If
my experience in China has taught me anything it is to expect the
unexpected. In China, a novel experience
is always waiting around the corner. The
only limit on how many new experiences you have is your own attitude. If you are willing to try something new out
then you are going to have a very memorable experience in China.
One of the very
first interesting things that happened to me this semester occurred while I was
on the street. I was near Southwest
University on my way to get some lunch when a stranger approached me with an
unusual request.
As a foreigner
in China, one learns the necessity of being adaptable in every situation. This adaptability is no more manifest than in
the type of work foreigners do in China.
I have been asked to record my voice for students learning English, work
as a "foreigner" in a bar, attend a business event as a foreigner,
work as an English Consultant, and teach test prep-courses all because I am a
foreigner. These offers now seem pretty
standard to me after living in China the last two and a half years. However, the request that this man had one
was quite different from the norm. This
man wanted to be filmed in a documentary he was filming about World War II.
The man later
gave me his contact information and promised to meet with me again the
following Monday. Monday came and went
without any contact from the director. His
strange actions exacerbated my fears that there was some type of scheme going
on. I first began to suspect foul play
when the director continued to call me almost daily. I was also nervous because by this time my
Chinese communication skills were still lacking; likewise, I had only been in
China for about two weeks.
When I did
receive a call the phone number traced to a user in Guangzhou, China which is
quite far away from where I am living.
After about a week of receiving daily phone call I finally accepted his
offer to meet in person. Our meeting was
set for the following Monday afternoon.
As a teacher, I
have learned to be able to adjust to just about every situation that presents
itself. Also, I have had the experience
of living in a vastly different society which has taught me the value of
flexibility. Even with this knowledge
and experience I was still anxious begin put into this unique situation. I knew that being filmed in a movie would push
my limits. In my life, I have had almost
no experience in front of camera.
When the man missed
the Monday appointment and failed to return my call I felt both relieved and disappointed. Regardless of my anxiety, it would have been
such an interesting experience to have been filmed in China.
Another strange
occurrence happened to me only a couple of days later. The scene was set at a noodle restaurant near
Southwest University. While eating
lunch, I noticed someone starring at me quite intently from the middle of the
street outside of the restaurant. I
really felt as if I must have been one of the world's most exotic birds from
the way that this man was looking at me.
Although, I was able to mostly ignore this stranger there seemed to be
something unsettling in the way he starred at me.
The next time I
saw this stranger was only a couple of days later. I was eating at the same restaurant enjoying
my noodles when I noticed that the same man had returned to verify my existence.
I was soon to
learn that my guest was an eccentric immigrant from Kazakhstan who had the
ability to speak several languages. The
man proceeded to ask me in broken Mandarin some basic questions such as;
"Where are you from?", "What are you doing in China?", and
"What is your monthly salary?"
After living in
China for a few years I have become accustomed to the inquisitive nature of the
local people of Chongqing. Traditionally,
Chinese people do not like to go up to someone on their own initiative and
strike up a conversation. The collectivized
nature of Chinese culture stresses the importance of group interaction, not
individual spontaneity. Thus, very
rarely does a stranger on their own come up to my table on the premise of
striking up a conversation.
In most
situations, an interested on looker will ask the store's manager some questions
about me in the local Chongqing dialect.
Since I can understand most of what is being said I do not mind this
type of implicit attention anymore. Occasionally, I will decide to shock the
questioners into a conversation with me directly. This action is quite shocking to most Chinese
people since they believe that it is almost impossible for a foreigner to
understand the local language.
There were
several quite unique factors which distinguished my communication with my new
friend that afternoon. First off, the conversation
included the usage of Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Kazakh languages. On top of that, my guest tried to throw in a
couple of words in English which only made the situation more confusing for me. After about fifteen minutes, I decided that I
had had enough and was on my way out the door.
For proprieties' sake I needed to make this exit a protracted affair in
order to make sure that I gave this person enough "face". Since living in China, I have learned how
important saving "face" and giving someone "face" was.
After
what I thought was an ample amount of "face" giving I bid this
stranger farewell; however, to my chagrin they were not going to let me go off
that easily. The man tried to pressure
me to have a few shoots of Baijiu since by now we were lifelong friends. Fortunately, for me I have learned how to
give "face" to someone now and still reject their offer.
The same noodle
restaurant would also be the location of my third special experience since
being back in China. The owner of the restaurant
chain is a very nice man in his thirties who really enjoys having an afternoon
conversation with me. The owner usually
sits down and talks with me when he is not too busy dealing with other business. He is an entrepreneur of sorts and currently
owns two restaurants in Beibei. Many of
his family members hold positions in the store which has the effect of making
it feel like you eating inside their home every time you come in. I almost instantly was able to create rapport
with the workers which is why I still eat there every afternoon.
One Saturday
morning, I received a frantic call from the boss of the restaurant asking if I
could do them a special favor. The CQTV
news company wanted to interview the noodles restaurant regarding their
"Chinese dream". The owner
really wanted to show off how modern his restaurant chain was; therefore, he
needed to have at least one foreigner fluent in Chinese during the
filming. After a couple of minutes the owner
was able to persuade me to give a little interview regarding my experience
eating noodles in his restaurant.
I need to make a
small digression regarding the topic of the "Chinese dream". The attainment of the Chinese dream has been
the focus of Chairman Xi Jin Ping since he took office as the head of the PRC
in 2013. The dream is based roughly on
the idea of the "American dream" and pushes people to set goals that
can be reached through economic progress.
During the
interview I was as cool as can be. I
actually really had a lot of fun doing it and was not taken aback by the
truncated process. After arriving at the
restaurant, I immediately was asked to go upstairs where the film crew was to
film my interview. When I got up the
steps I found a bowl of warm noodles ready for me. The owner would spare no expense in order to
make this interview look as natural as it could be.
The crew asked
me some basic question about my experience at the restaurant when eating
there. For example, I was asked
questions such as, "Why do you eat noodles"; "Where did you
first meet the owner of the restaurant"; "How do noodles in China and
America compare", etcetera.
After the
interview was over I learned that the episode would not necessarily be aired on
television. The network needed first to
edit the film and decide if the footage was good enough to be aired live on
television. After two weeks I was told
by the owner that our story was to be aired sometime in the next couple of
days. One night at 6:15 pm I received a
call from the owner telling me in fifteen minutes the story was to be aired on
television. Unfortunately, I was in the
middle of a workout which meant that I would be unable to see the live
story.
Disappointed, I
turned to watching the episode online on the CQTV video database. Unable to find the story on my own search to
the website I asked the owner if they could help me locate the story
online. To this day I have not found it
yet; although, hope remains since I know that the owner two would like to have
a record of this footage for advertising purposes.
The other day I
was told by someone in another restaurant that they had seen my interview on
the news. I asked them how they thought
my performance was on air and they told me it was pretty good. By this time in China I am not sure what to
think of that type of a response. Was it really
pretty good or were they just trying to show me respect by giving me
"face"?
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