You're American?!?!

One of the very first thing we learn at BNU is how to say which country we come from and how to ask other students where he/she comes from. This makes sense on several levels since it's a good way to introduce yourself, and to get to know the other students; not to mention that it's generally a relatively easy statement (unless, apparently, you're from Kyrgyzstan, which is very difficult to say in Mandarin).

But when people find out that I came from the United States, their face often looks a lot like this:

Classmates, storekeepers, and cab drivers all tend to get this surprised, and somewhat shocked and confused look on their faces. It's not that they don't expect Americans to come to China; it's just when they hear "American," they expect to see someone who's Caucasian, not a clearly Chinese-looking girl stumbling to compose a coherent sentence in Mandarin.

It seems strange to me that my nationality is so perplexing to everyone. This is partially because I was raised in the United States, where they teach you from a very, very young age that "Americans" can all look very different from each other but it doesn't make them any less "American" than the other person. In the US there's also the idea of a duel identity. That is to say, you can identify yourself not only by the passport you hold but also by your ethnicity, e.g. Chinese-American, Italian-American, Palestinian-American, etc, which is a concept that doesn't really exist in many other places aside from the United States.

In addition, all my life my mom has told me,"If there's a small opportunity to make money, then there are Chinese people living there," which basically means, no matter where you go, there will be Chinese people living there. Through people I've met and my parents' acquaintances alone, I know of people of Chinese descent that reside in Spain, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil. To me, it's not that unusual to be of Chinese descent yet not have spent most or perhaps, any part of your life in China (or Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau, for that matter).

However, for some reason, this concept seems very foreign to Beijingers and even to many of the international students I've met here at BNU. People never guess I'm American on the first try; normally they guess Thai first (probably because I'm still tan from the California sunshine) and occasionally Japanese. As a result, I've perfected a short explanation of how I was born in Hong Kong, but grew up in the States. I'm never sure though if the person I'm speaking to understands what I'm getting at although more often than not they do seem less confused after my short speech.

Either way, it's just another part of life here in Beijing for me. Onwards to tomorrow, during which I'll probably serve to confuse even more people.

晚安! (Wǎnān or good night!)