Staring!

We get stared at. A lot. A LOT a lot. China is a very closed off country. Until recently it wasn’t easy to get in here. They have many visitors from outside Asia but nowhere near the numbers many other countries around the world experience. 

At first it was very difficult to deal with the constant and very blatant staring but since we’ve been here so long…it’s still just as strange! I wonder what makes them stare at us so much. I have narrowed it down to 3 possibilities.

1.     There simply isn’t a lot of westerners here, especially smaller major cities like Nanjing. It’s maybe the equivalent of us seeing an albino in the street. They are few and far between. They want to get a good look while they can. One lady spoke to me in a clothes shop and I believe what she was trying to say was that I have a large nose. No offence intended I’m sure, although it is pretty big, but our face structures are extremely different to theirs, our noses are massive compared to their little curvy buttons. This is most likely the reason why they like to stare.

2.     They think we’re celebrities. I’ve come to a possible conclusion that the majority, if not the only western/white people they see are movie stars and pop singers so when they see us, the assume we COULD be famous.

3.     They think we’re hideous. Like I mentioned in the previous point, they mostly see westerners in the movies or music videos. Beautiful glamourous people who are visually perfect. This is what westerners are to them. Then they see us. Our pasty white skin, bleak dress sense and funny voices. Not quite Julia Roberts. So the stares are simply looks of OH MY GOD! WTF!