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Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Who says all Chinese look alike?
The longer I live here, the less "Chinese" anyone
looks!
I'm not talking about my Tibetan student, Uyghur
friend, or John's Southeast Asian classmates, all of whom have obvious reasons
for not looking Chinese. What I mean is that when I look into a crowd of Chinese
people, I see almost as much variety as I do in Cambridge. Kunming has an
astounding number of Chinese residents who look like they must have had Jewish,
Italian, or Irish grandparents. What's more, I'm not just seeing white people.
There are plenty who look Latino or African-American too. Recently, I've started
to notice an occasional WASP Chinese. I suppose it's no surprise that these are
the same groups that dominate my social life in
Cambridge.
When I say to John, "Don't you think Zhu Jing has the map of Ireland all over her face?" he looks at me like I'm crazy. "No," he says, "what I see is the map of China." Fortunately, my American friend, Nancy, shares my vision, so when we are on the street together, we point out the mafia dons, Irish pols, and the yeshiva boys who must have left their yarmulkes at home.
When I say to John, "Don't you think Zhu Jing has the map of Ireland all over her face?" he looks at me like I'm crazy. "No," he says, "what I see is the map of China." Fortunately, my American friend, Nancy, shares my vision, so when we are on the street together, we point out the mafia dons, Irish pols, and the yeshiva boys who must have left their yarmulkes at home.
Posted: Wed - December 10, 2003 at 08:01 AM