Staring

For the first little while I was in China I thought I was getting stared at because I was a foreigner and particularly foreign looking.  Also, although not towering over everyone because people in northern China are taller, I was above average height.

As time went on I realized that, yes, some of the staring was due to me being different than most of the people around me but that the Chinese people would also do the same to each other.  So, as opposed to back home where staring is considered impolite..here it's not.  It really just seems that a person in China will look at something or someone for as long as they want and only look away once they've satisfied their curiosity or viewing pleasure.  This happens a lot to me on the subway to/from work.  

In North America if someone is staring at you and you want them to stop you can usually look directly back at them and either they realize you have noticed their rudeness or they become embarrassed and avert their gaze.  

I try to mostly ignore it here but some days I'm not feeling so tolerant so I'll use the same tactic as I would at home.

For example,

some guy is looking me in awe and wonder, working his eyes up and down, checking my shoes, my extremely white legs, my shirt with English writing..etc looking something like this..

or this...

 or this....

And i'm not having it so I stare right back at him...I glare at him and aggressively move my eyes up and down so that i'm doing the exact same thing as he's doing in the attempt to make a point that I want him to stop. Looking more like Clint Eastwood....

He doesn't get my point and my staring doesn't offend him so we just end up being in a situation of two guys looking each other up and down and I'm not stopping until he does first.  These tend to go on for an uncomfortably long amount of time...and then more people start to stare.