Why rich Chinese millennial women are turning to etiquette schools to learn how to blend in gracefully wherever they are
Affluent Chinese millennials and Gen Z are flocking to fancy French and British-style etiquette schools which teach young women the skills to adapt to globalisation with elegance, refinement and poise
When Guillaume Rué de Bernadac, founder of the etiquette coaching institution Academie de Bernadac, started teaching French etiquette to young women in Shanghai, in 2014, the lesson the students found hardest to grasp was how to pose for photographs.
Academié de Bernadac follows the formal “red carpet” Western style, unlike the more casual Asian way of striking a pose, which usually involves specific hand and/or facial gestures.
“Often, after classes finished, our students would pose in a ‘cute’ way,” recalls de Bernadac, who today is one of China’s best-known savoir-vivre instructors. “So now we have two lessons: one on posing in the Western way, and the other on posing the Asian way.”
A few decades ago, Western etiquette classes on the mainland – which taught socialites how to slice a banana, or hold a teacup elegantly, for example – were brushed off as a passing fad. Today, they form a trend that’s rising quickly among China’s rich, pointing to a desire to adapt with refinement and poise to globalisation, especially in relation to the country’s significant presence on the international scene, while taking pride in Chinese culture and heritage.
Etiquette is not aspirational – it’s about being comfortable and making other people comfortable. It’s about acting with grace even under the most awkward circumstances
According to China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, overseas trips made by Chinese residents grew from 10.5 million in 2000 to 57.4 million in 2010 and 149.7 million in 2018. This spike in travel statistics also came with a few headline-grabbing incidents where Chinese tourists were criticised for inappropriate behaviour, such as throwing coins into plane engines for luck, jumping into animal enclosures in wildlife parks, and littering.
Another school helping the country’s elite navigate cross-cultural intricacies is Institute Sarita. Founded by Hong Kong-born businesswoman Sara Jane Ho in Beijing in 2013, it ranks among the pioneers of the Western/international etiquette industry in China. The institute’s second branch opened in Shanghai in 2015. Fees can cost up to 100,000 yuan (US$14,281) for the 12-day hostess course, which is one of the most popular. The current range of lessons is being expanded to include lifestyle lessons.
“It’s not aspirational – etiquette is actually very practical,” says Ho, who graduated from Institut Villa Pierrefeu – Switzerland’s last traditional finishing school – and Harvard Business School in the United States. “It’s about being comfortable and making other people comfortable. It’s about acting with grace even under the most awkward circumstances.”