"Look, a foreigner."

"He is white, so he is probably American."

"Do you think he can understand what we are saying?"

"No, because he is a foreigner, from Foreignerland.  They are too dumb to understand Chinese."

"True, only we Chinese are smart enough to understand Chinese."

"What a loser.  He probably came to our Glorious country because he cannot get a job in Foreignerland."

"Or he came to have sex with our women.  My ex-girlfriend left me for someone from Foreignerland.  DAMN FOREIGNERS STEALING OUR WOMEN!!!"

"Maybe if you had treated her better, she would have stayed?"

"No."

"He is about to leave, lets see if we are clever enough to trick him into giving my kid free English lessons."

Thought bubble: {My life sucks. My parents are pressuring me into an arranged marriage as if we're some wealthy dynasty that needs an heir, but we are pathetic. And it's going to cost us money we don't have that would better be used to improve our situation, but gaining face by *appearing* successful is more important than doing the effort to try to *be* it. Parents and school taught me to be hypersensitive to being an embarrassment, while neglecting to give me the skills to avoid being it. I'm just a step on the hierarchy ladder here, and I'm so jealous of the people above me. They treat me like shit because I'm weak, and I just have to take it with a smile. I wish there was something more to life, something to lift me out of the depressing motions of my pointless existence. Holy crap, a foreigner! What a wonderful distraction from the everyday drudgery. How do I go about making the most of this pleasant distraction from a foreign culture? Get to know him? He must have an interesting life, very different from mine. I'm so jealous. He's open and free and honest and doesn't understand China. He doesn't deserve the life he has, and I can't latch onto him because I'm not the opposite gender. He competes for my women and destroys my job market. I deserve those jobs and women even though I can maintain neither. He's reprehensible. But he's alone and vulnerable in my country. He is theoretically above me in the hierarchy ladder and below me at the same time. O joyous day callooh callay, I can finally get my back at those cruel bullies at the top by singling out this 'old whitey'. Let me start by saying Lao Wai to the people near me, creating a bond of kinship I wouldn't otherwise have with them. In fact, they'd probably cheat me or laugh at my misfortune given the chance, but now we can laugh at the old whitey together.}

"Harrao. (snicker)"

Thought bubble: {I'm so cool. I feel awesome. Let me think of something clever to mock him, so I can feel even more awesome. I need to think fast; he's moving away quickly...}

Old whitey's thought bubble: {Keep moving. These people are pressure cookers waiting to explode, and I'm a walking catalyst. I need to get out of the blast radius.}