A Fat Chinese Person is a Normal American
On returning home, one of the first differences that struck me between the US and China was the size of the people. Americans are big. They’re taller, stronger, fatter, just… bigger all around. In China, you go to the store, and it’s packed with people who all look like super thin supermodels. There’s not a single fat person to be found anywhere.
Well, fat Chinese people do exist, they’re just very rare. I only saw one or two truly obese people the entire time I was there. Maybe it’s their diet (of KFC and ice cream) or all the walking they do, or maybe Asians just got lucky in that sense. But not everyone is scarily thin. Some of my students were obviously spoiled and well-fed, and, in the summer, the men do like to roll their shirts up to reveal their beer guts.
Because the majority of people are thin, though, they have a twisted view of what normal weight is. Anybody who has any bit of meat on them is labeled fat, and the only thing that garners more chuckling and pointing than a white person getting on the bus is an obese person. It’s sad how a beautiful Chinese girl by American standards faces constant ridicule for being “chunky,” and it’s sad how people have no qualms about informing said girl she needs to lose weight.
This is the part I will never understand about China. Why is it acceptable for people, even first acquaintances, to tell others they’re fat, that they need to lose weight, that they need to eat less, that their boyfriends will never love them if they continue to eat so much? Yes, these are all common jabs. Even more obnoxious is how my students would always refer to their slightly bigger classmate as “the fat one.” Those kids loved pointing out fat people. It was an obsession.
Apologists like to bring up that China is simply a more open society. And that’s definitely true. Frequent comments were made about my acne and my big nose and even my lack of weight. Open or not, though, if you call somebody fat, even a Chinese person, you run the risk of hurting their feelings. Nobody likes being reminded of their physical flaws. Remember the “chunky” but beautiful Chinese girl? Yeah, her feelings get hurt, too.
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Responses to “A Fat Chinese Person is a Normal American”
Comments RSS Feed – All Commentsrakel — 19 February 2010 @ 12:57 am
hey Clark i was thinking of a way to greet you happy happy birthday,i can’t post on you facebook i don’t know why,maybe it’s the proxy that i am using.anyway, happy happy birthday. stay healthy!!!!
Hopfrog — 19 February 2010 @ 3:35 am
Oh, well happy birthday Clark from me too.
When we talk about cultural differences, this is a prime example of one, and also a perfect example of why they are so hard to accept at times. Much like the staring, its just hard for us in the west to comprehend how certain norms for us didn’t come about in the rest of the world as well.
On my visit to China I was shocked at how new acquaintances immediately wanted to grill my wife and I about how much we made and what we paid for everything. I don’t even know how much my own mother makes a year. I think as China becomes more integrated with the west some positives from both cultures will influence the other.
I went to dinner with a Chinese friend recently and he was remarking about things we do in the west that are just odd to him. One of the things he mentioned was how he went out with co-workers one day and everyone ordered the same things. So you had a table full everyone eating the same meal and we discussed how if we were in China everyone would have had something different and shared and how we both agreed that this was something we preferred in Chinese culture. Just an example.
But the fat thing, lol, yeah. My wife kept telling me about her former boss who we were going to meet and how fat he was. Well I was expecting to meet Yokozuna and imagine my surprise when we showed up at the resteraunt and he is not the fattest guy at the table… I AM! And I am not even considered fat here in the states.
But to the bigger picture, it is sad to me how the Chinese could be so benevolent and thoughtful to guests like me and also to their family members, yet so cold sometimes to their fellow Chinese. But then again, because its a norm in their society, do the people being critiqued take it as harsh as we would in the west? I too have had my flaws pointed out openly by Chinese and seen it done to other Chinese and I certainly think I took it harder then they did. Regardless, I think the consideration we show towards each other’s imperfections in the west is something China could benefit from by adapting it into their culture.
Clark — 19 February 2010 @ 10:54 am
I thought that, too, Hopfrog, that in Chinese culture, negative comments are taken as helpful advice or harmless observation. But then the ones who are getting critiqued all the time tell me how much they don’t like it.
Considering “thin is in,” it’s amusing that Chinese people always tell me I need to eat more. I guess they don’t like foreigners being as thin as they are. All Americans are supposed to be huge!
Mark — 20 February 2010 @ 4:22 am
Dude I’m stick-thin and people keep wondering what my weight loss secret is because I’ve apparently shrugged off the American curse :-P. I tell them that in the enchanted land of America, there are countless healthy body types. I think that China’s prolonged insulated history has resulted in a narrower gene pool than most Western countries, and as a result there is less variety in body types and sizes, but on the plus side, the ratio of attractive bodies is much higher in China :-P.
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