich and handsome. The equivalent for a female is 白富美 - bai2 fu4 mei3 which literally translates to white, rich and beautiful. Both these terms describe the ideal qualities people look for in a partner, at least in China. Whilst these terms generally describe positive traits in both men and women, it's becoming a thorn in society because naturally, very few people actually fit these descriptions. As such, they are often associated with the term '富二代‘ - fu4 er4 dai4 - rich second generation, who are people who get a lot of money from their rich parents and did not earn their money going through hardship or struggles unlike the majority of other people.

Many people use the term to separate themselves from rich and high-class people. A sense of well being and satisfaction for their current status is achieved that way. Despite this, many people still seek to find partners with this status as it is their ticket to moving up the social ladder.

文艺青年 - wen2 yi4 qing1 nian2 - Literature and Art Youth (Hipsters)

This term was originally used by the mass media in Taiwan to describe the free thinking youth which embraced non-typical studies and activities such as literature, art , music etc. However it has since become a term to describe those who resist the trend of the crowd and stand out from the masses by way of their ambitions and tastes.

The term remains abstract in definition, but is still often used to describe young people who challenge norms, whether it's through what they wear, their conduct, hobbies or even what they express through literature, art and music.

There is also the term 假文青 jia3 wen2 qing1 which is a satire of the real hipsters.

These hipsters, fake or not are becoming an important part of society because of their willingness to challenge popular opinion. They represent a movement of young people who are breaking out from the repressed society of old and welcoming a new paradigm of free thinkers, expressing themselves through all sorts of new avenues.

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Which of these do you identify with the most?