pictures — Picture A Day — My Own Chinese Brocade

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 20 – Selfie sticks have been popular for years now, and are still very popular in China. More and more museums and other tourist attractions around the world have one by one been banning selfie sticks because of the safety concerns they create to both the users and the property. In doing some online research about it, more often than not, Chinese tourists are mentioned. In a 2015 article about selfie sticks being banned at the Forbidden City in Beijing, they stated, “There are more than 19,300 different models for sale on Taobao, China's answer to eBay, with the most sophisticated ones costing up to 757 yuan (that’s over $100usd!). Anywhere you go in China, with a decent amount of people (that’s pretty much anywhere!), you’re going to see a selfie stick being used. Songshan Lake, where we live, is included; There are always people taking selfies by the lake. I was busy looking for dragonflies to photograph, and these 3 young people asked if they could take a picture with me, since I had my camera right in front of me on the monopod, I took a picture of their selfie! :-) The article I quoted : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11482712/Chinas-Forbidden-City-forbids-selfie-sticks.html

When you are a foreigner living anywhere in China where there aren’t a lot of other foreigners, most of the time, you become an instant celebrity. Chinese people outside of the big cities are used to seeing only Chinese people, so a foreigner is often a rare site to them. The younger a foreigner is and the lighter their skin and hair coloring, the more attention they get. I often wonder how many pictures of Leah have ended up on Chinese social media sites from the time we’ve been here. She wasn’t photographed as much when we lived in Shenzhen, it was mainly the small children with blonde or red hair that got the attention, and I remember Leah was really glad for a break after we moved there! Now, we are back in “celebrity zone,” she stays humble through it all, smiles for the pictures, and chats a little. There are usually at least 2 people together when they ask, so you get your picture with each one and then as a group. Today, when we went to the supermarket, this girl was very excited to see Leah and asked to take a picture. She was polite and asked for pictures of my friend, Kim, and me also, but it was obvious she really wanted Leah! She was actually working with 4 other people, passing out flyers for a photography business, so I took a picture of all of them afterwards, I’m sure Leah will want memories of this someday :-)