better than having your head bashed in or stabbed in a eastern european country, or being harassed to show your passport.
although when i was in russia the small town i was in, it was somewhat the same thing, people wanting to take pictures of me, if my skin rubbed off
My teacher told me she visited Asia with her family. People thought they weren't real because of the colour of their skin so they reached out and touched them all the time.
haha, reminded me of this reddit thread.
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/gh306/ever_wonder_what_being_a_black_man_in_china_is/
@ the girl shooting the bird
This is pretty accurate man.
- It isn’t easy being the outsider. Not being able to understand the language and non-verbal cues of a society makes it really hard to communicate. We need to be more forgiving of those who come to our country lacking the same.
- Having your every move documented gets old, and quickly. The celeb-obsessed culture prevalent in many parts of the world can desensitize us to what it’s like to be on the other end of the lens. Our experience in China showed us how photo taking can go over the line and taught us to be better at respecting each other’s privacy and personal space.
- If you don’t like having your picture taken without permission, assume others won’t as well. After China, we began to think twice about photographing locals just because we could. If we didn’t know the language, we’d motion to the camera and secure a nod before releasing the shutter. If anyone looked uneasy or refused, we moved on.
- You have the right to say no. This was an especially important lesson for our kids, and provided an opportunity to show them the power of their own voice. Our guide taught them how to say “No, thank you” in Mandarin and empowered them to refuse a photo if they wanted. If someone approached us, we asked the kids if they wanted to be a part of it rather than answering for them. Their confidence grew when they knew their opinions would be respected.
- There’s almost always common ground. We stumbled upon a local park where, for a few dollars, we could dress up in authentic period garb and pose for photos. Though the outdoor stage meant that, once dressed, the entire park could see us in full regalia, we jumped at it. After putting on our hats and robes, we stood together for the world to see. People came running over, cameras out, laughing and pointing. We caught a glimpse of ourselves and laughed right along with them.
http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/18/being-black-in-china/
@Tommy Knocks do people touch your hair and pinch you over there?
what kind? ive had my picture taken without permission, I stop traffic, have people follow me in aisles. I dont have hair so they have nothing to touch, but some girls call me beautiful in chinese (they dont know I can understand them). All kinda shyt man. The mean mugging gets old fast, I really REALLY hate stares, but wtf can I do about it? like I walk by people, and then turn around, and sure enough they're staring. Its just my instinct being from LA to want to be like "TF YOU LOOKIN AT nikka", but you just let it slide. I have snapped tho....I can't even front....
