This came up in a conversation the other day and it reminded me of something that happened to me when I first got to China.  It certainly isn’t something you ever think would happen, but It happens to most foreigners that come to China for the first time, usually for the first few weeks here.

Unless a person is particuarly distinctive (i.e dyed hair,) , I remember the only way I could tell most people apart was by the clothes they were wearing. Once, when I’d just got here I had some friends visit me, but I didn’t even recognise them until they introduced themselves!

 I’m sure you could write a paper on why this happens,  but I have my own little theory based on experience. I think It has something to do with the differences in recognition through facial characteristics. We perhaps look for the hair colour, eye colour, the structure of the nose and eyes, maybe even the build of the person.   

As most Chinese have brown, smaller eyes, black coloured hair and different facial structures, It may be that those with little experience of seeing such looks, haven’t been able to fully work out how to recognise such people.

Therefore in China, I think different rules apply.  Perhaps we subconsciously look more at the structure of the face, the height, the hairstyle, different facial characteristics.

I think most westerners are initially less familiar at seeing so many Chinese looking faces and being able to differentaite those such differences.  Just as many Chinese I know say that all foreigners look the same - are fat, big, different coloured hair, deep eyes, big noses, the list goes on.   

I guess we’re all conditioned to an extent based on the environments we’ve been exposed to.   I’m willing to bet that Chinese travelling to the west for the first time experience the reverse of this.

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