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Q: Do you respond when people come up and talk to you on the street?
I was walking around the other day and someone came up to talk to me, and I just ignored them, but I feel a bit bad. At home sometimes people talk to you about stuff, and maybe they were lost or something?
How do you respond when people come up to you?
What people in China told me when coming up to me and talk with me:
* HALLO
* LAOWAI
* You (look) like Putin !
* Want to buy a watch ?
* Shanghai, Nanjing Lu, tea ceremony/coffee shop with pretty woman scam
That's 4 years... I had better luck in slow trains a couple of time : actual conversations, and even some sharing fruits.
I talk to anyone.
I once had two girls approach me outide MacDonalds, and they offered to go to bed with me if I would buy them each a meal.
You cant get experiences like that by ignoring people who talk to you in the street 
DrMonkey:
Now available with psychukulele cover !
http://youtu.be/awfmc2WOM4M
Scandinavian:
so what STD did you get when the Chinese made rubber failed ?
ScotsAlan:
Hey Scan. I refused their offer of course. I`m not made of money :-)
I'm always as nice as I can be, and I try talking to them. Most of the time I can barely understand them, but my wife is there to translate Chinglish to English, and I do okay.
Usually I am listening to music, so I don't really notice if anyone want to communicate with me.
I usually respond in Russian, and give them a cold stare. works well here in Harbin.
Most probably many will ignore locals trying to communicate. I try to be nice to all, and in a way has really paid dividends. I have made some real good local friends, get invited to many activities (do fully realize they are gaining face by having me present, but I also have fun nfor free), and in China, it is not who you are, but who you know !
I get stopped by many while at the local WALMART, asked to pose for photos, many request my QQ number, and some try hard for a conversation. It does not cost me a thing, maybe 5 minutes of my time, and maybe by doing so locals can have a better understanding that not all laowai are drunks and womanizers.
Now, that is me and how I think and feel. And you are you, and if you think different, OLE to you !
yongge:
Yes I agree with you. We are after all the face of laowai land and the only way to communicate to them that we are not all low life losers, is to show them that we have decent manners and some form of respect for others.
I generally like to talk to people who approach me on the street (with exception of cases I am hurrying somewhere...). Firstly it does not border me at all, just opposit - I usually enjoy talking to people. Secondly I find it a great free Chinese lesson. Sometimes the people I meet are quite interesting as they have to be bold in order to approach old foreign man on the street .
And if it's no fun so I just appologize and continue on my own.
If you take the reasonable care, as there are a lot of cheaters on the streets, so it does not pose any real danger and you are always the master of the game.
I've been living in China five years, and not one person has ever approached me on the street. Just the usual stares, pointing, and "Laowai."
royceH:
Hard to believe you. This kind of thing happens frequently. 5 yrs and no one has spoken to you on the street.....can't be true.
Where do you live?
Quinn68:
I've lived in the super friendly cities of Zhengzhou, Hefei and Fuzhou. Aiming for Beijing next year.
I always respond. Usually with "g'day mate, how yer goin?". Never get much in way of response besides "shenma?"
I'd be up for more but rarely do I encounter anyone who can speak more than 3 words of English.
No way! Do Chinese approach each others like that "Hello can we be friend?", certainly not. Do we do so with people back in our home countries? Not in mine.
I have my friends in China, some are locals, some are expatriates and I have no will to make new friends at the moment.
Most of the time I am going from point A to point B with my headphones on and some good tune, I am not roaming the streets randomly and I have no time to waste with them.
I will make an exception if a really hot looking girl approaches me, and considering that she doesn't "know a nice teahouse". But for guys not even I look at them.
gouxiong:
I assume talking to the stranger on the street does not equal to 'making friends' :)
Most of the time I'm 'polite', but try to show I'm not interested in talking - unless, of course, she's a cute girl! 
Also, I've had some interesting sorts of conversations... but if the first thing of out their mouth is 'Where are you from?", I'll either ignore it, or tell them that it's rude to just start with that!
However, if it's a little kid just saying 'hello' to gain face with the other kids around, I'll often reply
Why not? I think it would be rude to ignore them. How would YOU feel if you asked someone for directions and they ignored you? Yeah, and I even give money to armless beggars who can't find work too.
expatlife26:
Yeah but you're not even a CFTU member, how can we trust you aren't a recruiter-hacker?
Answer the question...Do you accept The Leader? It's that simple. If you don't than I don't know why you bother to get up in the morning.
You need to ask yourself why a random stranger would suddenly approach you in the street and start talking to you.
Do you seriously believe that they want to build a long-term and genuine friendship?
Or is it more likely that they want to sell you something, "improve my spoken English!", take a photo of you, or boast to their pals how they have a waiguopengyou?
Which is more likely? If I think it's the latter, and it almost always is, I just walk on by, and so should you.
frvioque:
Yes i also agree that most of the times they want to get something from you so I just ignore them
