Short. Heavy. Dark skinned. Over 30 without a spouse. Over 40 without a child. Your co-worker who eats lunch after 2 p.m. These mutants might as well start their own TV quiz shows for all the questions they’ve got coming in China. This woman’s complaint about her unusual height, for which she was looked up to like the recent solar eclipse, describes the deep fixation with looking alike.
Student letters to a foreign agony uncle
Dear Ralph,
I’m a really tall girl, 177 centimeters, far exceeding the average female height in China. As a result, I have lots of trouble almost every day. I have to struggle to get used to the strange light from the eyes of most people who I encounter. Everybody wants to know about my height to fulfill a curiosity. My roommates never give up kidding me by asking such questions as “what’s the height of your boyfriend in the future?” What’s more, sometimes a boy who is shorter than me may suddenly murmur behind my back, “it’s too unfair.” I don’t know whether I want to laugh or cry. Would you give me some advice on how to deal with these embarrassing situations?
-Amy, Beijing
June 2001