I have been living in Nanning since May last year but visited many times over the last five years, and yes I do get people staring. Most times I just smile and carry on. If it is small children with their parents I will often smile and wave to the child and the the change in the parents is quite apparent. They go from looking at the strange foreigner as a curiosity to suddenly seeing this person is actually quite human, almost like us!! Most of the time I think it is just curiosity rather than anything rude or threatening. I have never felt threatened at all here by the way. I did have one occassion a couple of weeks ago when my wife and myself were coming home in the evening and a Chinese lady walkig at right angles to us stared at me all the time, a very hard stare too. That is the only time it felt rude to me so I just stared equally hard back at her. When she realised what I was doing she broke off and walked away even faster. It is really just part of China and I do not let it get to me, once they realise you are human too it soon settles down. 

To them you are different, and they do stare at you with natural curiosity, maybe even with a bit of aprehension.  I do not think they mean anything offensive by doing so, so I do not pay any attention, unless it is a good looking one, then I do wink at her.

And I msut say I also do stare at some of their Ladies a lot, even have walked behind a few of them once in a while, especially in summer time when they dress with a few thin clothes, and if they are between the sun and me, I even stare longer...... 

every f**king day feels like dislocating some jaws with a baseball bat!! but anyways... i just shrug it off~~

I've seen some people put brook trouts to shame, but it very rarely bothers me. Depending on the mood (and person), I ignore it, stare back, or smile. Just depends.

Which is kinda weird in itself that I have come to accep this as normal behaviior.

Even after 6 years, I cannot fully get used to it. I tolerate it most of the time, never getting pissed off...but from time to time I do turn abruptly and say, "Hey, how you doin?" Get's 'em every time.

Does anyone else actually feel strange when you leave China and people arn't staring?

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just an attention whore.

Yes...everyday.     But I have learned to accept it now.  The world is filled with simpletons, so I do my best to ignore them...life is too short.
Next time you get a blatant stare, shove your middle finger up your nose with your backhand facing out while you stare back....works every time.

Hopefully, over the years, Beijingers became used to seeing foreigners, so they practically don't stare anymore (except in some parts of the city). But when I get stared at I start a "staring fight", until the other looks away uncomfortably. Great way to kill time in public transportations!

Stared at very often.  Commented upon in Chinese very often.  If the stare is non-belligerent, I smile back.  Otherwise, I engage the stare with a frozen stare back.  If the comments in Chinese are benign, I smile and play cute.  If they are rude, and it happens, now that my Chinese has gotten better, I actually answer back.  That causes  a rapid end to the comments.

I base this behavior upon lack of tolerance or lack of coming into contact with outsiders.  Some days it is easy to endure, other days it is not.