African in China
“I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York
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I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York,”
This is the chorus of a popular song by a British singer, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, popularly known as Sting.
These were my sentiments when I stepped foot on Chinese soil early last month in faraway Asia. Just that in my case, I was a Ghanaian (Black man) in China.
Aside from the change in climate and surroundings, I saw a difference in the way people behaved and acted towards visitors.
In my homeland, Ghana, it is very common for people to greet those they meet on the streets whether one knows them or not. It is considered disrespectful to step into a room full of people and not bother to say hi in Ghana.
I was amazed when in that Asian country called China, people would join a lift midway up and down without even taking a second glance at you let alone say hi. They behave as if you don’t exist.
However, this was normal practice throughout my three weeks sojourn in the People’s Republic of China where people meet you in the elevator and turn their faces towards the exit door in their struggle to avoid you.
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Others would look at you with sneers in a way that seem to query: ‘what the heck is this black guy doing here’?
Cultural differences
It was evident that the cultural differences were million miles apart and made the visitor know that he or she was far away from home.
For the first-timers, some of these acts would appear a bit abnormal and repulsive. Depending on where you are coming from. In Ghana, certain behaviours are considered disrespectful and 'abnormal'.
For instance, walking close to someone eating just to take a close look at him without uttering a single word would never be entertained in Ghana.
Initially, it looked a bit awkward and disturbing when in public places some Chinese of all ages would look at you with weird faces and make comments that you hardly understand.
Although in my part of the world, white-skinned people easily get mobbed by children on our streets, it was a bit ‘weird’ seeing grown-ups doing same to us.
Mobbing
As the days went by it became an everyday thing to be mobbed in town, particularly at malls by the Chinese simply because of our dark skin.
Some were simply excited to see a black man in their community for the first time and those who were daring enough, would ask to take pictures with us. These were some of the observations from my trip to China that saw me through as many as four provinces.
As I said, it was usual for visitors, particularly foreigners, to be mobbed in town by Chinese. We first experienced this when we went to the biggest wholesale market in China, Yiwu International Trade Fair Centre in the Zhejiang Province.
My boss and I were sitting in a parking lot eating lunch with yours truly trying his hands on the chopsticks for the first time.
Of course, for many foreigners, particularly those from our part of the world who are adept at using our fingers in eating, resorting to chopsticks will naturally attract the attention of people and it did. Within minutes, there was a swamp of chinese around us.
As expected at this time, these Chinese had no difficulty in coming close to you and looking at you as you ate, something that will be considered a bit awkward in Ghanaian society. Others would make noise to attract your attention just to give you the thumbs up that they meant no harm.
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Awkward experience
What I will describe as the most awkward experience happened at the Yiwu Commodity Market.
Still in the parking lot but this time in the bus that took us to the popular market; Most of us were in the bus having our lunch when a Chinese lady of middle age hopped onto the bus and tried to sell to us some cheap and low quality items.
After clearing a chesty cough and without any warning, she nonchalantly spat the mucus in the bus and continued selling her wares as if it was normal to spit in a bus full of people eating.
The collective reaction from us on the bus told her that it was not just unacceptable but very unhygienic to do that in the bus.
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We had to literally drag her out of the bus. But to her, it was just as normal as a Ghanaian greeting someone on the street.
Spitting
In China, I was astounded at the common sight of well-dressed people spitting indiscriminately on the streets and other places even in hotel lobbies. We visited one fibre-optic manufacturing company where the factory floor was littered with spittle.
Knowing that one could easily step foot on spittle made us walk gingerly.
A colleague of mine, who could not stand such things, was always on the lookout for anything that looked like spittle and would be the first to warn others to watch out.
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She would not hesitate to let anyone who spat anyhow know how despicable it was, especially when people were around.
Although she could not express her feelings in words, her facial expressions alone were enough to send the message home clear and sound.
Language barrier
One of the major problems faced by visitors to China is the language barrier. Very few people understand English.
It is very difficult getting information from a Chinese, even though most of them are willing to assist, their inability to communicate makes the enthusiastic effort fruitless.
Bargaining to buy products was mostly done using calculators. Whenever you ask for the price of items in the market, the Chinese would usually bring out a calculator and type the price on it while you go back and forth until you both agree on a price.
If you do not have the address of where you are going written in Chinese for you and have a picture of the venue, forget it. The taxi drivers will take you on a merry-go-round in town and would definitely take their money.
One nasty incident which happened to us was when we decided to go to the Digital Market in Jinhua. We had earlier been there in a group and wanted to go back on our own. Our escort wrote the name of the place in Chinese for us and we handed the address over to the taxi driver who nodded and asked us to hop in.
He tried using the GPS to locate the place but was unsuccessful and took us on a merry-go-round trip and later dumped us somewhere that was not close to where we planned going but still took his money.
Even though,we were new in town, we could tell that was not the place but how to explain to him that we were at the wrong place was another problem.
We shouted and complained but all fell on deaf ears as he was only smiling and kept pointing at a building to tell us that “this is the place” and waited patiently for his money.
Luckily, we met one lady who could understand some English and gave us the direction to the place and this time, the driver took us to the right place but that was an extra cost.
But in all, it was a nice experience, travelling the length and breadth of China, a country that is rivalling the super power, USA, in everything but claims getting to the top is not their aim, rather ensuring the welfare of her people is the priority.
Writer’s email: kwadwo.donkor@graphic.com.gh