UMD LSBE Study-in-China 2009

Today we left Beijing and headed to the city of Tianjin by train. We traveled by high speed train which reached the speeds of 334 Kilometers per hour which is roughly 207 miles per hour. We have only been in Tianjin for less than a day and already I notice a difference in the way I am treated by the locals. Beijing is a large city, 15 million, and has had a lot of contact with foreigners lately due to the 2008 Olympics. In Tianjin however they have not. Shortly after getting off the train in Tianjin I began to have my picture taken over and over again by the Chinese people. Some of my fellow students can speak Chinese and were able to translate. The Tianjin people were saying that they have never seen a white person before in person and thought it was funny. They were taking pictures and asking us to pose with them. Tianjin is slightly smaller with a population of just over 11 million and I find it strange that many of the locals have never seen a white person. We are treated almost like celebrities, being constantly stared out when in public. Also people laugh and giggle at us when they walk by, I’m not sure what they are saying but I know they are talking about us. I just find it interesting that you can travel a mere 26 minutes by train from Beijing to Tianjin and receive such different reactions in public. I don’t mind being stared at, in fact I find it pretty funny myself. If I can tell my picture is being taken I try to smile or make a funny face in it or say “hello” to the person talking the picture. Today is only the first day but I have a feeling I am going to be continued to be stared at a lot over the next two weeks. Also the number of signs in English is greatly reduced compared to those in Beijing. Lastly the few people we have come in contact with thus far have had very limited English.