Ethnography in Fuzhou

"Thirty Days in a Fuzhou Barbershop

What would it be like spending 11 hours a day washing hair, giving massages, and sweeping floors in a Chinese barbershop? How would it feel to work alongside 16 other Chinese employees who spoke no English and subsisted on less than 200 dollars a month? What could be uncovered about the Chinese working class by entering their world for a one-month period? In May 2007 I decided to find out. For a 31 days I worked as a hair washing assistant, or “little brother,” in a Fuzhou barbershop. Alongside my Chinese co-workers, I spent my 11-hour work days doing the grunt work around the shop, pampering Fuzhou’s upper middle class, and discovering creative ways to kill exorbitant amounts of down time. The following are posts of my experiences and observations from my time as a little brother in the Red Sun Barbershop. Please feel free to read and comment. Enjoy."


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