Argentina’s New Hot Export? Polo Boots for Chinese Women

Asia First Snow Polo at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
A long-simmering trade dispute between China and Argentina may be finally settling down thanks in part to some highly unlikely common ground: the sport of polo.
For most of last year, South America’s second-largest economy and Asia’s largest economy have not been playing nicely. Argentina was raising restrictions on a range of Chinese manufactures. China, in retaliation, slammed the door on Argentinian soyoil, of which the South American country is the world’s largest exporter and, until the spat, China’s largest supplier. Argentina used accounted for 77% of the Chinese soyoil market in 2009. Last year, its share plummeted to 12%.
Lately, the situation has begun to improve, with a deal to resume soyoil shipments announced last week. The arguably more surprising development, however, has to do with another Argentine product.
In Beijing for a high-level trade mission this week, the secretary of Argentina’s Footwear Industry Chamber Horacio Moschetto told Dow Jones Newswires that Argentine shoe makers had managed to tie up orders from China. And while he wouldn’t say precisely how many shoes were involved, he did let on that a big part of the deal involved polo boots.
Fast forward a millennium or so: The imperials are gone but polo is making a comeback in China, thanks to the country’s new luxury-loving aristocracy.
And while the ranks of China’s new rich are dominated by men, Mr. Moschetto revealed an interesting detail: A lot of the polo boots to be shipped to China from Argentina are for women.
Possibly because the sport has only recently been revived in China, there are no statistics that break down the country’s polo players by gender. But the idea that Chinese women might jump on a horse and join in the fun is not without historical precedent. Among the Tang Dynasty terracotta statues archaeologists have uncovered, several appear to depict female polo players, suggesting that the 21st century isn’t the first time the sport found gender equality.
The China deal marks another step in the recovery of Argentina’s shoemakers, who have been battered by a series of ruinous economic crises and only begun to rebuild what was once a venerated national industry. Still, they face a tough challenge in trying to compete in a market well know for its ability to produce knock-off footwear.
Mr. Moschetto, for his part, seemed confident his cobblers would be able to compete. “China is a demanding market, but the quality of Argentina’s leather is very high,” he said.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not?), China Polo Clubs is largely staffed by Argentinians and has an office in Argentina too, according to its website. There’s at least one customer the South American boot-makers can count on.
中国和阿根廷之间一场酝酿已久的贸易纠纷可能要尘埃落定了，这从一定程度上要归功于一个极不可能的共同点：马球运动。阿根廷鞋业商会秘书莫斯凯托对道琼斯通讯社说，阿根廷制鞋公司成功地从中国获得了订单。他不愿透露订单的确切规模，不过说交易的大部分与马球靴有关。
自从英国移民在阿根廷推广马球运动以来，该国一直是马球运动的“堡垒”。而中国的马球历史则要追溯到更早的时候：据文献记载，马球早在唐朝就已经到了臻于完美的地步了，不过只有皇室才打马球。
如今，皇室已经不存在了，但随着喜爱奢华的新富阶层的崛起，马球开始在中国重新兴起。尽管中国的新富阶层由男性主导，但据莫斯凯托透露，从阿根廷发往中国的马球靴很多是女款。或许是因为马球运动最近才刚刚在中国重新兴起，缺乏对中国马球爱好者按性别划分的统计数据。不过，中国女性可能跳上一匹马，打起有趣的马球，这个想法并不是史无前例的。在唐朝陶俑中，有几个看起来塑造的是女性马球选手，表明21世纪并不是马球运动第一次找到了男女平等。