A Singaporean in Guangzhou wonders: why do I feel so at home here?
Guangzhou set me at ease in a way other cities didn’t. I began to understand what it means to be descended from early Chinese migrants
On a recent trip to China, I was on a rumbling subway train when I was struck by a strange sense of homecoming. It was as if I had been transported back to my childhood, and suddenly I was completely at home among all the strangers in the subway carriage – even though it was my very first time in Guangzhou.
The funny thing is that nothing special happened on that ride. I just had a moment to observe my surroundings and realise how much my husband and I – both Chinese Singaporeans – resembled the everyday people around us.
We were all roughly the same height and had the same colouring. Many of the other passengers had large almond-shaped eyes with double eyelids and low nose bridges with rounded tips, rather like mine.
Although I had visited China many times and taken the subway in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, I had never felt this way before. While I would not invite a second look in most parts of China, I often felt like an “other”.
If I am being honest, my nagging feeling in those other cities might have been that in contrast to the often taller, fairer and well-groomed Chinese women, my tropical tan, short stature and make-up-free face were more likely to conjure an image of a homely hobbit, standing among ethereal elves.
Here in southern China, every other man in the street looked like he could be a long-lost uncle or distant relative. If I was a hobbit, so were people around me.