You will notice that beards and moustaches
are absent from the faces of Chinese men, as you travel around this huge country.
Therefore the man who breaks away
from this norm, while not harrassed, may be some sort of stylistic rebel.
The long wispy beards on Chinese patriarchs
in photos of a hundred years ago are not considered the style any more.
Passing the Shenzhen Trade Centre
with a Chinese woman friend, we spotted a tubby white man with a bushy beard, and she gave a little shout.
He looks like a Moslem! She
said, not exactly accurately as I saw first he had white skin. From her perspective she noticed first that both whites
and Arabs have more facial hair than Chinese men.
