When my brother turned 40 a few years ago, my whole family surprised him with a visit. We all wore shirts saying "Joe* is 40" and gave him a shirt saying "I am Joe". (*the name has been changed to protect the over 40) I am thinking perhaps he should wear that shirt around his town in China so the paparazzi can ask for him by name, or at least know who they are photographing. I mean besides the white guy.
During my stay in China I was asked twice to be in a photo. Once a very nervous young man (maybe 15) asked me in English "Do you speak Chinese?" I said "No, but he does" and pointed to my brother. My brother shook his head and the young man proceeded to ask (in English) "Could I take your picture." Of course I said, "Yes".
The second time, a little girl (about 7) came up to me, pointed to me, then to her camera. I nodded. She ran back to her mother and handed her the camera, then ran back to stand by me. I posed with 2 fingers up ('peace' to us, 'victory' to the Chinese). We saw nearly all the young people doing this particular pose.
Both of the requests happened while we were touring the Forbidden City. My brother and SIL were also requested to be in pictures there. For some reason, their tall, strawberry blond friend J (A.K.A. Slappy) was not asked. We were also not asked to pose as multiples, or as a group. It seemed the locals liked to separate us from our herd of four. Maybe they asked the slowest? The weakest? Maybe nobody would believe a photograph with more than one white person was real?
I toured China and took photos of all sorts of things. I took photos of people as sneaky as I could because I found their attire, or in the case of children, their lack of attire, interesting. I found the vehicles interesting. I found the sheer number of people intriguing. I took lots of photos, on the sly. When we were in the Forbidden City, it became quickly apparent that photos were being taken of us...on the sly. Once we caught on to this, we started being silly, flashing peace signs, smiling, letting the photographer know, that we knew. After we saw how blatant people were about taking our picture, I just started being blatant about my photo taking. Of course, I would be easier to spot in a crowd if the subject wasn't happy I took their picture...
J said "Sometimes you're the spectator, sometimes you're the show" (or something to that effect). We were the show an awful lot.
Little kids especially seemed in awe of the herd of white people. They would say "foreigner" (in Chinese) and tug on their parents sleeve. If my brother heard this, he would say "correct" (in Chinese) which really baffled the kids. Some school age kids thought it was funny to get real close to you (like close enough to lick you) and shout "Hello" (in English) then they would run away and giggle. I imagined a scavenger hunt... Photo with an American 5 points. Speak to an American 7 points. Photo with an American flashing the peace sign 6 points. Photo of American without them knowing 10 points.
If I ever go to China again, I think I'll wear a shirt that says (in Chinese) "photos available - 1 rmb". Or one that says "Tag me on facebook". If I had worn one this trip I think I would have 700 new tags.
We had loads of fun playing "Where's Waldo" China style. We would walk into a crowd, alone, and have another person from our herd take a photo of us. J was an easy spot because of his height and hair color. My SIL is a fairly easy spot as she is fair skinned and strawberry blondish hair. My brother is starting to blend a bit, but still is a white guy. I have brown hair and I'm short. I added a level of difficulty to the game. With the ever present "Great Wall of People" the game is tough, but makes for lots of laughs. (My brother is in first photo, I am in the next two)
Certainly the four of us were the talk-abouts at the dinner table (as in "Guess what I saw in town today"). We will also be featured in many "On my summer vacation" reports (as in "on my summer vacation I had my photo taken/said 'hello' to a white person!" They have the photos to prove it.
Now, if only China approved the use of facebook we could get on with the business of tagging.
No comments:
Post a Comment