As I experience life in China – mainly on campus – I’ve noted some things that I was not familiar with, with regard to Chinese society. Two of note that I was informed of, the rest picked out by my astute eye. I’ll try to not break my arm as I pat myself on the back for my powers of observation; I kind of need it to type. Here are my observations (and the two nuggets I received), in no particular order:
Chinese people, unlike Chinese movies, do not come with subtitles: Intellectually I was aware of this, and you may be too. However, I spent a great deal of time in the States preparing for this Chinese adventure by watching Chinese movies with English subtitles so I could get used to the rhythm and pattern of speech, thus subtitles became an integral part of my understanding Chinese dialog. Also, I study Putonghua – the common language, and that is what I can speak a little of. Unfortunately I cannot make heads or tails of this regional dialect. The older citizens speak it freely; the younger citizens speak a mishmash of dialect and Putonghua. If I have to ask for directions, I usually approach a younger person. They are more likely to respond using the Common Language, and if I’m really lucky, they might even try out their English skills.
Women protect themselves from the sun using an umbrella: On any given sunny (or hazy) day, someone of my height will have to dodge the seemingly continuous roof of umbrellas that women use to protect themselves from the sun. Chinese women being a bit shorter than I am, their unfurled umbrellas are usually at my eye level; if I’m not careful I could easily incur an eye injury. Interesting culture difference: in America, tanned is healthy, in China tanned is indicative of peasantry. Refined folk – women, are to be fair-skinned. I later learned that most women own two different umbrellas; one for sunny days and one to use in the rain. When I asked my informant what happens if the day starts out sunny and then turns to rain: do they carry two umbrellas? She laughed and said that then they only use one umbrella; usually the one reserved for rain so that the more ornate ‘sun’ umbrella does not get water damaged.
Women are not to go about unescorted at night: I was informed of this tidbit and the next one shortly after arriving on campus, much to my dismay. Chinese life ‘happens’ at night; that is when the street vendors hawk their wares, when the people hit the streets and parade around, when housewives bring out the boomboxes and dance in the square. Apparently my former lone nighttime wanderings were tolerated because I was a foreigner and a tourist, but as a member of this teaching institution I am to set a good example and do nothing to deny/decry Chinese culture. It would not be appropriate for my female students (who do go out in pairs or gaggles) to see their esteemed professor flout Chinese culture by stepping out by her lonesome. Unless I have an escort, I am compelled by this social edict to spend evenings in my apartment. (That seriously impacts my ability to establish social contacts, but it is a great time to blog).
Women are not to smoke in public, with or without an escort: While this particular social more is neither here nor there considering the air quality itself causes me to hack like a chain smoker, I find it quite the double standard that men can puff away anywhere their lungs desire but women cannot, even though statistically, equal numbers of men and women in China smoke. Again, in order to set a good example for my students, I do not light up anywhere on or in the vicinity of campus, even though Chinese custom dictates that, upon meeting someone for the first time, you offer them a cigarette whether they are male or female. Thus I have been offered cigarettes, but was not allowed to smoke them. Right now, I don’t think my lungs could stand it, anyway! (NOTE: never thought China would be a deterrent to smoking!)
Physical affection is commonly expressed between members of the same gender: Boys (or men) together, or girls (or women) together commonly walk along arm in arm or hand in hand. Or, the more elegant ‘hand on the crook of the elbow’ hold is used, generally practiced by more mature women. It would be natural to think that this is certainly a non-homophobic society for all of these displays of same-sex affection, but in fact China considers homosexuality a crime. So if you see people of the same sex walking hand in hand or hanging on each other, it does not mean they are lovers, it just means they are observing their cultural right to express same-sex affection. Or, they are hanging onto each other so that they don’t get lost in a crowd.
8.9 million Chinese who work the same schedule: What do 8.9 million (population of Wuhan) Chinese people who work the same 9 to 5 schedule 5 days a week do on weekends? They all go out… at the same time. On weekends, you can forget leisurely travel through the city or the hope of a seat on the bus. You can forget strolling down wide avenues; the avenues are still wide but now are crowded by a sea of bobbing, black, shiny-haired heads (and umbrellas). And remember: they hold hands or drape their arms around one another, giving an additional challenge to navigating pedestrian traffic without breaking up a physically linked group. It seems nobody stays home in Wuhan on the weekend; everyone is out in the streets, in the malls, on the busses, on the ferry. If traffic is heinous during the week, it is flat murder on the weekend. Any plans for outings must start at 7AM or earlier or you run the risk of not being able to realize your plans. That would mean that I wouldn’t get back to campus before dark… shame on me for flouting rules!
Chinese people will do anything to approach a foreigner: Young or old, regional or migrant, male or female there seems to be no restraint when it comes to approaching a foreigner. Especially a tall, blond, big-boned female foreigner. While out, I’ve had my arm and other body parts touched, my hair tousled, my clothing tugged on, and have been shouted ‘Hello’ more often than I care to count. I have stopped traffic, literally. While standing at a street corner to waiting to cross, more often than not traffic stops, car windows are rolled down and gape-mouthed stares are directed at me, resulting in angry honking from the vehicles behind the starer… until they get a load of what is being stared at. I know I am no raving beauty, nor am I particularly noteworthy in appearance other than my 6’ height, but I am treated like a combination of royalty, beauty queen and freak of the day. Some days I’m used to it and shrug it off, other days it is nothing short of annoying. Like the time I entered a restaurant and two small children pointed up at me and shouted ‘wai guo ren!’ – ‘foreigner!’ I felt like pointing at them and shouting back ‘xiao hai zi!’ – ‘small child!’ It was one of those days. I suppose I would damage community relations if I mocked China’s most precious resource – children, so I stopped just short of teasing them. I simply smiled and waved. They were either terrified or elated, but they quit shouting and ran back to their mother. Beggars are no exception; whereas they stand idly rattling their few coins in tin or paper cups while Chinese citizenry pass by, I am chased down, prodded and have their collection cup shoved directly beneath my nose. I do not like the stench of that.
So there you have a few idle observations of Chinese idiosyncrasies. Next post, we’ll go back to chronology and I’ll tell you about my first class, where people are actually supposed to stare and pay attention to me.
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