“You look like a foreigner”
C.’s grandma had a little accident at home a few days ago and she fell and broke her hip. She had surgery on Friday and currently stays in the hospital.
I went to visit her on Saturday. In China, you don’t really get a single room in a hospital unless you go to a private one and are ready to part with a good chunk of money. So, Grandma stays in a room with 3 other elderly ladies. When we enter the room, several other relatives are there already. Among them, C.’s cousin and his girlfriend, who is Indonesian.
My arrival caused a small commotion in the room.
“Are you a foreigner? You look like a foreigner”, one of Grandma’s roommates said.
“Of course she’s a foreigner”, someone told her.
“Yes, yes, she must be a foreigner. She looks like a foreigner. But that one (referring to the Indonesian girl) doesn’t look like a foreigner, she looks like Indian”.
So it seems for old Suzhounese ladies, people from India don’t count as foreigners! That is weird, as I thought that traditionally, for Chinese people, there were only two types of people: Chinese, and Foreigners (that speak Foreignish, of course), so an Indian should count as a foreigner… right? (Even though she is not Indian but Indonesian!).
One of the newer hospitals in Suzhou (not the one Grandma stays in, I didn’t take pictures of that one).
Grandma is a very strong lady and she is recovering just fine, although she is quite bored in the hospital and the other day she even dreamed about playing mahjong!
Sorry to hear that C’s grandma had a fall. Hope she rests well and recovers soon. If she gets bored, she can talk with the other lovely ladies, they sound very chatty. Maybe they are thinking that if you’re not Asian, then you are Foreigner :D
Thanks, Mabel!
Yes, I guess for them “looking like a foreigner” means not looking Asian. Although the Indonesian girl looks really different from Chinese people, her skin is quite dark and her eyes are big and round. But well! :D
I hope your boyfriend’s grandmother is doing well.
I once went to visit someone in the hospital who was staying in a room with three other patients. One of the patient’s relatives was lounging around outside of the room and followed me inside the room. She was surprised when I pulled up a chair along side the person I was visiting. She said she came me because she thought I was lost.
Haha, right, because foreigners don’t go to hospitals to visit people? :P
I have heard this before, too. I think people assume I am from Xinjiang. I don’t look Central Asian AT ALL, but many East Asians don’t know that.
Wish C’s grandma a speedy recovery!
Thanks a lot, Rosie!
Before coming to China my Chinese teacher told me people would assume I am from Xinjiang when they see I can speak Mandarin, but to be honest that didn’t happen many times!
Poor grandma!! Interesting that ‘Indian’ (really Indonesian!) didn’t count as ‘foreign’ with these ladies as I encountered a slightly different reaction.
When I would say that I live in India – this would be seen as completely bizarre. I mean why would a ‘foreigner’ (i.e. caucasian Canadian) chose to live in such a chaotic backwards place? A lot of negative stereotypes about India would surface and so it is surprising that India could be considered ‘not foreign’.
Flip it around and folks from NE Asia are called ‘chinky’ in India and treated as ‘foreigners’ even though India is their home! Sigh…
Indeed, the unequal disparity annoys me – that east asians treat south asians well in both China and HK (many many south asians in HK), but they repay them with hostility and racism.
Really? Are they discriminated against?
Sigh… yes…
The Chinese/East Asian-looking Indians are discriminated against in India. But, then again, India has a caste system, so they are bias even against those that look like them.
This reminds me of my MIL first time in Finland. Anyone who looked slightly Asian was Chinese in her opinion and even Finnish people with dark her she thought are Chinese or at least mixed as she believed that all Europeans are blond…
Oh, really? I would think she could tell the difference between a real Chinese and a random person with black hair, haha. It is usually the other way around in Spain, people see an Asian person and would automatically assume he’s Chinese when he could be Korean or Japanese…
Well, to be honest when C. went to Spain he was called Kawasaki by a joking street magician, maybe he looks Japanese? Or maybe the magician didn’t know any Chinese-sounding word, haha.
I guess most Europeans simply can’t spot the differences in r languages and also the facial structures. Usually a dead giveaway for Japanese are their legs :p
Hahaha, right, many of them have curved legs, right?? And guys usually wear very fashionable, pointy leather shoes.
I dont know about the shoes right now as they dont wear so fashionable clothes when going abroad (actually nearly all older men look like they go tracking or fishing this is how the clothes look like) but the legs, yes :)
I worked few years at the airport, my wife even more and there was a constant stream of travelers from Asia as Helsinki is the European Hub to Asia and vice versa.
Your boyfriend does look like a Japanese person. There is a Japanese baseball player in the US who looks like he’s related to C, and his name is Kawasaki! He currently plays for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Hahaha I didn’t know this guy! Maybe the nose is a little bit similar… but they don’t really look like each other! :P
Glad to hear Grandma is on the mend.
Foreigners are generally treated differently in the Middle East, including Caucasians, those with olive or brown skin. Foreigners from poor countries are treated badly (some worse than others) depending on their occupation and the country they’re in. Some Caucasians and others with olive or brown skin have had been been given a tough time by locals.
I have never been to the Middle East. But that is generally true everywhere, foreigners are treated differently depending not only on their skin colour, but mostly depending on the size of their wallets!
Perhaps there’s some relevance about deep wallets in some parts of the world.
