Let's pretend you're in a relationship where gender roles are traditionally defined. Sick and tired of feeling obedient to her husband, and blindly accepting his every arbitrary decision, the woman finally cries "I wish, just once, you could walk a day in my shoes, buster! Then you'd know what I have to put up with!"

Now, thanks to a rather odd initiative by the Chinese government, you can make that dream a reality.

The country is building the world's first "women's town" -- a place where women run everything, and men get punished for disobedience. With a motto of "women never make mistakes, and men can never refuse women's requests," the town claims to be emulating the traditional male/female dynamic in the areas of Sichuan province and Chongqing, but appears to be more about having fun with a novel gimmick (or just putting men in their place).

So, by 2008 (or so), tour groups will be able to enter the town, and women in the group will immediately be given total control. They chose where to go shopping, where to eat, where to stay, and any man who disagrees is punished by washing dishes or "kneeling on an uneven board."

Sounds like this is where Chinese men are heading every time they forget an anniversary.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, China