"All over the world, no matter where I go in a Chinese restaurant, I am always greeted in Chinese for some reason. Whether in New York or Paris, the restaurant staff struggled to figure out my nationality and would stare at me for a while without moving. When I did speak, it was in Chinese. It seems I was born Chinese."
The writer told this to a Chinese friend, who said, "That's true.
"You do look Chinese. You do look like a Shanghainese."
It seems that after hearing this, whenever he went to Shanghai, the writer would wander around the streets.
When it comes to looks, I'm also close to Chinese in general.
Comparison of Chinese, Japanese and Korean faces (from left to right, Korean, Chinese and Japanese)
In the past, whenever I traveled to Europe, the kids would see me and say, "Ah, the Chinese are coming!"
In the past, when traveling in Europe, my children would always say, "Ah, the Chinese are coming! And in the earlier past, on the occasion of a family trip to Hong Kong and Macau, I tried to visit a casino and was stopped by the police in my car. The police completely ignored my family and pointed at me, asking, "You're Chinese, aren't you?". The police pointed at me and asked me, "Are you Chinese?". This was before the handover of Macau, and it seems that mainland Chinese were not allowed to visit casinos in Macau.
Both parents found it hard to understand, "Why is this daughter the only one considered Chinese? , but my affinity for China seemed to sprout from then.
As time passes and the planet continues to globalize, Europeans, Americans, and Asians are quietly and peacefully ****ing together in any given country. It is the same in China. In places like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, people gather from all over the world. Perhaps because of the proximity, Asians are especially numerous. Not to mention the Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Vietnamese, Singaporeans, Hong Kong, Thai, Burmese and Filipino ...... people come to China from all over Asia.
In such an environment, it is pointless to judge that person as a so-and-so, etc., and put them into a framework, but sometimes it creates an opportunity to talk to each other, and the judgment of place of origin is more or less meaningful.
Particularly good at determining place of origin are perhaps cab drivers. Most of the time, they can guess which Asian country a person is from just by looking at them. Excluding me, of course.
"You're Korean, right?"
"I'm Japanese"
"Eh? That's weird. There are Japanese women who are tall too."
According to his criteria, Japanese women are characterized as "short with thick legs". Korean women, on the other hand, are "tall and wear a lot of makeup". By the way, I don't wear that much makeup.
A long time ago, when my niece came to Beijing, she used to get compliments when she rode in cabs -- "How cute. You're really Japanese? You're as cute as a Chinese person."
Behind the "cute as a Chinese person" is perhaps the stereotype that there are very few beautiful Japanese people. Never mind, I won't go into it.
Also, on another cab ride, as soon as I sat in the front seat, the driver asked, "You're Japanese, aren't you?". The driver asked, "You're Japanese, aren't you? The reasoning was, "If you sit with your legs together while wearing pants, you're Japanese."
This is an accurate statement. Japanese women used to wear kimonos, and in modern times they often wear skirts, so they are used to sitting with their legs firmly together. Chinese women, on the other hand, have long worn pants and sit more casually.
For me, I can basically tell if a Japanese person is Chinese or Korean, not to mention Japanese.
If the lipstick color is purple and teal shades, it's a Korean woman.
If it's straight black hair, no foundation and a plain face, it's a Chinese woman.
If they wear very distinctive glasses, they are Korean men.
If you wear long-sleeved and half-sleeved T-shirts together, you are a Japanese male.
If you wear a down jacket with the sleeves down and the shoulders exposed at a department store in the middle of winter, you are Chinese.
This is a rough way to tell which country an Asian is from. However, when we see a European or American, it is very difficult indeed to determine exactly which country he or she is from. Is it American or British, German, Italian or Scandinavian? It's all very difficult to tell.
For us Asians, we all look like the same "white people", but from the "white" point of view, "we can tell immediately which country we are from! ". "It's amazing how you can tell just by the way you stand, even if you don't speak.
A Japanese woman married to a German man said, "When walking on the road, when strange foreigners ask us for directions, for some reason many of them are German. The other person seems to guess that my husband is German and that's why he decides to ask for directions"
And by the way, this woman's husband can basically tell whether the other person is British, French, American, Canadian, Australian, etc., just by their looks.
All mankind are brothers, nationality doesn't matter! That's always been my position, but for the sake of communication, if you can make a general prediction, you'll undoubtedly talk more vigorously afterward.