Moreover, I think that this does reflect something about white privilege: white people (and I include myself in saying this) often don’t realize just how profoundly race inserts itself into one’s own daily life. If I feel uncomfortable at times in China because I’m the only white person in the room, and as such am attracting attention, I have to remind myself that this is only a very small taste of what non-white Americans often experience in nearly every aspect of their daily lives.

Truthfully, being a foreigner in China can be awkward. At times, one feels much like the writer does, like they are noticeably different… because we are. As a white person living in this country, I AM noticeably different from the Chinese people I live around, even those who live in Beijing (where ethnic and racial diversity are somewhat more common), let alone second tier cities like Guilin. I’m not Chinese. To expect that I would be treated as if I were is not realistic. To be offended because the wait-staff at a restaurant hands me a picture menu even though I can speak (and read) decent Chinese; because children in a third tier city who’ve never seen a non-Chinese person in their lives ask to take a picture with me; because a young guy from Sichuan assumes he won’t be able to communicate with you and thus feels awkward about sitting next to you on an airplane; because well-meaning Chinese have the courtesy to speak intelligibly to you rather than speaking to you like a native speaker; that seems a little overly-sensistive, a little 过分. True, these things are not something you have to like or accept, but such harmless instances aren’t really worth the blustery response. Feeling so upset about this that one is compelled to write a lengthy, frustrated blog post? Seems like blowing a relatively minor incident WAY out of proportion.

To label “being made to feel like an outsider: the staring, the pointing, locals wanting to take pictures with you” as racism reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to truly be the target of discriminatory policies or harmful racism.

But when your Mandarin ( for example) gets so good that you can understand everything going on around you, you will probably lose your mind, hearing the most inane BS on a daily basis. Hearing people talking about foreigners, because you were spotted on the bus, is just F’n infuriating. This happened all the time in BJ/SH.

This letter is utter horseshit. Their ‘English was poor’? No, their was pretty clear and they were spouting ignorant gibberish about a random white guy, like rednecks. This is the norm for young Chinese men. Pure hormones + nationalism I guess.