Ikea in Panyu

Visiting Ikea in China is a study in simulacra. Families visit Ikea together (just like we do!) and spend long hours “testing” out the simulated rooms in sequence. It was a method of shopping by “living imitation” that I have never experienced before. It felt like being inside of a first-person virtual reality game. Except it was actually in reality simulating a reality. It was interesting to watch my culture being “othered”….observing people trying out specimens from the West to determine which items could fit or were worth the attempt and which were not worth the effort. Interesting.