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Gawkers make life hell for cute bus conductor
By Li Xinran |
September 28, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
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AN ATTRACTIVE 20-year-old bus conductor has created a buzz in Shanghai - and her fame has spread nationwide.
In fact, she now has so many admirers and gawkers that she has been placed on leave for the sake of her privacy.
Conductor Gu Jiawen has become a quasi-celebrity and her name gets hundreds of thousands of Internet hits.
Is she really drop-dead gorgeous? No, but she is so much younger and prettier than the typical middle-aged ticket punchers that passengers were stunned.
Apparently many think that anyone who is reasonably comely shouldn't be working for a bus company - maybe they think she's like other frivolous women and ought to be, or try to become, some kind of pop star.
Gu, according to relentless media reports, graduated from a vocational school and found a job at Shanghai Ba-Shi Trolley Bus Ltd in June to begin her working career in a regular grassroots job. She previously worked in customer service.
The media smelled a tantalizing, if superficial and invasive, story about her - a sign of declining mainstream media and public tastes.
Netizens started gossiping about Gu's birth date, educational background, her stylish dress (she doesn't always wear a uniform) and hairstyle. Some local newspapers have published entire pages of stories about her. She plays down the uproar and says she doesn't plan to seek another job.
Some reporters also took Gu's No. 934 bus, shuttling between Guoshun Road E. and People's Square, despite passengers' complaints that the coach was overcrowded with people trying to spot her.
One commuter who took the No. 934 bus every day told me Gu wasn't as pretty as Netizens had described, saying the bus had become so crowded by "sightseers" looking for Gu that it was inconvenient to take the bus.
To calm the situation, the bus company has placed Gu on temporary leave (by law it must be paid leave) and it refuses media requests for interviews. This is not a happy outcome.
Let's hope she can return to work since the problems are not of her own making but caused by the media's and the public's bizarre fascination with her age and so-called pretty face.
The bus company reportedly had recruited 25 young conductors, men and women, including Gu, but none created the same stir.
Maybe some people just thought a girl with pretty face "deserves" a better job.
Yikes! What's wrong with us? Who can say being a conductor isn't a good job. It's air-conditioned, the job is (or should be) secure, the pay is stable, and conductors can watch the world go by.
Gu's company had promised her a bright future when she was studying in night school for a college diploma and a chance to better her life.
Now Gu is experiencing some of the same problems endured by celebrities, though she surely doesn't have the income to match.
Some media pursued her as they did Andy Lau, a Hong Kong singer, who recently was discovered to have gotten married secretly to avoid the media hounds.
Now Gu, a girl next door, has had her life turned upside-down because of silly citizens and reckless, boorish media.
In fact, she now has so many admirers and gawkers that she has been placed on leave for the sake of her privacy.
Conductor Gu Jiawen has become a quasi-celebrity and her name gets hundreds of thousands of Internet hits.
Is she really drop-dead gorgeous? No, but she is so much younger and prettier than the typical middle-aged ticket punchers that passengers were stunned.
Apparently many think that anyone who is reasonably comely shouldn't be working for a bus company - maybe they think she's like other frivolous women and ought to be, or try to become, some kind of pop star.
Gu, according to relentless media reports, graduated from a vocational school and found a job at Shanghai Ba-Shi Trolley Bus Ltd in June to begin her working career in a regular grassroots job. She previously worked in customer service.
The media smelled a tantalizing, if superficial and invasive, story about her - a sign of declining mainstream media and public tastes.
Netizens started gossiping about Gu's birth date, educational background, her stylish dress (she doesn't always wear a uniform) and hairstyle. Some local newspapers have published entire pages of stories about her. She plays down the uproar and says she doesn't plan to seek another job.
Some reporters also took Gu's No. 934 bus, shuttling between Guoshun Road E. and People's Square, despite passengers' complaints that the coach was overcrowded with people trying to spot her.
One commuter who took the No. 934 bus every day told me Gu wasn't as pretty as Netizens had described, saying the bus had become so crowded by "sightseers" looking for Gu that it was inconvenient to take the bus.
To calm the situation, the bus company has placed Gu on temporary leave (by law it must be paid leave) and it refuses media requests for interviews. This is not a happy outcome.
Let's hope she can return to work since the problems are not of her own making but caused by the media's and the public's bizarre fascination with her age and so-called pretty face.
The bus company reportedly had recruited 25 young conductors, men and women, including Gu, but none created the same stir.
Maybe some people just thought a girl with pretty face "deserves" a better job.
Yikes! What's wrong with us? Who can say being a conductor isn't a good job. It's air-conditioned, the job is (or should be) secure, the pay is stable, and conductors can watch the world go by.
Gu's company had promised her a bright future when she was studying in night school for a college diploma and a chance to better her life.
Now Gu is experiencing some of the same problems endured by celebrities, though she surely doesn't have the income to match.
Some media pursued her as they did Andy Lau, a Hong Kong singer, who recently was discovered to have gotten married secretly to avoid the media hounds.
Now Gu, a girl next door, has had her life turned upside-down because of silly citizens and reckless, boorish media.
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