Business Insider, ChinaSMACK, Musings of an Inappropriate Woman, 8asians, James Fallows.
This is a series of photos I took on the street for a post looking at being an Australian of Chinese heritage, living in China. If you don’t know what I look like already, take a guess at which one is me!
There have been a fair few people – foreigners and Chinese – who tell me that despite the fact that ethnically I’m 100% Chinese, that I look ‘foreign’ or overseas-born. Be that due to my style of dress, mannerisms or even my looks. But usually I dismiss them by saying they only think that because they’ve already met me, so my ‘inner whiteness’ is colouring their judgement.
I’m willing to admit one may be able to identify overseas born Chinese from the Mainland Chinese, particularly if that country is part of the developed world such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Perhaps, on average, they’re more likely to be taller, have shinier teeth, dress in a certain way, and carry themselves differently – products of having grown up in the environment that they have. (Something that The Atlantic Monthly’s James Fallows addressed when Chinese-American students were used as stand-ins for Mainland Chinese students in a television ad.)
But these are minor details that tend to become obvious after the fact. That is after you hear the accent, or if you’re on the lookout for overseas-born-Chinese. Day to day I completely pass for a Chinese person and my foreign accent comes as a total shock to people.
Oh and by the way, I’m in the top-right hand corner, or number three!
Business Insider, July 23, 2011.
ChinaSMACK, July 12, 2011.
Musings of an Inappropriate Woman, July 5, 2011.
8asians, June 30, 2011.
Plus repostings of the slideshow on the blog of James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly.
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Let us know your thoughts on this post but remember to place nicely folks!
38 Comments
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i’ve ruled out the ones holding umbrellas and then the one doing the peace sign. haha
so you’re back? working?
Great pics Mon!
I came here from James Fallows’ link and, having no idea what you look like, I correctly picked you out after just one run through the pictures. For me, the key was your teeth. Yours are beautiful – the result, I suspect, of getting top-quality dental and orthodontic care while you were growing up in Australia.
Here in California, I have long believed that it’s very easy to distinguish Asian-born Asians from US-born Asians. Teeth are one clue; others are a person’s build, musculature, the way they move, and even the deepness of their tan.
As an US citizen who has never visited China, I guessed #3 or #5. #3 had better teeth and a certain expression. #5 had a certain expression, a knapsack but a commy hat. I opted narrowly for #5.
Jeez, I had no awareness of this issue before I read the Fallows article. I’m stunned that I came this close. I wonder what would happen if the pics were taken by a Chinese native.
I was only a little surprised that I picked correctly. As an American living in an ethnically and racially diverse country (Brazil), however one not overwhelmed with first generation immigrants, I play this game almost every day. With the obvious foreigners I try to guess where they are from, with others I try to guess if they are foreigners or not. I don’t even attempt to reason it out in my head I just let my subconscious do the work. Then I try to get close enough to hear thier accent or what language they are speaking. Usually my subconscious is correct.
I spotted you straight away, but I don’t really know why. I thought it might be because you were browner, which would make sense given differing cultural attitudes to tanning, but that doesn’t actually add up when it comes to the images presented.
Strangely I seem to have little difficulty guessing whether someone of Chinese (or other asian) appearance is Australian born or not. More strangely is that most Chinese born Chinese I meet in Australia assume that I am not Australian born, frequently confusing me for a Swiss which bewilders me. They then confuse my Japanese born wife for Chinese.
Also guessed right away. Not sure what the tell was: the way you dress, the dental work? But whatever it was, it was easy to spot. I do live in California (where there are plenty of both Asian-Americans and Asians) and have spent time in Asia, so that may help?
On the other hand, I showed it to two other people, and they had no clue, so clearly this is not universal.
Wow, am I the only person that got it wrong? I’ve lived in China a long time and thought I would have no problem at all. Now I’m depressed…
I knew the third was you straight away without having to see the following ones. The major giveaways were your teeth (no doubt braces are out of reach for many in China), your tan and your build (slim but fit). I am a Chinese Australian living in Canberra and in uni, I can totally tell apart Asian domestic and Asian international students without them having to say a word or being in the company of anyone. People do wear quite differently. BTW your blog looks really cool. Keep up the good work. Cheers.
Very interesting! I also followed James Fallows’ link from The Atlantic. I picked you out right away–something about the way you carry yourself. I have never been to China, but I work with Chinese students studying in the US, and they hold themselves differently than American (or evidently Australian!) women.
Hi Monica,
I am able to pick your photo without the slightest hesitation. Your skin tone has a healthy tan, while most mainland Chinese prefer ghostly pale white skin. Also, you look more athletic.
By the way, I am a Hong Kong born Chinese living in the West for 30 years.
I just went to Beijing recently, but many people thought I am native. Maybe I look too unhealthy.
