Where skin color attracts curiosity
Updated: 2012-10-16 10:13
By Darnell Gardner Jr. (China Daily)
|
|||||||||
On seeing a black foreigner, a Chinese co-worker remarked, "He's too dark." I looked at my skin - certainly lighter than my fellow laowai's but darkening quickly in the summer sun - and wondered what my colleague meant by "too dark".
For me, an African-American, these kinds of awkward situations crop up all the time in China.
Related: The fairest of them all is tanned?
"What do you mean, 'too dark?'" I asked her. She replied that she thought Beyonce was beautiful and assured me she saw nothing wrong with my particular hue.
And I believe her. I'm sure she sees me no differently than she does any other foreigner.
But with people like me being such a rarity in China, working out how others interpret my presence here has been a bit challenging.
Reactions to me have varied.
Related: When I'm under the weather the cure is colleagues
Once while caught in a storm, a friendly security guard invited me to take shelter with him in his booth. Tired of fighting against the wind and rain with my umbrella, I accepted his offer and took a seat inside.
The guard was elated. He fired off a string of questions, most of which I couldn't understand, and then took to rubbing my skin and hair. A few minutes later I'd exhausted my limited Chinese vocabulary, and my new friend was now asking to try on my shoes. I indulged his last request, gave him my thanks and left feeling like an alien life form.
Almost every day I have someone grinning and pointing at me. Sometimes they'll smile and wave, and sometimes they'll just look plain astonished.
- 'Taken 2' grabs movie box office crown
- Rihanna's 'Diamonds' tops UK pop chart
- Fans get look at vintage Rolling Stones
- Celebrities attend Power of Women event
- Ang Lee breaks 'every rule' to make unlikely new Life of Pi film
- Rihanna almost thrown out of nightclub
- 'Dark Knight' wins weekend box office
- 'Total Recall' stars gather in Beverly Hills
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Supplies pour into isolated villages |
All-out efforts to save lives |
American abroad |
Industry savior: Big boys' toys |
New commissioner
|
Liaoning: China's oceangoing giant |
Today's Top News
Health new priority for quake zone
Xi meets US top military officer
Japan's boats driven out of Diaoyu
China mulls online shopping legislation
Bird flu death toll rises to 22
Putin appoints new ambassador to China
Japanese ships blocked from Diaoyu Islands
Inspired by Guan, more Chinese pick up golf
US Weekly
Beyond Yao
|
Money power |