Asking laowai for directions ​ ? ​

[vellocet]

It happened again the other day. I was out of my house waiting for a taxi, and this ayi wanders by and shoves a paper in my face. She's looking for an address in Chinese. Luckily for her I can read, and especially I can read the address of my own apartment complex. She's even going to my building. I pointed her towards the north gate, just across the way, and she thanked me and went on her merry way.

 

It just amuses me to think that this lady thought that a laowai, of all people, could help in this situation. It's not the first time it's happened, either. One time this fellow stopped me on my e-bike and asked me where to find the south station. I was like, buddy you are really in the wrong part of town and told him where the fast train station was. Then it slowly dawned on me that I was on Train Station Boulevard and that they used to call the slow train station the south station (this caused no end of confusion back in the day). I circled back around and sure enough the same man was still walking, directly away from the train station. It was a hot day and a long walk, so I told him to hop on and I'd take him right there. It was a straight shot down the boulevard and I dropped him off at the entrance. He tried to pay me ¥20 for the black taxi ride, but I told him to pay it forward. It still boggles me today that there were plenty of Chinese people around to ask, but he stopped me (back before helmet laws so I rode around totally exposed back then).  I mean, what are the odds the laowai can even speak, much less know enough about the area to know your destination, much less know how to get there. It's just charming.  

 

It's not like this happens often, especially in this age of smartphones and Baidu Maps. But it still makes me smile whenever it does.

[Lu]

It happened to me only once, in the winter of 2002 when I was bundled up in coat hat and scarf and only after asking me the asker realised I was a foreigner. (I didn't know the answer, we weren't in my neighbourhood.)

[realmayo]

I previously got the sense that in some parts of China at least, people are likely to ignore strangers asking for directions. Maybe a laowai is seen as a soft touch.

[suMMit]

I can remember this happening at least twice in beijing. One time I was walking down a hutong near wear I live and a woman looking for an address asked me in Chinese if the hutong goes through. I told her it did and helped her find the number she was looking for which was very near. 

 

The other time a woman asked me if there was a copy shop nearby. There was one in our community, so I directed her to it. 

 

Just a couple of weeks ago I was walking out our parking are and a guy yelled out his window “你能不能帮我一下? ”, I looked into the window and asked him what help he needed, he said he didn't realize I was a 外国人。 I said that maybe I could still help him, he asked me in Chinese to direct him out of the parking spot so that he didn't hit a nearby (parked) car. So of course I helped him. 

 

I agree, it doesn't happen much, but it makes you feel of a sense of belonging when it does. 

[Xtuphe]

Appreciate the experiences and the thoughts you share. I'm a Chinese from Henan(河南) and currently woking in Chengdu for two years, for me I go to work after wake up, and go home to sleep, don't have much time to hang around, maybe just because I'm too lazy,  there are times when I was asked for directions and truth be told, I totally have no idea where it is. The only places I know is where I work and where I live.  So maybe next time when I got lost I'll try to find one of you laowai to ask for directions.?

[Jim]

I've helped a few people out because we're right out in the sticks and I might be the only passer by for a while, but that's been me approaching someone lost rather than them asking first.

One thing recently I was pleased to do as I admire the man was help one of my elder neighbours push his loaded trike up a slope, He has a badly deformed back but you still see him out and about, slowly hauling heavy loads to and from his fields. He had a lot of fuelwood and there's a steepish bank on one of the paths out back where I walk the dogs sometimes heading for the hills. He must have got stuck just near the top and was having to hold on to stop it rolling back down so good I happened by and he did call out to me.

[anonymoose]

It happened to me a few times over the years in China.

 

Completely unrelated, but something I also just thought of. In Shanghai, a Han chinese guy started speaking to me in some language I couldn't understand. Turns out he used to work in Xinjiang and was trying to speak to me in Uyghur. Not the first time I've been mistaken for a Xinjiang-ren, but the only time someone's tried speaking to me in Uyhgur.

[vellocet]

My brother has a full beard and came to visit. He's culinarily adventurous, so I took him to experience Xinjiang food. The boss of the place took to him immediately and gave him the greeting alaka-salam or whatever it is. The greeting wasn't returned so he knew my brother wasn't Uyghur. Still, the boss came over to admire the beard, and wistfully gestured on his clean-shaven face at where his beard used to be before the government made him shave it off. We got free walnuts!  

[abcdefg]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:09 PM, vellocet said:

t happened again the other day. I was out of my house waiting for a taxi, and this ayi wanders by and shoves a paper in my face. She's looking for an address in Chinese.

 

It's a good sign. It means that via a number of subtle unconscious cues you are projecting the image of a resident foreigner, a type of local, instead of giving off a "tourist vibe." 

 

 

[vellocet]

LOL there are no tourists in Wenzhou, and especially no foreign tourists. It's one of the things I like about the place. A couple of times a year someone's family from back home will visit. 

[Johnny-5]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:09 AM, anonymoose said:

Completely unrelated, but something I also just thought of. In Shanghai, a Han chinese guy started speaking to me in some language I couldn't understand. Turns out he used to work in Xinjiang and was trying to speak to me in Uyghur. Not the first time I've been mistaken for a Xinjiang-ren, but the only time someone's tried speaking to me in Uyhgur.

I've an indian friend who tells me guys always try to speak to him in Chinese because they think he's from Xinjiang.... He's turned that into a habit of fishing off bridges with old Chinese dudes... and he knows all sorts of words related to fishing that I've never heard (but he can't converse on any other topic to save his life)

[Johnny-5]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:32 PM, realmayo said:

I previously got the sense that in some parts of China at least, people are likely to ignore strangers asking for directions. Maybe a laowai is seen as a soft touch.

Could be, I've been asked for directions a number of times over the years.... but usually only in places where I'm just as lost as the person asking for directions 

 

I always think it's funny and try to explain that I'd love to help but am just as lost as they are.

[suMMit]

"there are no tourists in wenzhou" 

 

That reminds me of another time. I was in 中山市 in Guangdong on a work trip, there are also no tourists there. I was walking towards a park, not far from the hotel, so I had been there tge night before. There were lots of Chinese people around but a 30 something woman asked me in Chinese if this was the way into the park and if it was free. I answered her, and I remember wondering why she didn't ask another Chinese person. I remarked about it to a colleague the next day and he said "she was probably out to scam you somehow and lost her nerve". I didn't get that feeling though, I think she probably was not from that area and we just happened to cross paths and she asked me. 

[Johnny-5]

On 12/10/2023 at 12:42 PM, suMMit said:

There were lots of Chinese people around but a 30 something woman asked me in Chinese if this was the way into the park and if it was free. I answered her, and I remember wondering why she didn't ask another Chinese person. I remarked about it to a colleague the next day and he said "she was probably out to scam you somehow and lost her nerve". I didn't get that feeling though, I think she probably was not from that area and we just happened to cross paths and she asked me. 

You know it's funny, I've tried talking to people who refuse to try to understand me because I'm not Chinese... and then you get the random people who just don't even seem to notice you're not Chinese.

 

Honestly I can usually feel the scam vibes from scammers, and they're either going to speak English and be annoying, or they're going to try speaking Chinese then look at you and if you give them a blank look as though you don't understand they'll quickly move on to easier targets.

[Moshen]

Quote

then you get the random people who just don't even seem to notice you're not Chinese.

 

This sounds unbelievable, but it's a real phenomenon.  When you're not expecting to see something and are preoccupied thinking about something else, you may not notice something quite unusual right in front of your eyes.