10-22-2004, 11:58 AM
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Commentator
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Houston
Age: 48
Posts: 1,196
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http://www.thebostonchannel.com/food...47/detail.html
Quote:
SHANGHAI, China -- It could be an eye-opening experience as the Hooters restaurant chain opens its first outlet amid the conservative, almost prudish society of China.
Hooters, which has a racy reputation for its combination of cold beer, chicken wings and scantily-clad waitresses, has opened a branch in Shanghai.
The company calls its image "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined."
The opening underscores how much both Shanghai and China have changed.
The city is the commercial hub of China's economy, the fastest-growing in the world. And decades of official prudishness are giving way, especially in Shanghai. It has hundreds of hostess bars and massage parlors. Hooters' presence underscores how China's economic vitality is challenging conservative, male-dominated views about sexuality and prudish communist morality.
A Hooters waitress said the uniform -- short-shorts and low-cut t-shirts -- aren't any different from what young women might wear on the street on a hot day. Hooters boasts more than 375 restaurants worldwide. It plans to open seven more in China.
Hooters' investors are betting that changing attitudes will take the "Hooters Girls" in stride. The restaurant is located in a foreigner-friendly area of Shanghai.
The chain is not alone in China. Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and TGI Friday's are all there.
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Sounds like Hooters will fit right in.
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