What about the career variable? Most of us probably assume the American is the only person pictured who writes for The Atlantic. There are assumptions about personality that accompany that and which we can try to descry signs for in bearing and expression.
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My mistake. This article was linked to by Atlantic writer James Fallows– who did mention you were a writer. What we all know is that you’re “the sort of person” who does experiments like this, at least.
Like MfM I was down to 3 or 5 – the others were not close.
also arrived via James Fallows – guessed correctly, but I’m not sure what the clues were. I rather think hairstyle ? apparent self-confidence ?
Can’t see teeth well enough in these pictures to use that as a clue, but as a snaggletoothed relict living in the US, I’d agree that’s typically a very clear sign. I can pass for American until I open my mouth.. accent being the other marker of course. My favorite accent (mine is S. African English) story: on a canoeing trip in the Deep South, talking to a catfish-fisherman on one of the rivers, he said “I can tell by your accent you’re one o’ them furriners from up north”.
Ok, you need to find an ethnic Chinese from Great Britain there in Beijing and post her photo. That will confuse the heck out of the teeth aficionado crowd and blow their theory to shreds.
I picked correctly too. Not right away, more a process of elimination.
I also narrowed it down to 5 and 3. 3 because of the tan and the teeth. 5 because of the extroverted expression which is often on my own face. and yes, the commie touristy hat.
btw, i’m overseas chinese and i carry an umbrella obsessively. to the point where i am one of like two people in my school in upstate ny who carry them. but whatever. people routinely guess my age to be ten years younger, so i’m ok with being a bit weird
dccc
When I first arrived in China I thought it was kind of funny the umbrella thing. But now I do it too! And I will totally take this habit home with me.
Wow I picked straight away- it’s your relaxed stance, your openness and your ambivalent asymmetrical mouth expression- so Australian!
It’s unfortunate that Fallows’ follow-up piece gives the game away. Only with hindsight can I say that yes, your photo seems to stand out. For me it’s as nebulous as feeling that you appear less posed, more casual than the others. But with a different “it girl” in the selection, that might not have applied. How are we to infer that what makes you stand out is your being Australian, as opposed to you simply being you?
I presume that all of these photos are of women from Beijing. Are your family’s origins also in that area? Many overseas Chinese are Cantonese Chinese — I wonder whether the “look” comes from the regionalization of early immigrants.
Someone pointed that out to me last night. It’s true my ancestry is Southern Chinese, so perhaps I look obviously different because chances are all the other women are Northern Chinese. I will admit this was not a completely exhaustive or rigorous scientific study, but I’m still surprised at how many and how easily I was picked. That said, I also think it’s because the people reading this piece have an interest and familiarity with Chines culture and people. I’m sure if I started showing this to people who have no exposure to Chinese people it would be more difficult for them.
just a thought, what if you photograph and compare ladies from places like… sanlitun or posh places on the east side? would they have an air of confidence? or maybe better teeth since they’ve been born into a privileged family?
and how about the men? though i think it’d be easier for the guys, really.
There’s one ‘arty’ looking girl who I shot while I was in the BC Moma. I guessed she was probably from middle/upper class. I agree, that there might be comparatively less difference if I’d shot a group of Chinese women who all had come from more privileged backgrounds.
This is a little off point but it is irrefutably true and interesting. I live in a mainland-US Chinese community. Going on a Sunday for dim sum at a popular nearby restaurant, it is utterly astonishing at the sheer diversity of Chinese facial and body types. It is as varied as a China overlay of Europe, the whole of the Mediterranean, with North Africa thrown in, would be. Just endless and surprising variety.
This is utterly fascinating- I guessed right and for lack of a better term to use, you are the obviously less “fobby” one as we say in New York.
I’m Beijing born but raised in the US and, for all intents and purposes, am as American as can be. When I lived in Beijing last summer everyone, even relatives of relatives, thought I was a Korean exchange student despite my Beijing accented Mandarin and my northern Chinese ancestry. Of course I quite obviously stick out because I’m curvier than literally every single Chinese woman I’ve seen in China. I do wonder what would the results had been if you included pictures of girls with heavier body types (if you found any). I did notice a growing number of girls who weren’t stick thin in Beijing, although a very very small number by US standards of course.
Sometimes, when I step into a Beijing taxi or walk into a Shanghai store, I’m asked “So, where are you from?” This is before I’ve opened my mouth with my bad Putonghua, and despite the fact that I am ethnically Chinese. (I was born to Hong Kong Chinese immigrant parents in Canada and grew up in the U.S.).
I usually ask them to guess. Taiwan is the #1 pick, followed by other Asian countries, like Japan or Korea. Many figure I’m overseas Chinese. HK is surprisingly down the list. But — even before they hear the accent, which is a dead giveaway — they know I’m not from Mainland China.
