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Thread: Do you have such encounters, foreign friends?

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[quote=LEONARDO,298348]In the early days, the number of foreigners in China was very small. Very often, the foreigners who walked in the street were stared at by the Chinese nationals. The foreigners were thought to be the objects of an intense but benign curiosity. In the recent years, the number of foreigners in China has increased by leaps and bounds as China goes international.

Well, several days ago, when I met 6 foreign friends (4 from USA, 2 from New Zealand) in Chongqing, they talked to me that they were followed by groups of Beijing people who nudged their their friends beside them and point at the foreign friends as if the foreigners were aliens who had just walked out of an UFO from another planet. I was shocked after hearing the news. My stereotype about Beijingners and Shanghainese is that they are supposed to be open and be used to foreigners’ presense since they live in China’s most cosmopolitan cities. I couldn’t know how to explaine the embarrassing situation. The foreign friends were humorous and said to me: “perhaps the crowds of your countrymen want to have a glimpse of our “round blue eyes” and “big noses”, as well as our hairs on the arms”. I said nothing but presented a gentle smile. In other Chinese cities, especially the small cities, most of the Chinese residents there have never seen a Westerner and they would stare at foreign guests. To the astonishment of me, that kind of curiosity also occurs in Beijing and Shanghai.

Do you have such encounters, foreign friends? When you wall in the street, does someone approach you and ask: “may I practise my English with you?” How do they address you?

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