And just who exactly do you think you're helping if you tell American women not to buy qipaos?
I'll tell you who you're HURTING: a large number of FEMALE Chinese entrepreneurs who have been able to move away from their factory work and go independent selling such dresses over the internet.
So let's add this up: the so-called sin of cultural appropriation actually involves a glorious and non-offensive mixing of cultures, one effect of which is to offer better pay and economic independence to women in a country where such opportunities have been few and far between.
Once again, the combination of cultural interchange and markets make the world a better place for some of its least well off.
I'd like the Western folks complaining about "cultural appropriation" to have to do it looking into the eyes of those women.
