I'm not Asian but I did marry into a Chinese family and the closest man I ever had to a father is my Wushu teacher who passed on the school to me and also happens to be Chinese. I hope I am welcomed into your thread.
I am living in Beijing for a while and I'm only in my 2nd week. I was riding the subway today and I nodded and smiled to a woman across from me. I'm the type of guy that if we meet eyes, I acknowledge you, smile and nod. Man, woman, young or old. That's just what I do. She smiled back and said hello in English. I asked if she spoke English and simple conversation started.
She asked if I had wechat, it's their allowed social media, it's all the rage in Beijing! It's like miiverse but with AMAZING video chat. When I pull out my phone the guy sitting next me started saying something. By the looks of her face and her friend next to her I can tell it's no good. I just figured the guy was saying be careful of foreigners or something so I just smiled and tried to roll with it.
He keeps talking and talking and talking, then he begins to get just a little louder. I start looking around the train and everyone's faces are in shock. People are leaning over and looking at me with these... expressions, I don't know! I didn't even try to understand what he was saying but the way people were looking at me I just started to shrink inside. On the outside I was cool and just smiled, though I could feel the discomfort setting in.
Both ladies were trying to say something to get him to just stop and the embarrassment on their faces was clear. I felt so bad for them. My stop couldn't come soon enough. I looked over at one girl down the train just staring at me with the biggest eyes ever. I couldn't bare to look at anyone else.
I got up, I said "sorry" in mandarin and I got out of there. The two ladies got of the train as well and just waited for the next one to pass. They couldn't stay on that same car with the man. I don't know what he said but their faces man! I thought one of the ladies was going to cry. To make light of the situation I just smiled, laughed and told them it was ok and that things like that happen from time to time. They kept apologizing to me saying that "Chinese people aren't like that, they are very friendly" etc etc. I asked about what he said and they would not dare to repeat anything.
When I said good bye to the ladies I could feel my lips quiver trying to force a smile. I hope they couldn't see through my facade. I was worried that If they thought I felt bad they might have felt even worse.
Just in case you are wondering I am half black and half white. I identify myself as mostly black(what ever that means) as I only knew that side of my family and I'm very light skinned. I've dealt with all kinds of jacked up stuff before but this today was different. For what ever reason the whole situation just made me feel really bad and I don't even know why. I can only guess not being able to defend myself is a reason. Not to mention my imagination is running wild about what the man could have said! It's probably not as bad as I am assuming but the people's faces! I don't want anyone to ever look at me like that again.
Just last week a taxi wouldn't take me because he straight up said he was afraid of me. I thought it was the funniest thing ever and didn't think twice about it beyond wanting to tell a funny story to friends. This however, this was different.
If I can post a pic, maybe you can tell me if I look threatening, hahaha!
Still love Beijing though!
