Comments on: Five Weeks http://storiesfrombeijing.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/five-weeks/ Stories from Beijing Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:37:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: Lucy http://storiesfrombeijing.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/five-weeks/#comment-456 Lucy Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:28:02 +0000 http://storiesfrombeijing.wordpress.com/?p=192#comment-456 Here, here! I had a similar experience forgetting my white face and big nose altogether. I found myself truly wondering why people kept staring at me whilst travelling on trains in China, although I also spoke Mandarin which made me feel even more Chinese. What annoyed me most was having to pay foreigner's prices when I really did not see myself as a foreigner. In hindsight the huge arguments I had trying to get local prices were incredibly arrogant!The wierd part is that I have Chinese looking friends in Brisbane who cannot speak Chinese and do not identify with being Chinese. They wonder why I find it all so fascinating. Here, here! I had a similar experience forgetting my white face and big nose altogether. I found myself truly wondering why people kept staring at me whilst travelling on trains in China, although I also spoke Mandarin which made me feel even more Chinese. What annoyed me most was having to pay foreigner’s prices when I really did not see myself as a foreigner. In hindsight the huge arguments I had trying to get local prices were incredibly arrogant!The wierd part is that I have Chinese looking friends in Brisbane who cannot speak Chinese and do not identify with being Chinese. They wonder why I find it all so fascinating.

]]> By: RubeRad http://storiesfrombeijing.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/five-weeks/#comment-443 RubeRad Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:34:06 +0000 http://storiesfrombeijing.wordpress.com/?p=192#comment-443 <blockquote>Imagine: I, a white person, wondered how a Chinese person could tell I wasn’t Chinese. Had I lost my mind?</blockquote>Reminds me of a similar instance in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Across-America-Peter-Jenkins/dp/006095955X" rel="nofollow">A Walk Across America</a>, after the author had been living and working in a black community in the American south, and one day surprised himself by seeing a white face in the mirror. <blockquote>“Must ethnicity always be an issue?” I’m tempted to ask. “Why not be American, simply American, like everyone else?” But it’s not that easy. Ethnicity is always a factor, felt on the inside even if not treated differently on the outside.</blockquote>What a powerful lesson in empathy you learned -- a lesson it would probably good if everyone could experience firsthand (is there any other way?) at least once in their lives.

Imagine: I, a white person, wondered how a Chinese person could tell I wasn’t Chinese. Had I lost my mind?

Reminds me of a similar instance in A Walk Across America, after the author had been living and working in a black community in the American south, and one day surprised himself by seeing a white face in the mirror.

“Must ethnicity always be an issue?” I’m tempted to ask. “Why not be American, simply American, like everyone else?” But it’s not that easy. Ethnicity is always a factor, felt on the inside even if not treated differently on the outside.

What a powerful lesson in empathy you learned — a lesson it would probably good if everyone could experience firsthand (is there any other way?) at least once in their lives.

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