It was pointed out to me that my abaya was very cheap (provided for by the company). I was the only expat in my compound who stayed in cheap hotels in less desirable areas else where in the Middle East.
The only time I was in a Chinese hospital was in Shanghai, for my bf’s medical checkup that his company required from him. I was stared a bit since I was just following him around I guess. So what’s a Chinese hospital room like? I can just imagine the worst: like in Spain you were really unlucky and get a gipsy in your room/area (and all his cousins and other relatives). Was it noisy? I’ll be staying in Shanghai and Hangzhou this August, but I don’t plant to visit any hospital, unless it’s the only place where I can get air con XD. I hope your grandma in law recovers soon and can go home to rest a bit.
PS: I had planned my holidays in advance when I didn’t know about the summer policy about banning foreign movies in the theaters on july and august. Watching movies in China is one of my fav things to do, since they have English subtitles so I can go there with my bf. Dammit (-_-; )
In China it depends if the hospital is new or old, but in general I think they are acceptable, except for the fact that there is no privacy and when you are in the doctor’s office someone can suddenly open the door and see you butt naked. Maybe I should write a post about hospitals! My experience is limited though, and as I have never been hospitalized in Spain (or in here, for that matter) I can’t really compare.
Uh? I didn’t know that about movies :? I just checked and there are at least 2 foreign movies being shown in cinemas now, one is the imitation game and the other is shaun the sheep, don’t know if they are old releases abroad though.
It took me a long time to distinguish between Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. Andy just rolled his eyes at me, like I was an idiot.
And then one day I said something about “over by the Greek woman” and he said, “Wait. How do you know she’s Greek?”
I am currently far better at telling Asians apart than Andy will ever be at distinguishing between Greek, Russian, Eastern European, Italian, French, English, Scandinavian, and German!
Well I don’t think I can tell most European nationalities apart, unless they open their mouth haha.
When I was in Beijing it was pretty easy telling Chinese, Korean and Japanese students apart though. But it was basically because of their clothes and style :P
I think some Asians overestimate their ability to distinguish between each other. Many of my Filippino friends get mistaken for locals by locals. It’s funny because a Chinese person will speak to them in Mandarin (which they don’t really speak) and I will be the one to reply. It causes a lot of confusion.
Best of luck to Grandma. I hope she has a good recovery.
I am surprised that an Indian/Indonesian wouldn’t be considered a foreigner. Interesting.
Thanks Nicki! I am sure she will be fine very soon with all of your good wishes *^_^*
It’s not that straightforward. I think this is generally how older generation Chinese thinks. Sometimes to them, the categories are: Chinese, Asians, Foreigners. Foreigners means the westerners. They probably didn’t think Indians (Indonesian really) are locals, but they would not classify them as foreigners too.
It is the same with most of my elderly relatives here. They have 华人 Chinese，马来人 Malay，印度人 Indians，日本人 Japanese，韩国人 Koreans，泰国人 Thai, etc…. and then finally, 外国人 for any white people..
Understood! Maybe I am just too picky on the language, but 外国人 should be everybody not from your same country :P
Yeah, the concept of foreigner in Asia, mainly has to do with Caucasian-looking people. As an American Asian in Thailand I wasn’t considered foreign or as foreign as someone else, like my friend Itzco from Mexico. I think it depends on the level of exposure and education of the person/people involved.
As far as hospitals are involved, I can only imagine the one Grandma stayed in, as there are plenty of “common class” hospitals that leave much to be desired around these parts. When I was 16 in Thailand, I remember having to go to the clinic and feeling like I was in a horror film. :P
Hahaha, I haven’t seen any hospital that was too bad around here. Never been on a hospital in the countryside though…
That’s funny what C’s grandma said about you and the Indonesian girl. I wonder if it’s bc when they say foreigner (I assume she said waiguoren, hopefully not laowai) they mainly refer to white people. Asians are foreigners in China too of course, but perhaps since they’re closer geographically, they’re considered different.
Hope she recovers soon.
I wonder how they would call black people then. Are they considered laowai… or something else?
Yes, they said waiguoren but I am more than used to hear laowai… It doesn’t bother me though!
Ha, I am not sure. Perhaps they go by the same too.
I have even been called laowai a few times but by people I know, not strangers.
Pingback: Going to the hospital in China | Marta lives in China
Haha this made me laugh out loud. My fiance is Chinese and he has opened my eyes to some very different views (including those of his slightly racist mother!) When he says “Asian” he means Chinese. He kind of includes Korean and Japanese in this but never South East Asian or Indian. On a slightly different tangent we have spent a lot of time in Japan and people often assume he is Japanese which can lead to some humorous moments, he has also been mistaken as Korean. He is unusual in that he was born in China but grew up in Argentina, then moved to Australia in high school (so he speaks Chinese, Spanish and English all like a native speaker) he quite enjoys the fact that people can’t quite figure him out.
I also find it funny that people will often assume we are not together – I was waiting for him outside a hair dresser once and he came out to see if I had any spare change, the old Chinese man next to me started reaching for his wallet (assuming he must be speaking to him since it didn’t make sense for him to be speaking to me!)
Hi Cat! Yes, it seems Asian often is used to mean East Asian.
My boyfriend is also taken for Korean or Japanese many times and I think one of the reasons is that he is seen with me, so he must be also a foreigner!