In China

Recently I travelled through China, Russia and Mongolia. I'm a black female with dreadlocks and was travelling with a white male companion. Before the trip, I was a bit sceptical about Moscow because I'd heard stories about racism/racist behaviour there.

China was a big surprise. I started off in Shanghai, and every where I went I seemed to cause a bit of a stir. I attracted a lot of attention - people staring (blatantly and not even looking away when you catch them), people giggling and pointing etc. Some of the bolder ones came up to me and asked to touch my hair. Some of the not-so-bold ones snuck up behind me and touched/tugged my hair when I wasn't looking. A few asked if they could take my photo and some people wanted to have their photos taken with me.

I even caught people taking photos of me with their mobiles. I just smiled and gave them a joky "I caught you" finger wag.

In Beijing, people were a bit more subtle. Or perhaps I just didn't notice as I was too caught-up in the sites - Forbidden City, Great Wall etc. But I certainly didn't feel as much of a curiosity.

Even when I was leaving China, I seemed to attract extra attention from the officials. I left China by train and so all the passports were collected and checked as a unit before we were allowed to leave the train. Yet as I was about to reboard, I was stopped yet again and asked to show my passport. I'm not sure, but I think it was just a chance to have one more look at me . . . or maybe it was my 'strange' passport.

Since then I've had lots of time to reflect on my experience there and I've spoken to a few people who are experienced with Chinese/Asian life. They've said that it's the dreadlocks (in addition to my skin colour) that would've caused the reaction. Also the timing of my visit was during the October week-long national holiday. During this holiday people from the smaller cities and rural areas in China tend to visit the larger cities - Beijing and Shanghai. So to them, I would be even more of a novelty as they wouldn't have seen the likes of me before.

s3