Celebrity white status

If you're white and come to china, be prepared to receive a lot of attention, especially outside the bigger cities. Theres an evolution that all caucasians go through. At first when they arrive, the concept of being gorked at and asked to be taken pictures with is novel. However after a few weeks this quickly gives way to annoyance and frustration. Not to mention the random shouts of 'hello!' (often in a mocking tone) from passersby. It's not so different from white people shouting out 'ni hao' to asian people back in the west.

You sometimes also get the random eager-beaver strangers who come up to you and just strike up a converstaion. 'hi, are you from america? I have an english exam in a few weeks time. let's practice english together. what's your phone number?' and then if you're not firm enough you'll be politely responding with vague answers all the while trying to leave the scene or shake them off your tail. believe me, i've seen this happen a few times already to my white friends.

Being caucasian also affords you a bit more consideration from the locals. From my observations, if you're white they're less likely to cut in line in front of you, and give you wider berth in crowded spaces like buses. I've lost count of the number of times i've wished i was white while sardined up in the bus, six to eight ass-cheeks rubbing agasinst me. (They really don't understand the concept of 'Maximum safe capacity' in China) I'm really starting to lose my patience with the queue jumping though, especially at check outs. next time someone blatantly tries it, i'm considering unleashing a torrent of profanities in the strongest Aussie accent i can muster, then ask them in chinese if they ever went to school.

So theres good things and bad things about being white in China. But on the opportunities side, its definitely a plus. For starters, every time i go out to a club with my white friends we'll almost always be shouted drinks and cigarettes by some rich chinese guy or the club owner, just because they want to have white people around them or in their establishment. They feel it boosts their credentials or profile of the club.

Then theres the odd jobs and modelling gigs. Weston was paid 3000 yuan to put on a santa suit and walk around a shopping mall handing out candy to kiddies. that was for about 9 hours of work, spaced out over 3 weekends. The only thing about Weston that's santa-like is his height. he's hardly fat or jolly, and at 24 is the fittest santa around.

And due to the relatively small population of white people in Nanjing, you're considered as model material as long as you're white. We have seen some somewhat questionable looking models (i.e. shockingly ugly white folk), in some advertisements plastered around the shopping malls and public spaces (see attached photos). I don't mean to be harsh but let me tell you, these people would not be able to get a modelling gig to save their lives if they went back to the west.

Britton was approached by a modelling studio rep in a club the other night, so his face might soon be plastered across a few billboards or coming to a restaurant near us soon. It's ironic becuase we're always making jokes of the shockingly ugly white models in ads. LOL. so i guess it hasn't boosted his ego much. I'm just going to warn him not to let the agency take random shots of him. i.e. do job specific shoots, rather than generic stock footage to be used for whatever purposes later. One doesn't want their close up downer portrait to be later used for say a genital herpes or male premature ejaculation ad.

Maybe I'll accompany him when he goes for his shoot. I'm always being told i look korean, and since all the chinese girls love the korean dramas maybe i can get a gig as a fake-korean model :)