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Heather Greenwood Davis blogs about her family's year-long trip around the world at
Globe Trotting Mama.
In an article at NatGeo's Intelligent Travel blog, she tells what it
was like to be a black tourist family spending a month in Beijing. They
were the center of attention, as people photographed their every move
and crowded around to touch them.
As we looked around,
we realized that there were things about our family that made as many
as 20 people at a time stand in line to get their photo taken with us:
1.
Our skin color. We were in China for 30 days, but it wasn’t until our
last week, in Yangshuo, that we saw another black person. The American
mother-daughter duo said we, too, were the first they’d seen in the
country. The sight of the six of us chatting in the street set off a
camera frenzy big enough to draw shopkeepers out to gawk.
2.
We’re tall. My husband Ish is about 6 foot, I’m 5′ 8”, and our sons are
big for their age. There are tall people in China, but people seemed
genuinely impressed with our height, sometimes even using hand gestures
for emphasis. But being tall has its advantages. No matter how big the
crowd, we could usually spot each other.
3. Our hair. The boys’
mini Afros may as well have been unicorn horns. People reached out to
touch them all the time. Cameras were held so precariously close to my
son’s hair that I’m sure there are photos out there in which you can
count the strands.
From personal experience, I know
that outside of China's biggest cities, white people get the same
attention. Davis assures us they had a great time in Beijing, and it was
a learning experience for their sons. Read the rest at
Intelligent
Travel.
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