I ask the drivers / shopkeepers, etc. what clues tip them off. They find it hard to put a finger on it. Some guess it’s my clothes, which are probably a bit more modern / minimal / expensive. That said, after 12 years in HK, all my clothes are bought in the same malls that Chinese tourists go to. They are all the same brands that you can buy in Beijing.
I think it has something to do with the way I hold myself — my posture, gait, eye contact, mannerisms, styling, etc.
When I was a kid, spending my summers in HK, my extended family would call me “gwei-miu” or “foreign girl”. They insisted that my actual physical features — build, eyes, skin, etc — were not Chinese. That doesn’t make sense, since those are genetic traits unaffected by upbringing. Subtle social cues must make a bigger impact that we give them credit for.
The funniest was when I showed family photos to a Beijing woman who insisted that my elderly Chinese father was a foreigner. (He was born in a village on the Hong Kong-Mainland border and comes from Hakka stock, meaning his ancestors were probably from an interior province). I insisted that he was totally Chinese, but couldn’t convince her.
#5 could have been Canadian to my (Canadian) eye, but what gave you away to me was what I think of as a distinctively Aussie-girl facial expression.
I totally spotted you. My main guess was picture #3. I wouldn’t have been shocked if you were #4, but I did guess #3. I am Israeli, and have lived in China for 3 years. I’ve never been in Australia, but had spent some time in the US.
I would have spotted you even without giveaways, but there were some giveaways that made it even easier:
First of all, rule out the two ladies with umbrellas. The sky looks bright enough, which means that they’re probably carrying it around to protect themselves from the sun, a uniquely Chinese (or South-East Asian) phenomenon.
Secondly, the lady making a V-shape with her hand? Totally Chinese. You can vividly picture her exclaiming “eggplant!”.
Thirdly, haircuts: the haircuts of #1 and #8 are extremely Chinese. It’s not impossible that a western woman would have such a haircut, but it’s pretty unlikely. Similarly, #6 also has an unlikely haircut. Not quite “Chinese” per-se, but so old-fashioned that it’s unlikely to be an Australian woman.
We’re left with #3, #4 and #5. #5 just _looks_ Chinese. She’s striking a pretty impressive pose for the Camera, but it’s a very Chinese pose none-the-less. So we’re left with #3 and #4, and among those, the more modern-looking is #3. There’s something quite nonchalant in the way you stand and wear your blouse, which helps tag you as western.
But the truth is that, while all of this made me more sure it’s you, I went on the pictures by order, and when I saw #3 I immediately had a strong suspicion it’s you. The posture and nonchalant impression are definite tells, but to a large extent there’s an even bigger tell: you look much less gendered. I wouldn’t exactly say you look like a tom-boy, but that there’s something much less gender-specific in the way you look and carry yourself. This is a very strong tell. I’ve seen Chinese tomboys before, but they’re always of the shy nerdy kind (I worked in Tsinghua University so I saw plenty of those). Chinese woman who have self-confidence tend to dress and carry themselves very femmy (at least in Beijing) while, in contrast, you seem to have grown in a society which is much less gendered, i.e. woman are not “supposed to look like woman”, they’re “supposed” to look the way they want to look. I’m going out on a limb here, but may I guess Melbourne? (Of course I’m going to dig a little in your site to check, but I’m writing this before I checked).
I got here from James Fellows’ blog, by the way. And this was a lot of fun
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Great response and interesting theory!
You’re not the first to assume I’m from Melbourne but I’m actually from Sydney.
Spotted you right away, it was simple. Your clothing style was not Asian, as well as the pose, build, and tan, like many other commenter stated. Your last name and your identity as a Chinese-Australian also helped, since most Chinese-Australians are originally from Fujian and Guangdong. The ancestry part told me to look for someone who looks southern Chinese.
In NYC there are a lot of Asian immigrants as well as Asian-Americans. You can tell someone’s origin, immigration status, educational status, and profession very quickly by the way they dress (clothes, accessories, amount of makeup), how they carry themselves, muscular build, and even the back of their heads (Chinese born in China tend to have flat back of heads due to sleeping on harder pillows, a.k.a. bricks)
I guessed 3 as-well but I wasn’t sure – I am a white guy who has been to China a few times and speaks passable Mandarin – not yet fluent though -sigh- I feel most of the time you could probably pass as a Chinese in China. I say this because my girlfriend is an Australian born Chinese who is very western in dress etc and sometimes people in China notice straight away (for example if I am with her!) but alot of the time – probably most of the time she can pass for Chinese. Unless your Mandarin Accent is very bad you should be able to pass as a mainlander – my girlfriends accent is not so great but mainland China has so many accents that people just assume she is from some distant province – unless I am there of course.
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