Halloween in China

Halloween is a mysterious holiday in China. Foreigners are still enough of a curiousity to be interesting distractions in and of themselves, but dress that same foreigner up in a strange costume and you now have a showstopper. I wasn't quite ready for the attention my friends and I would receive as we walked along the streets of Shanghai in costume. My costume, which was more alarming than I intended, was that of a Chinese xiaojie, or singing girl. I wore a traditional Chinese dress, a wig, white face makeup and carried a fan that I used to shield my face as much as possible. I also attempted to take on the persona of a xiaojie - giggly and in general being very shy - which is hard for me. The reason, I think, that the Chinese found my costume alarming is because as I began to sweat, the makeup ran down my face and gave it a strange, mottled look. Plus - at 6 feet - I was a very large person(by Chinese standards) walking around in a dress. Three times, Chinese women, upon seeing me as I passed by them, literally screamed out and jumped away as I walked by. Two little boys, their faces in awe and mouths agape, followed me for nearly five minutes, laughing and pointing the whole time. I stopped once on the street, and a crowd of about 20 people gathered and I became a photo op, person after person grabbing my arm, smiling and making the ubiquitous peace sign into the camera as everyone stared at the giant white faced Chinese "woman". 

It made me wonder what they were thinking, what they were saying in their hushed, unintelligible tones. I guess it just reminded me once again, that the thing we most often fear is that with which we are unfamiliar. I found it ironic, then, that I, being in a country and culture that is so unfamiliar to me, for one night at least, went from being surrounded by the unfamiliar to becoming that thing that isn't understood, that object that haunts by its sheer mystery. Oh - I can't wait until next Halloween!