Where skin color attracts curiosity

It's become normal for me to have to explain that I'm American, not African, and it's not uncommon for me to attract a small audience when haggling over the price of trinkets on the street.

I know these kinds of reactions are merely expressions of curiosity, but they can make me really uncomfortable sometimes.

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Some days, I don't want to be unique. I don't want my presence to elicit any kind of reaction. I don't want to provoke any particular thoughts or raise any particular questions. I just want to be.

But I know that, for as long as I'm here, I'll never be able to simply fade into the background. I knew that before I came, and I can live with it.

Things are a bit different at home. In the United States, a person who stares at me because of my skin color isn't curious. They probably just don't want me around.

Americans, more often than not, see skin color before they see anything else. Because I'm black, I'm expected to behave in a certain way. People in the US look at me and see a walking amalgam of every stereotype they've ever been exposed to. And when I start talking, they're confused.

The difference between China and the US is that, here, when I challenge the conventions thrust upon me because of my skin, the outcome is generally more rewarding.

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When I break the mold at home, rather than reconsidering what standard I'm being compared to, most will just decide I'm an aberration from that mold. To them, I'm a fluke. They'll recognize my individuality, and they'll pat me on the head for it, but who I am won't change their opinion of black people.

This seems to happen much less in China.

Chinese friends have told me their perception of blacks is largely determined by depictions of us in the media - depictions that are frequently unbalanced.

In the US, perceptions are also weighed down by media depictions, but they carry the added burden of a history of fraught race relations. I can challenge media depictions of blacks all I want back home, but it takes time to subvert centuries of social conditioning. Brief encounters, unfortunately, don't have long-term effects.

In China, a brief encounter can potentially mean a lot. Most Chinese can count the number of blacks they've met on just a few fingers, if they've met any at all. This gives my encounters with people here added weight and offers me an opportunity to use my presence in a positive way.

So if I have to endure stares and strange questions here, that's all right. At least I know some good may come of it.

Contact the writer at dlyndongardner@gmail.com.

For China Daily