As a foreigner in China, whenever I venture out onto the streets I will inevitably encounter three things: prolonged stares, whispers and beggars. Now, it’’s fairly easy to become resistant to the (not so) discrete gossiping of the locals, and, given that I”m white, 6ft tall and supported by a pair of size 12 feet, I can hardly blame them for wanting to take a peek. You see, these things I can deal with because I know what to do when they occur. If someone stares at me I just smile, if someone talks about me I just ignore it. It’’s easy. Beggars are not.

Actually, that’’s not quite true. It’’s fairly easy to escape from a beggar - even the sneaky ones that jump out on you as you”re trying to cross a road or waiting at a bus stop - it’’s the feeling of guilt you get afterwards that’’s hard to elude. In England it was simple, if I saw someone begging for money I could just quickly label them as a fake - a druggy type gypsy sort who probably had loads of money acquired through drug running, pimping, and other crazy gangster antics. It didn”t really matter whether I believed it or not, it still soothed my guilty conscience.

The trouble with beggars in China is that, try as I might, I just cant imagine them pimping, drug taking or participating in drive-bys - they actually do look very poor and in dire need of my money. Nevertheless, most foreigners” attitudes towards them seem to be surprisingly uncompassionate, as the following snippet from a popular “Teaching in China” web forum demonstrates.

“This !#$#&%# beggar followed me half way home just because I took his photograph.”

True, I can”t be expected (or afford) to hand out money to every badly dressed and slightly odorous person that approaches me but, on the other hand, I wish I could at least show that person some level of civility - as opposed to the “I can”t see you” stare I currently adopt. Honestly, it works well, but you feel like the meanest person in the world at that moment because you know you could easily spare 1RMB and, on top of that, it would probably make the poor guys day.

The answer? I don”t know. Perhaps there isn”t one. I certainly have the feeling that the beggars will continue to be a regular moral dilemma until the day I leave.

Categories: China
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