What's the title of this blog mean?
It's a way of describing me. I've been called a "stealth laowai" by friends, and that plays on the "lao-wai radar" that so many of us foreigners encounter when we first come to China.
What is "lao-wai radar?" It's the ability of native Chinese to notice and pay attention to foreigners. Those in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or other more cosmopolitan cities may not know what I'm talking about, but anyone who's been to the smaller cities, the places outside of the foreigner-haven cities knows exactly what I'm talking about.
It's what activates what we call "the celebrity effect." What informs the gawking, the stares, the whispers, the shouted--yet somehow still shy--"Hello!"'s by someone who never waits for or expects an answer.
And, yes, it's what brings the pointing fingers and shouts of "Lao-Wai!" by children, and some who are not children in age or form.
It's what anyone sick of the celebrity effect looks to avoid. Hats, hoodies, sunglasses, all are ways of interfering with it. But I can fly right under all the time.
Blessed by my Southern Chinese parentage, I can walk unnoticed through crowds of potential lao-wai gawkers and "HELLO!"-shouters. Their stares never follow me, and they never shout half-mocking greetings in my direction.
I am a "Stealth Lao-wai." And I happily operate "Below Lao-wai Radar."
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This remind me of a short story: I once told a student that most of the time if I go skating I only go when it's dark so I can 'avoid' people. Haha, she said that my behavior is like a celebrity, only I'm not famous.
I'm looking forward to more. Keep the posts coming.