Children in the Forest of Knees

Perhaps due to the tight-knit family units, or perhaps due to their claim on a fifth of the world's population, I see lots of children of divers ages here in Shanghai. Unlike my 4 years at BC, where the sight of children was both shocking and exciting, I've found China to be full of the lil' folk. They stumble about with their mother's and nannies (aiees) through the shops and subways, getting in everyone's way - which is the same as every Chinese person, so the kids here must learn quick! In fact, the kids here are so good at getting in other people's way that they wont even acknowledge that they do!

Too many times I've been walking along, minding my surroundings (not on subway attack mode) when a child will blindly stumble from behind is parents into my path. These children, as all children are, are unpredictable, so I'll stop and stand patiently while the little tike decides which way he wants to walk around me. What's surprising is watching the child's thought process as he tries to reunite with his parents.

He will never look up; he will never make eye contact or acknowledge me as a human being. I am a pair of legs, which usually must be touched on the knee for a short but noticeable second long examination. After a the short review, and after the child has determined I am not his mother, father or aiee, the child begins to look around and through my legs, searching for his caretakers. Being only 2 seconds beyond him, and no doubt waiting for him to stop messing around with the goofy looking foreigner, his parents are soon spotted and the family is reunited.

This isn't the reaction I'm used to, nor was this the reaction I received from children in Hong Kong, who were more likely to look up surprised, sheepish and curious, as western children are known to do. The children of China are different though, somehow either more sure of themselves or less curious about others. I don't think I'll ever know what to make of it.

The last bit about children, that didn't strike me until I landed in Hong Kong is... that there is only ever one. Sure you see teenagers roaming together and collegiate types storming the malls, but parents with families of two are nearly invisible. They're there, the one child rule doesn't effect nearly 1/4 of the Chinese population, but they're mostly the rural minorities out in the countryside. Here in Shanghai we take it one child at a time - one child very uninterested in whose legs he just crashed into.