外－curious

The term for a foreigner in China is 外国人 （ waiguoren）(wai sounds like why) . It means outside country person and thus means foreigner. One of my goals here has always been to make some sort of phrase or description that would catch on with the expat community, I started out with waiguoren dazhe (waiguoren discount, to describe the mark-up on goods and the refusal of store owners to haggle over price when they are dealing with a foreigner) but it didn't seem to catch on, with most people telling me that it was called good business. But I threw this term out in a taxi ride a couple days ago and it got a bit of a laugh, so I think I might be on to something, wai-curious.

Sometimes when you walk around China you feel like a bit of a rock star, lots of people are looking at you, they tell their friends who turn around to look at you, they want to take pictures of you, and sometimes you feel like an animal in the zoo for the same exact reasons. The pleasure or annoyance with these actions is usually a result of whether you are having a good or bad day.

The staring doesn't seem to me to have any ill-intent behind it. They are just curious (as it is normally one of the first questions they will ask) where you come from. I have had guesses that I am from France, Germany, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Canada, the US, some Chinese have even suspected I am from the west of China. I have wondered with my friends when the staring will stop happening, but we don't see it ending any time soon, whether or not the Shanghainese start accepting foreigners in their city and find it uninteresting to look at us, there will always be an influx from the countrysides and smaller cities, whose people have not grown up seeing foreigners.

But while the staring is a result of curiosity, this is not wai-curious.

There are Chinese people, usually in the 45-70 range, though occasionally some younger folks like to enter the mix, who simply like to observe the actions of foreigners, almost like they are preparing a report that they might have to one day give to the government. They are different from other Chinese not because they won't ask a foreigner a question, but because they won't even respond to the Chinese who work at the foreign hangouts, eateries, etc. who see their confusion and want to know if they need any assistance as if it is beneath them, and answers would only get in the way of their thoughts. (though this may be a Chinese cultural thing with the older men not feeling the need to respect or answer a younger man)

for example,
wai-curious are the men who walk into Subway restaurant and stare at you and what you are eating, and then at the line that is forming for these odd things that they have never seen, then looking at the food out in the open under the display case, then look at you again, never saying a word. All the while the Chinese "sandwich artists" are asking them if they would like to order something, if they want to get in line, or if they need any help. to which they never respond and eventually walk out.

wai-curious are the men who pass a bar on their bike while staring at the foreigners outside drinking, and then turn around to make another pass to look again. Rarely building up the nerve to go in.

I also like to think that these people go home and make broad generalities about foreigners to their friends and family over dinner as they have become experts on foreigners from watching them for a few minutes, mostly cause that is what I end up doing after watching the Chinese all day. More than likely they just go home, change into their pajamas (if they already don't have them on) watch a little TV, gamble, and go to sleep though.