A photo found online. Chinese mainlander in Hong Kong.
假装 jiăzhuāng (v. to pretend, masquerade, disguise)
Suzhou. It’s another hour before I can board my train back to Shanghai but I’m wringing wet and don’t fancy wading around town until then, so I’ve come early to the station.
There’s a gaggle of beggars doing the rounds, working the aisles in waves. Organized. Coordinated. Directed. They’re those ones that claim to be deaf and carry immaculately laminated cards bilingually explaining their affliction. She gets the brush off from everyone, eventually shuffling her way over to me. Now, I don’t mind beggars all that much but I do hate when they single out the foreigner for extra attention. This one’s no different. I can see her calculating the expense of my camera in her head.
She points at her ears and commences her well-rehearsed routine, attempting to convince me of her plight. I’m unmoved. She continues for three long minutes but I put my head down and ignore her. Eventually giving up, she moves on to irritate someone else.
Five minutes later. She’s back. Apparently she didn’t get the message.
“I should carry a laminated card explaining I don’t give a shit”, I think to myself.
I wave her away, accidentally clipping her hand as I do so. This angers her, although when a mute loses their temper it’s more pantomime than threat. Her hilariously exaggerated facial expressions and flailing arm movements attract a sizeable crowd. They laugh uproariously. The woman turns to scowl at them.
Hey … wait a minute … she … she heard them!
Busted. Back to fraud school for you.
招徕 zhāolái (v. to solicit business, canvass)
We’re sitting in the sun just off West Nanjing Road enjoying a long Friday lunch (actually lunch was eaten some time ago but we’re in no hurry to get back to the office). It’s a foreigner friendly place and there are plenty of ex-pat faces.
A shoeshine woman comes by, swinging her wooden box of creams and brushes. She circles our table, appealing for customers. She’s civil enough, just a woman trying to make a living, but neither of us has shoes in need of a polish (casual Friday) and we politely decline. She moves along. We chat some more.
10 minutes later. She comes back. Perhaps she’s more persistent that we first realized. She starts going around our group again. I interrupt her.
“You already asked us. We already said no.”
She steps back and appraises our faces.
“Oh. Sorry. I thought you were different ones.”
She packs up her creams and ducks away.
“White faces all look the same to me” she adds.
