Impression of North China: Why are students regarded as homosexuals?

China has a vast territory, rich natural resources and different folk customs, so it is impossible to generalize. As far as the northern part of China where I live is concerned, all the little boys I see sleep naked in their underwear. When I was in college in Beijing, the dormitory was mixed with men and women, with the stairs as the boundary, and the boys and girls lived on each side. I have seen boys swinging around in the bathroom with bare arms from a distance. Presumably, if they only wear shorts when they go in and out, they won't bother to put on another suit when they sleep. The next day, I quickly asked a girlfriend who immigrated earlier than us and whose son was older than mine. The girlfriend said, "Your son is right. My son saw it once. He joined the boy scout camp. In the evening, several children living with him found that he was not wearing pajamas, just like watching the scenery in the west, clapping their hands and jumping around his bed to pee. When the instructor heard the noise and came into the room for inspection, he was a little forbearing, which greatly hurt his son's self-esteem. In the next few days, as soon as it was bedtime, he got into his sleeping bag early and surrounded himself to prevent the spring water from leaking. When I came back, I immediately went to the mall and bought him a set of pajamas, but he was not used to wearing them at ordinary times and only took them when he went out. " Later, I gradually discovered that people in North America, both men and women, slept in pajamas since childhood. There was a "Pajama Party" in my daughter's class last week. On that day, all the children in the class wore pajamas to school. The pajamas here are all long-sleeved trousers. The traditional style is: a child from China graduated from high school and went to college in the United States, sharing a dormitory and a bathroom with two local classmates. Before going to bed at night, he naturally took off his clothes and only wore a pair of shorts to brush his teeth and wash his face. Sometimes he is naked and close to his roommate, and even pats him while talking. The other two students were surprised. In foreign countries, people are very concerned about the physical contact between people. In daily life, there is no common family physical contact between the same sex, and it is not easy to be honest with each other. This is of special significance. Their vigilance against homosexuality is much higher than that of China people. When we meet two young men holding hands or two girls hugging each other's waist, we don't feel much, but in the eyes of Americans, they are almost certainly gay. So two other students suspected that this China kid was gay! And deliberately put on airs in front of them. You should know that homosexuals are interested in the same sex, just like a boy and two girls live in a dormitory. It is normal for that boy to have fantasies. The story soon spread among the boys around, and everyone kept their distance from the boy. He himself thought that people treated him like this because of his poor English and being a foreigner. The main reason, I'm afraid, is that he lacks a set of pajamas. There is a child whose parents are immigrants from the mainland, who was born and raised abroad and lives on the same floor with them. Hearing this, he knew there was a misunderstanding, because his own father just didn't wear pajamas at home. When everyone was joking behind his back, he gave the foreign student a gentle hint and explained it. A group of boys are still dubious. A boy in my roommate specially took a gay magazine to test China students, which proved that he was not. Only in this way can the world be peaceful. I know the parents of the American-born boy, and I heard about it from them. Because my son was laughed at for this when he was a child, I was particularly moved. Cultural differences are actually reflected in the little things in life. In the final analysis, living habits and ways of thinking are different. Because it is too small and sometimes too private, it is unexpected to live in different backgrounds, and misunderstandings and jokes will occur. Excerpt from the article: "Hot Water in America" Author: Cai Zhenni Press: Beijing Normal University Press.