More or less equal
(Our first view over surrounding islands: Bali, Indonesia)
Traveling the world is not all exciting destinations, smooth rides and superb in flight service, at least, not if race is brought into play. Under a little duress, I will now relate to you a tale that Ying regaled to me after I reached the UK last week. I can tell that he was riled by this unfortunate encounter and that he had to force himself to be mildly diplomatic – not always an easy task for him, I might add.
So, the story begins with Ying sitting at the emergency exit of the plane next to a Westerner. From this description, I can safely assume he means a Caucasian. Just before take off, a stewardess approached Ying’s neighbour and says “Welcome to [insert name of Asian airline with a less than sparkling record], Sir. I hope you have a nice flight. Would you like anything to drink?” She then proceeded to hand the Western gentleman an English newspaper, a toiletry kit and a pair of in flight slippers. At this, Ying became indignant about being ignored, so as the stewardess was about to walk away, he got her attention and remarked, “Oh! You have English newspapers – could I get a copy?” After apparent hesitation and a slight stumbling of her words, she replied in the affirmative and walked away. He didn’t see the stewardess for the entire remainder of the flight, nor a newspaper of any kind, save to look over at the one in the next door seat.
I am occasionally taken aback by the lacking in common courtesy that exists dependant on colour, situation or race, even in this ‘modern world’. It is not common, and I don’t believe that the stewardess thought she was particularly in the wrong for not offering an equal service. The stewardess was incredibly polite to one customer and completely ignored the one sitting within earshot – though I suppose if Ying was not fluent in English, there would have been no ill feeling. In the same position, I think I would have reacted in the same way. I have experienced before what being an outsider truly means; often I felt very alone in China, in a way that even Ying could not understand. I have felt the effects of positive racism very often in Asian countries; at one point it became embarrassing in China to constantly hear ‘piao liang’ from locals because of my pale skin. Transversely, in Asia I have been duped out of money because of my colour, or found myself in sticky situations because I didn’t know better. Being forcibly ejected from a taxi being one of the more memorable. It is all part of the travelling experience and I quickly realised that colour is not something I could shed or transcend, so unfortunately both Ying and I will have to content ourselves with being accepted more readily in different parts of the world.
– Today Rosie is meeting appointments and working on designs in Glasgow, Scotland –
That is a Chinese airline. Well, this stewardess is still very
young and green, she has not seen the world yet. Forgive her for her ignorance, she didn’t know that the Chinese also read English newspaper.
Haha, how does she know that Ying may hold better qualification and better job than that gentleman.
People of wisdom understand that racism is totally wrong.
I think Ying would probably get a different treatment if he had been in his suit and tie.
Quarification has nothing to do with lace. I so not happy. Just because Engrish not my first ranguage. Warau!
Oh dear. I didn’t realise this post would cause such a fracas!
The Westerner was not in a suit and tie. Therefore, one well-dressed chink equals to one poorly dressed Westerner. At least I can take consolation in the fact that we yellow-kind are fairly treated on European airlines. Oh wait a minute…
On second thought, I know why the stewardess was so keen to greet and serve the westerner, because she was so keen to practise her English.
She might tell her friends how good her English is, ” you know, I only serve Westerners!” ,or.. maybe she hardly came across a westerner in the plane. haha…