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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: The chinese, facial hair, reaction to.
I have not shaved in two weeks and I've got a beard in the making.
I have found over the past week, people treat me different, some locals that were polite now seem afraid of me, walking down the street, people jump outta my way, the nongs are frightened if we make eye contact.
This happen to anyone else?
EDIT: I find this to be a good thing
In China facial hair are still associated with barbarians... and eventually since the recent events with religious extremists.
Yet Chinese men used to have cool long beards back then, I don't know what happened.
I would say that a good socialist shaves himself, but Marx, Lenin and Stalin all had facial hair.
fada:
When i think old chinese guy I'm thinking foot long nails and meter long luxurious white beard, gandalf esq.
Too much exaggeration sire...
Anyway if you want them to be polite to you again, grow your armpits instead and put them on a show. You might have invitations for dinner.
PS: Polite are those you haven't came across yet.
Yes, they suddenly think I'm a bum, or that I look 10 years older.
They like 'em smooth here I think!
In China facial hair are still associated with barbarians... and eventually since the recent events with religious extremists.
Yet Chinese men used to have cool long beards back then, I don't know what happened.
I would say that a good socialist shaves himself, but Marx, Lenin and Stalin all had facial hair.
fada:
When i think old chinese guy I'm thinking foot long nails and meter long luxurious white beard, gandalf esq.
a little more disbelief thing for you
my first year here, I bought xmas stockings for a lot of my family
did not know what to get for anybody
but I did get razors and shaving creme for the guys
wife told me, I am nuts, they do not shave...... me...disbelief, they must
anyways filled the stockings ... the guys never bitched
the strange European Beer at the toe beat the hell out of a mandarin orange .... had to show them how to open it.
I've noticed the majority of Chinese women really do not like men with beards.
RandallFlagg:
BS. I live in a backwards Henan city, wear a beard and still have plenty of female friends.
Bearded men are considered to be from Xinjiang and we all know how much trouble they are. IIRC beards are banned there. With a few days of stubble I have passed as a Xinjiang ren on many occasions.
fada:
one of my local muslim bbq places is owned by a xinjiang ren and i swear, he would not look out of place walking down an isolated village in the middle of rural france, i imagine he would be found out as soon as he opened his mouth though. :)
RandallFlagg:
Heh, a few times in Zhengzhou train station i've been offered tickets to Urumqi due to my beard. Given recent events in China, it's a little more awkward when that happens now.
I'm sporting a beard at the moment. Some people like it. Some hate it. The owner of the local bar likes it. He might be a tad envious. When he sees me he says "You are so man!" He speaks pretty good English for the town that I'm in. My school asked me to shave it off as they wanted a picture of me clean shaven for propaganda purposes. I said "Sure thing. Double my salary and it's a deal." They didn't.
fada:
Inquiring minds want to know: does it get you a discount? "You so man" and all! Haha
jetfire9000:
The characteristics that men and women admire in guys is very different. If you're overly muscular then guys will be impressed as hell, but women (esp chinese) will be grossed out. The same thing with body hair or too much facial hair. If you're looking for compliments from men, then keep on with the course.
I've been sporting a red beard since i was a college student. I find that the girls who like it (in China) are usually the more open-minded and interesting ones, so it stays. Who wants the attention of some dull xiangbalao anyway.
I was called a hairy monkey on the metro not so long ago
fada:
Hahaha, i would laugh at that and then point out that women and kids cant grow hair either.
Beards in China are a sign that a person is poor.
fada:
Really? That thought had not even entered my head, sounds quite plausible though.
I'll wear a beard every now and then. Always trimmed and professional looking though. Takes about a week to grow out and look respectable.
People tend to think it's cool, but then it's not like just grown out unkempt.
If anybody remember the show Star Trek Next Generation its like the beard on Number One.
fada:
A week to grow out and look respectable? Do you eat miracle grow by the ton or something? My face is like a wiry mess at the moment and most likely will be for the forseable future
expatlife26:
Maybe our definitions of respactable are different, but yeah I feel in a week I can have a shaped up beard that looks like its supposed to. Its not like bushy and long or anything but its full. Then I grow for another week and keep trimmed at 2 weeks. Total riker beard.