Footware

The traditional footwear of the Chinese is sandals and these have their own particular sound as their wearers slide their feet along the ground as they make their way. The pace is often slow, perhaps because it's difficult to run with sandals, perhaps because the wearers are tired.

In the city, however, more people wear shoes. This replaces the lazy drawn-out sound of the slip-on with the shorter tap of the shoe. In fact, in the centre, people are more fashionable generally as they buy in to the lifestyle offered to them by all the 'trendy' shops.

Of course, with the change of footwear also comes the lifestyle that accompanies it. The adverts here use the imagery of the cool and fast. It does seem to be that the more one looks like the people on the adverts, the quicker the tempo of walking.