Is she a prostitue??

[beijingjenny]

Well, I've never, to my knowledge, had that problem here in BJ, or anywhere I've traveled. Or maybe I or my husband just didn't hear...

 

What we DO get all the time is people thinking he's my interpreter. This taxi driver in Datong was offering him a commission if I hired him to take us around. My husband played along and I pretended not to understand, all the while sniggering. thought it was funny because the commission would actually go back to me too... This has happened several times.

[oregonknl]

Beijing Jenny ~!!!!

 

 

"Turn-about is fair play ~!"

 

[awch]

What bullshit! No- it has nothing to do with the way we dress! It has to do with the way we look- I lived in Shenzhen before and everyone thought I was Russian. They would say hello to me all the time- and I am one of the most modest dressers I know- Oh- that makes me so mad- people always think if something happens to a girl it is her own fault- if she gets raped- she must have been drunk and acting loose right?

sylstillinchina: you're right.

 

I don't say anything back to people when they make these comments, I just ignore them, same as when people shout "HELLO!" at me. Actually I could care less what they think, it's just when it happens again and again it really gets me down about IGNORANT China still is!! I mean, it's the only country where this would happen. In no other culture is it acceptable to stare at people and talk about them in front of their face.

 

It just adds to my love/hate relationship with China.

[sylinchinastill]

Amber- I think it is fairly common for white girls to feel that way in China- especially with lighter hair and skin. One thing my husband said that I thought was interesting is that Chinese think Russians have really light skin and features and that Americans do not- and that is one reason why people think that. But even in Shanghai where there were a lot more foreigners I still received a lot of stares- It sucks to receive that and I know exactly how you feel. But try not to let it get to you even though they are ignorant and frustrating and sometimes you want to hit people. Because if you do let it get to you then you will ruin your time there. I seriously thought of dying my hair while I was there so that if people saw me from the back they wouldn't know I was a foreigner- people would literally see me from the back walking down the street and run past me and turn around to get a look at my face. I think busses and the subway is where I was the most frustrated- but just try to be a better person than I was in China- and a better person than the people who stare- and realize they can't help it- and I think you will have an easier time of things.

[beijingjenny]

LOL. Can just imagine the people running to stare. I can see hair color would make a difference. Me, I'm lucky to be dark-haired, short and small-nosed. Recently I dyed my hair a kind of purple for fun - was nice because people were staring more at my hair than the fact I was a foreigner.

[DaveR]

I know when I visited my fiancee in Sept there were a couple of times people asked if she was my interperter. She told them no she was going to be my wife and they are the ones that looked embarrassed. I knw I got a lot of stares in China, but it does not bother me, as long as my MM is next to me.

 

Dave

[Ross]

The Ni gai etc. expression is agood one, it means that you lose face for all chinese people, its not rude at all, but makes them lose a tremendous amount of face if they are at all educated. I also get stared at allot, Ive got curly light brown/red hair and a very light complaexion, it just shouts lao wei. However many chinese people dont think my wife is chinese, they seem to think she is either Japanese or abc and cant speak CHinese, because they continue to talk about us loudly on the bus like we dont understand, ok maybe i dont understand, but she definately does. Ive also pretty much gotten fed up with the rudeness and ignorance that you can find in China, and am very much looking forward to moving back to the states.

 

Ross

[chinadave2001]

Don't know about hookers, but I jsut read today that Shanghai has China's first HOOTERS Restaurant!  Now, I just need to convince Xiahong it's time to go home for a visit. 

what's the problem? It's a family restaurant afterall....

[eeyore]

I also received some stares, but I think most people were just cereous and for the most part I was treated decently by the Shanghainese. When I traveled to the small town of Xiang Shui both my lao po and I received a lot of stares and attention but it was all good. In the small town everyone was really friendly and enjoyed seing an American.

[sylinchinastill]

I think it differs with the town. In Shanghai and Shenzhen I was uncomfortable with the stares but in Xi'an it was kind of fun because people talk to you as well. We also got our picture in the paper in Xi'an because they thought it was so different to see a white girl with a Chinese guy I guess. Then, after the photo- when we were traveling around Xi'an people would come up to us and say, "didn't I see you in the newspaper?" Also in Xi'an we went to the countryside and people were so cool there- I wanted to see how people lived and we saw where people lived in caves and stuff like that. We also went to this cool Chinese old house where a number of families lived and asked if we could come in and they were funny, they said, "Oh- yes- the old foreign friend should see our house," and took us through.

I also felt frustrated in Shanghai because I speak decent Mandarin- but everyone on the street spoke Shanghainese- so it was hard to practice daily- the same in Shenzhen- everyone spoke Cantonese- If I ever lived there again I would want to live in Beijing but my husband doesn't like Beijing for some reason- maybe somewhere else up north- but the cold weather would be terrible!

[awch]

However many chinese people dont think my wife is chinese, they seem to think she is either Japanese or abc and cant speak CHinese, because they continue to talk about us loudly on the bus like we dont understand, ok maybe i dont understand, but she definately does. Ive also pretty much gotten fed up with the rudeness and ignorance that you can find in China, and am very much looking forward to moving back to the states.

 

Ross

Ross:

I agree, I'm getting pretty excited to move back. And for my future husband to see my country for the first time. I mean, I don't let the stares and all that get to me too much, otherwise it would make me hate China, but you always have those days where you're in a bad mood anyways and that just doesn't make it better. And he's sick of it too, he just wants us to be a normal couple for once.

People also often assume my fiance is Japanese. I've had people speaking Chinese to me, not to him, assuming that he can't understand! It's pretty funny when that happens.

Amber

[Stats]

Don't know about hookers, but I jsut read today that Shanghai has China's first HOOTERS Restaurant!  Now, I just need to convince Xiahong it's time to go home for a visit. 

I guess I am lucky, my wife loves the chicken wings at Hooters. I guess it is as close to "feet" as you can get.

[Robert S.]

What would happen if you said to these staring people, in Chinese, "Hey you, what are you looking at?"

 

What if you stuck out your tongue, I wonder what the response would be?

 

What if you had a little hand held mirror and you reflected their face back at them?

 

Being stared at would be pretty irritating but it would be better than being repeatedly being bitten by a goose the way one of our old members told about.

[Robert S.]

Don't know about hookers, but I jsut read today that Shanghai has China's first HOOTERS Restaurant!     Now, I just need to convince Xiahong it's time to go home for a visit.  

I guess I am lucky, my wife loves the chicken wings at Hooters. I guess it is as close to "feet" as you can get.

I imagine that will be a big success, but they are going to need their own in-house implant surgeon.

[beijingjenny]

Some of my friends do say that - "what are you looking at?" Sometimes people are embarrassed, sometimes don't care. I often stare back, and if they said "Waiguoren" may say "Zhongguoren!".

 

I was at a hotel in Chengdu earlier in the year and this little boy was playing on the rocks over some water. I told him to be careful in Chinese. He stared at me: "Are you Chinese?", obviously couldn't immediately grasp that someone not Chinese could still speak Chinese. I said I was and carried on. Next day, he called after me "Zhongguoren!", getting into the game. I asked if he was American and he said he was. Later I heard him tell his family I was American. Really cute kid, and smart too.