The Blind Side

There are a few things that slightly annoy me that the Chinese crowds do at the Expo. Nothing too big, just…..ok, well…….
1. They spit in public, everywhere, in our pavilion, at our feet, on the carpet,
2. They let their babies pee, everywhere, in our pavilion, at our feet, on the carpet,
3. They don’t believe in lining up: instead they swarm, and push, and cut in line
4. When I start a conversation with one of them, they interrupt me to ask for a picture.
5. Pictures, don’t get me started on pictures; while I’m eating, walking, dancing, blowing my nose, talking, doesn’t matter what I’m doing, someone is snapping a picture, against my will and right in my face.
6. They don’t go to the end of the bench and sit down so everyone can sit down. They just plop down in the middle so everyone has to walk around them. This could be the most annoying of them all, not even joking. Drives me crazy!
Ok, so now I’m just whining. But, my point is, these are all small, inconsequential details that daily plague me, but really are rather harmless. They simply are characteristics of people that come from more rural areas and don’t understand how to act a different way. Different City, Different Life.
However, yesterday something happened that far exceeded any petty, bothersome habit I have encountered before: a man beating his wife inside of our pavilion, in front of crowds that did nothing but watch. I am not kidding when I say this. This happened, inside of the first room of our pavilion, as three other girl student ambassadors, frantically tried to beg for help from guards that refused to get involved, and a crowd that did nothing. I didn’t see this go down, since I was trying to manage another crowd in Act 1, but I did hear my roommate Becca frantically call over the radio, “Can we please get police in Overture, someone is being beaten in Overture!” What these girls later told me, was this man threw his wife against a wall after hitting her, and then slapped his small 6 year old daughter, as they both were hysterical, in tears. This in itself is a monstrosity, without a doubt I know that everyone one of you reading this blog would have been horrified to see this go down, and I know that so many of my guy friends would have possibly maimed this guy for life. And I wish you guys could’ve been there. But no, three tiny girls, my friends, were the ones that had to try and save this girl, while Chinese guards warned them not to get involved. My own personal opinion is that the real tragedy of yesterday wasn’t so much in the abuse itself, though god knows that was horrible, but in how the surrounding people responded.
Melissa, another student ambassador, led the woman and her small daughter around our pavilion, giving them a private tour, while police “dealt” (or rather did nothing) with her husband outside. She told me that the police dealt with the situation by telling the woman that the reason this was such a commotion was because “They are just American, they are causing a commotion because they get more affected by these kinds of things than Chinese people do, don’t worry, it will die down in a moment.” What kind of thing is this to say to a woman, that I saw with my own eyes, had fingerprint bruises all up and down her neck! Or to her tiny little daughter, who was visibly shaken with puffy eyes, scared out of her mind!
This is so upsetting to me, and I don’t want to appear that I am lambasting the Chinese people, or being too critical. But, while it is so apparent that Chinese people take care of their family, young and old, incredibly well, why were they so hesitant to save this poor woman yesterday? I feel immense pride that the ones that stepped forward to help were our three little American girls, three of my closest friends here. It was overwhelming for all of us, I’m not gonna lie. It was emotional city there for a while, no faster way to bring on a major girl cry session but to watch a woman horribly abused and than feel that you can do nothing to help. Rather we were all forced to watch helpless, as the woman and her tiny daughter returned to her waiting husband. I mean, what could she do? As far as I know China has no clear policies against domestic abuse, lord, it was all we could do to get the Police to step in and take a statement, and then the whole time they complained it was just “the American’s commotion.”
Let me say, that for all my griping, I find Chinese people for the most part to be both hospitable and gracious, eager to meet me and help in any way they can. They are kind and friendly, and excited to learn new things. But I also cannot help but be very disappointed by the way yesterday was treated, by the crowds, the guards, and the police. I know that in their hearts and minds they couldn’t possibly condone the activity, but by standing by and ignoring the problem, that in itself was allowing it to happen. I only hope that “the American’s commotion” might in some way lead to a “The Chinese’s commotion” next time.
Guys, I’m interested to know your thoughts on this, especially second group student ambassadors. Fill me in! Thanks!