Staring at a Dragon

I walk into the subway car at Xitucheng station and find a place to stand toward the center of the car. In front of me sits a tough looking kid in his early 20s, his hair closely shaven, wearing hip young clothing. He looks like he's a rock star, actually. He's staring at me, as so many people do throughout my days in China.

I sometimes get tired of these stares because, frankly, they don't look friendly to me. Indeed, I think because Chinese society is so homogeneous that, sometimes, they aren't that friendly and are more like the way someone might look at a miniature dragon as it walks into a subway car. But I know this is only fear of the unknown, and I also know that many times it is only simple curiosity. Perhaps someone wants to look at the bridge of my nose or the shape of my face. I have hazel eyes, maybe they want to look at them.

I've talked to some of my Russian classmates about this and we all agree--it happens too much and we get tired of it. (Perhaps this explains the t-shirt I saw on one foreigner here saying: 你看什么看！("What are you looking at?!")). One day in class, we shared our experiences with our Chinese teacher, who was surprised to hear our stories.

Having lived in China for a little while, though, I've learned not to get upset. I'll usually break the stare with a smile and the person will usually respond with a smile. I suppose it is good "PR" for us laowai.

Today, I give the tough rock star a smile and he smiles back. Ten minutes later, he gets up and walks to get off the train and looks back again. I give him another smile and he smiles again at his new foreign friend. There's a certain innocence and friendliness about many Chinese people that I see often, and I like it.

Perhaps next time, it'll be no big deal the next time he sees a dragon on the subway.