A newspaper in China called The Global Times recently published an interview with an American on his experience living in China.
When he first came to China, he loved talking to local Chinese people, but soon realized that there were many differences between him and the local people and that the majority of them always saw him as a foreigner. He decided then to do a little experiment to see what he could do to make the local people see him as one of their own. He decided the first step would be to dress like a Chinese person. He put on a traditional Chinese-style suit and, looking at himself in the mirror, felt quite confident that he looked very Chinese. When he went out and said hi to a man passing by, however, the man said "Where are you from? That Chinese suit looks great on you!" The compliment only disappointed him.
After changing the way he dressed didn't work, he figured it was his hair, long nose, and blue eyes that made people see him the way they did, so he bought a pair of sun glasses and a gauze mask. Confident he had all his bases covered this time, he headed out again. This time he greeted the first Chinese person he saw using the colloquial phrase "你吃了吗 (Nǐ chī le mɑ)?" The man was amazed and said, "Your Chinese is fantastic! Where did you learn that?" Disappointed again, he went home. Not yet ready to give up, he went to his Chinese teacher and asked him to record some daily expressions into a small hand-held recorder. This time, he put on his glasses and mask and, with the small recorder in his pocket, went out. He was walking around campus when a Chinese guy tapped him on the shoulder and asked what time it was. He secretly pushed play on the recorder and it said, "对不起, 我不知道 (Duìbùqǐ, wǒ bù zhīdào; Sorry, I don't know)."
The article doesn't mention whether or not his last attempt was successful. It does, however, go on to say that this American is no longer "trying to be Chinese," but that he still loves talking and interacting with Chinese people and that because of that his Chinese has improved greatly.
