Nowadays, every country is striking for having advanced technology to improve their standard of living. New products are invented to replace old ones. We can easily find skyscrapers in modern cities. Sometimes, the government will give up reserving those historical buildings because of the economical development. Yet, no matter how advanced the country is, it, to a certain extent, protects those buildings that are of high historical value. Thus, both things which are conventional and non-conventional co-exist, though not in equal proportion. In this essay, I will examine the contrast the Chinese society of the conventional  and modern Chinese society  in the early 20 century in the movie, Shower.

The portrayal of the modern shower station in the very beginning of the movie is to contrast the old Beijing bathhouse. With the use of advanced technology, the weight, the height and the skin type are identified by the computer once the customer steps onto the station so as to match with the way of washing inside the station.  Of course, this kind of technology can hardly be found in the traditional bathhouse. Modern shower station and traditional Beijing bathhouse respectively symbolize the mechanic and the manual Chinese society. It can be seen that modern Chinese society is much more advanced than that of conventional Chinese society. Customers choose instant service  to wash themselves before entering the station is another contrast to that of the traditional bathhouse. The longest time the customer can choose is only seven minutes. Yet, in the traditional bathhouse, people usually stay there for hours. The short allocation of time to wash oneself shows the tense life in a modern society, rather than a relaxed life. Yet, a modern shower station is solely for cleaning the body while traditional bathhouse serves as a community center where people chat with their old friends and discuss their problems with them to see if there are solutions to problems. As telecommunication in the conventional society is not so convenient as that in the current society; thus, going to a bathhouse is a good means to communicate with one another.

People’s taking the shower individually  in the shower station reveals that people in a current society tends to be isolated because of the advanced technology. However, people in the bathhouse take a bath with a group of people shows the difference between conventional and current society. In conventional society, people care the interpersonal relationship better. Moreover, they regard taking a bath in a bathhouse as a kind of social gathering and entertainment rather than, what people in current society think, a private task that they have to finish every day. People can play insects, have scrub and massage in the bathhouse. All these activities can’t be found in the modern shower station. Furthermore, though the machine used in the shower station is highly advanced and autonomic, it can’t help wash away the dirt of every part of an individual body. Unlike the shower station, people’s being served or washing the every part of body as they are not focus on convenience but cleanness. It can be seen that convenience is of the top priority in current society while comfort is more stressed in the conventional society.

Life is changing in the current society while that in conventional one remains unchanged. Everyday life in the bathhouse is identical. The time to open the bathhouse is set. The staff repeat the same thing every day, say distributing towels, sweeping the floor. Moreover, more or less the same people go to the bathhouse at a certain time. They will also take the same seat every day. It can be seen that life is identical in the bathhouse; thus, implies that life is nearly the same in the conventional society. This can explain why the elderly like to go to the bathhouse. It is a place where there is no change and they are familiarized with. Compared to the conventional society, the current society is fast changing. The economic development makes the district where Mr. Liu lives to rebuild. Thus, they have to move out.

Mr. Liu’s elder son, Da Ming represents people from a modern city while Mr. Liu and his younger son, Erming represents people from conventional society. Da Ming wears in a shirt and long trousers, which are of the common modern dressing of man in a modern city. Yet, Mr. Liu, Erming and people in the bathhouse wear vests and shorts. They remain in the dressing of the conventional society. Da Ming’s dressing makes a great contrast with those people’s in the bathhouse. As only Da Ming dresses in that way and his appearing in the bathhouse creates an odd picture. It seems that Da Ming, a modern man doesn’t suit into the conventional society. Being a modern man, a mobile phone is an indispensable tool. The use of a mobile phone and dressing the suit, for the modern man, Da Ming is common but not his brother, Erming who lives in the bathhouse; in fact, the conventional society; for life. Erming’s curiosity towards Da Ming’s mobile phone and his suit is resulted from his isolation from current society.

Being a modern man, Da Ming’s bringing the back massager into the traditional bathhouse for his dad, once again, contrasts new technology from current society and traditional methods   from conventional society. The service of massage is provided in the bathhouse. If people want to get this kind of service, of course, they have to pay for it every time. Mr. Liu is good at providing the massage service; even he enjoys having massage with the back massager. This explains that people from the conventional society may accept the products of the current society. Moreover, it is a must for the old and less advanced things to disappear. Mr. Liu’s appreciating the back massager symbolizes the replacement of the old things by the new ones. This means that it is the trend which advanced technology governs the world and forces the conventional society to gradually disappear.

All in all, in China, both conventional and current society still co-exists. Of course, the conventional society will gradually be minimized. It won’t be totally eradicated. Though we are modern people living in the current society, we still observe some of the old traditions and customs. Some of the traditions are deep rooted in our mind. They will be passed from one generation to another. Reserving some of the old and important traditions is vital. It can help teach our next generation, the future leaders about the tradition  and the past of their motherland.