It's not polite to stare!

But apparently China hasn't gotten that memo.

I was watching ESPN today in between Olympic events. They had a segment called Encounters. The interviewer was in Tiananmen Square talking to tourists and visitors in Beijing for the Olympics. He talked to Michael from Holland who recounted experiences where Chinese people asked for pictures of him and with him. He wasn’t abnormal looking, just and average Dutch guy – not overly tall or blonde or anything.

Anyway, it’s nice to know it’s not just me. I wandered around Xiamen a bit more this afternoon. I don’t mind when people take a good look. I get that a fair amount the US. But the intense and unending stares are already getting old.

This afternoon while I was in the park reading my book, I thought to myself, “What would I do if someone 8 feet tall and bright purple walked by?” I have to assume that’s equivalent to what the people of Xiamen think of me. Anyway, I think there would definitely be a double take involved and maybe a glance or two when I thought purple guy wasn’t looking. With that in mind, reasonably, I have to accept it when the people of China check me out in a similar manner.

But! At least 10% of the people that find me captivating aren’t just taking a good look and moving on. They seriously walk by with their eyes fixed on my face or legs, mouths hanging open, rubber necking to the extreme. Honestly, one guy nearly fell off his mo-ped because he was busy rubber necking. A few people have even stopped walking and turned around to watch me walk the other way. How do I know? I’ve taken to staring myself.

Most people that sneak a peak or just look, I ignore, but I’ve adopted the theory that if someone is going to stare at me, I may as well stare right back. So, now I give them a little smile and rubber neck right back until they look away or until I trip on something (that only happened once).

I just hope that I’m not offending half the Xiamen population. Since so many people stare at me, I assume that it’s acceptable to stare back… but I should probably ask someone I work with just to be on the safe side. I really don’t want to end up explaining to the Chinese police why some guy I’ve never met tried to beat me up.