I have decided to catch the bus to go to work every morning. It's only three stops and it costs me 2 yuans, its is cheaper and quicker than a taxi. At 7-730 am it is not always quick to find an empty taxi. I am the only white person on the bus and even while I am waiting at the bus stop I feel the inquisitive look of the other people who are waiting there. As soon as I get on the bus I notice how the rest of the passengers look at me with a mixture of curiosity and rejection. The other day I sat next to this little old lady. She looked at me, realised I was foreign and immediately moved to another seat away from me, bitch!I've never felt that kind of racial rejection. I have been in situations where I've been an ethnic minority, but never rejected because of that.
As Lyman says, he also uses buses: Put three white people on a bus full of Chinese and you will create an national identity crisis! They find it really difficult to see us like normal people. This might look like a very futuristic city but in some ways they are still in the Middle Ages; well I suppose that is what makes them interesting.
3 comments:
Dear Mano-Lin,
This must really be a strange and rather unpleasant experience. It is such a big city and they will change their attitude in the next decade ot two. Shanghai will become more and more international- I hear and read about the city all the time! Look at the bright side of it- Later on you can say: I have been there when the grannies were still scared of foreigners and you can say that you were part of it what changed their attitude.
This reminds me of my home village on the country side in Germany. When I was young, Germany was still occupied by the Allies and our area was occupied by the Americans. My parents' home village has only 65 inhabitants. It is quite a bit to the former US military airport and there were no rooms to let anyway, so none of the soldiers were living in our village. But one day one of the farmers decided to sublet their basement to one of the Yankees which already gave the rest of the village enough reason to talk about for years. Can you imagine the gossiping when this guy turned out to be black? He must have felt like you do now I suppose. So you don't have to go back to the Middle Age- it's enough to go to the German country side =)
xxx
Ma Qui To
Ten en cuenta que son una sociedad que pasó del sistema medieval del imperio a el sistema actual, sin más. A la larga creo que se irán abriendo, no tanto por propia voluntad como porque los tiempos mandan, pero el cambio, los cambios, son siempre lentos, y más los del viejo dragón.
Besos desde Madrid
Pe Drin
Vaya queridos, qué atrasados están los chinos y qué adelantados nosotros
Anda Manolin, quejarte de ésto! con lo que te he visto yo quejarte de los betunos con cierto orgullo
Abre los ojos y no cierres el culo, para que la energía corra
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