26.12.09: Foreigners to the fore

I read a blog post yesterday that raised the question of the existence of racism in China, specifically the variety that requires foreigners receive better treatment than local residents. Coincidentally, I found myself placed in just that position last night. The subway train accident that shut down Line 1 of the Shanghai Metro resulted in the morning’s commuters being herded out of the People’s Square station without swiping our Shanghai public transportation cards to register that we had already left the station. I got back on the subway in the evening without any trouble, but when I tried to get out of the station at the stop nearest my home, the turnstile beeped at me and flashed an error message.

I flagged down the station attendant immediately to my right and asked him in Chinese why I couldn’t go through. As I asked, I realized it probably had something to do with the morning’s trouble in the train station and that lots of other people would be having the same trouble. Sure enough, I looked up and throngs of people were surrounding the help kiosk. The attendant grabbed my card from me, ran to the kiosk, pushed it under the glass and started barking at the woman on the other side, “Lao wai! Lao wai! Quickly! There’s a foreigner!” They swiped my card across their scanner with a quickness and hustled me very helpfully through the gate. Of course, I was pleased to be on my way, but I felt like a jerk as it dawned on me what had happened. There was still a long line of bored and frustrated commuters trying to get their own issues resolved.

Except for being a foreigner, I don’t think I did anything to demand special attention. I approached the man and spoke to him in Chinese. I wasn’t angry or pushy. I am not sure why they would help me before they helped all the other Chinese people waiting in line, except that I have seen other foreigners get extremely loud, angry and aggressive when they feel like they aren’t getting enough attention. (The other night at McDonald’s at 1am, I watched a French guy throw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get two free orange juices with his coupon. By the time I got to the counter, the clerk was shooting daggers at me, too. Score one point for Team America, though: I can order an extra-value meal in Chinese.) I know from first-hand experience that it’s really unpleasant to have someone yelling at you in a language you don’t understand, and it’s even worse when you aren’t able to say anything to diffuse the situation. A lot of Chinese people I know are also very apologetic about their level of English if it isn’t very high, which is ironic and pitiable because we are the guests in their country. Moreover, most people here will do anything to avoid an embarrassing scene, especially if it makes them look or feel stupid. Altogether, it ends up being a lot easier to a give a foreigner VIP treatment than to risk tending to them while they spew fire and brimstone because you asked them to stand in line with the masses.

I do feel bad about being singled out like that, without any merit. There have been countless times in the past, though, where Chinese customers have cut in front of me in line at stores and restaurants, either because they are rude or because they think being stuck in line behind a bumbling foreigner who probably can’t speak Chinese will result in an interminable wait, and jumping the queue will get them out of there faster. That makes me insanely angry, but pushing me to the front just because I'm a foreigner isn't what I am looking for, either.

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