There are plenty of articles on what it’s like to be a foreigner in China. The constant stares, locals coming up to you for a picture and endless English-teaching jobs are deeply embedded in your journey through the country. Your “foreigner” status is stamped on your face wherever you go. But what about those of us here who evade all of that? What’s it like to be a fully Westernized ABC (American-Born Chinese) and how does our experience in China differ from that of, you know, “foreign”-looking foreigners living here? Based on my own experiences, I have identified several pros and cons to being an ABC in China.
1) You don’t get pick-pocketed as much as white people do
In the two years that I have lived in China, I’ve had my wallet stolen twice. My white Canadian friend, on the other hand, had his cell phone pick-pocketed six times in eight months. Thieves frequent public places, especially overcrowded ones like clubs and rush-hour metro stations. They scour their surroundings for easy prey, and nothing screams easy prey like a white person: they’re rich (from a Chinese POV), unsuspecting, and generally can’t speak Chinese well enough to get the thieves in trouble. Luckily, ABCs can camouflage in with the local Chinese, especially if they’ve lived in China for a few months.
Pro or Con: Pro
2) You don’t get asked for pictures
I once went to a theme park with a group of friends. Among us was a British girl with flaming red hair and light freckles all over her face and arms. She was sitting with us on the outer edge of a giant water fountain when suddenly a local Chinese woman yanked her up into a standing position without a word and forced her to pose for a picture. After the camera clicked, she tried to get away but the woman grabbed her arm and forced her to pose with another Chinese vacationer. A line started to form—at least seven other vacationers wanted a picture with the ginger. My friends roared with laughter as the British girl yelled at us for help. On the other hand, when I go anywhere with a white friend or classmate, the local Chinese automatically assume I am their tour guide. They ask me if it’s okay if they take a picture of my classmates, or even if I can hold the camera, which can be aggravating. But sometimes when I respond and they hear my foreign accent, we end up having an interesting conversation about cultural differences and traveling.
Pro or Con: Varies
3) Chinese strangers hate you because they think you are Japanese
You look like them. Your Chinese is terrible. To the Chinese, oftentimes this means you are either Japanese or Korean. Thanks to the WWII atrocities and the more recent disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, the boycott of Japanese goods and restaurants is high and anti-Japanese sentiment is even higher. “Now wait a minute,” you say, “there is still a 50% chance that I could be Korean!” Well, sort of. According to the old Chinese guy who had the nightshift at my former residence, there are crude formulas used to calculate what type of Asian a “non-Chinese” person is. From what he described, the formula goes something like this:
If (sex = “female” and height > = 165cm) Or (sex = “male” and height > = 175cm) Then message = “I like your country’s Gangnam Style!”
End If
If (sex = “female” and height < 165cm) Or (sex = “male” and height < 175cm) Then message = “Your ancestors killed my people!”
End If
The anti-Japanese sentiment shouldn’t bother you too much, but if it does, be prepared to announce you are a huayi (ethnic Chinese of foreign nationality), repeatedly. I’ve heard that anti-Japanese sentiment is much higher in rural areas than in cities, but what would I know? They like my country’s Gangnam Style.
Pro or Con: Con
4) You blend in a little TOO well
My friend’s roommate was an Asian-American. One day, he decided to go out for a jog. He wore a light blue tracksuit that he brought over from the US, then jogged through the streets of Shanghai. During his jog, he was repeatedly stopped by the local Chinese. They would hand him their trash. He found out, too late, that the street cleaners in Shanghai wore the same light-blue uniforms. Although we ABCs can blend in with the local Chinese, we don’t really know the culture or the lifestyle. This means we are subject to the same social blunders as our non-Asian counterparts, but without the oft-relied upon “I’m just a crazy foreigner” excuse. Even when the locals learn we were born and raised in a different country, they still expect us to act far more Chinese than we do. One thing that bothered me far more than it should have was the utter lack of support I received when studying Chinese. Even after shutting myself in my room and studying furiously for several hours a day after class, I was still scolded by complete strangers for my accent or for misunderstanding a sentence here and there. Imagine my annoyance when I went to the mall with the worst student in the class and he received excessive praise for a simple ni hao.
Pro or Con: Con
5) You get paid less than white people do
A former classmate of mine applied for an English-teaching post at a small private school. She was born and raised in California and was a graduate of UC Berkeley, majoring in both English literature and history. When she applied for a job teaching English, however, she was told she could only receive half of a Caucasian teacher’s salary due to her Chinese heritage.
“Why?” she asked.
“You have an accent,” her interviewer replied.
The conversation was in English, because my classmate could not speak Chinese.
“But I don’t have an accent,” my classmate said, “listen to me speak.”
“Well, my English isn’t very good,” her interviewer admitted, “so I can’t tell whether or not your English sounds authentic.”
“How can I have a Chinese accent if I can’t even speak Chinese?”
“That is another problem. If you could speak Chinese, you could explain grammar rules to the students.”
Though the interviewer’s reasoning was unfair, I don’t blame her for offering my classmate a lower salary. My classmate’s Asian appearance would have hurt the school’s reputation. In a country as competitive as China, parents pay enormous amounts of money to push their children’s education. Much of that money goes into getting their children to learn English. Private schools see an opportunity to make money and promise “native speakers.” To the Chinese, a native English speaker is synonymous with someone white…anyone white, really. Foreigners from France, Germany, and Russia who do not even hold bachelor’s degrees, much less teaching certificates, are instructed to lie about backgrounds while qualified Asian candidates are paid a fraction of their salaries. Though this may sound disparaging, fear not: teaching English in Chinese private schools is shady business in general and your qualifications for those jobs do not affect your qualifications for more legitimate jobs. I myself have made plenty of extra cash from tutoring and from teaching adults at a software company—these jobs did not concern themselves with my physical appearance; instead, they focused on what I could offer.
Pro or Con: Con
6) You are more approachable to the Chinese
When I was hired for an office job at a Chinese company, I was immediately accepted by my fellow coworkers. They had no trouble approaching me to discuss an upcoming project. A few of the male employees even asked me for a date. I was invited to soccer games, basketball games, and even the company’s World of Warcraft group. The other foreigners at the company did not receive the same welcome as me. Most of them had no interaction with coworkers other than what was necessary for work. It wasn’t out of malicious intent—my Chinese coworkers were often too shy to approach them as they had approached me. Being able to connect to my Chinese coworkers was an incredible experience. Not only did I get to meet new people and make new friends, I also gained a better understanding of my workplace and its intricacies. I could share my opinions and impact the content in future company products. While the other foreigners did only what they were instructed to do, I was able to expand my duties. It would not have been possible had I not been approachable, and so the very things that hindered me during my stay in China were also the ones that helped me gain a better understanding of the country.
