1.

    The following is what an American tells about his experience of being "laughed at" in China.

    The other day I had a rather unpleasant experience It happened when I went to a local department store to look for Christmas gifts. When I parked my bicycle in the parking area in front of the entrance, the bicycle accidentally fell over. 

    Unfortunately it also knocked the bicycle to its right down, and then several other bicycles also fell over. I naturally felt rather embarrassed, and quickly bent over to pick the bicycles up. While I was doing so, I happened to notice that one or two passers-by were looking at me and laughing. 

   When I stood up, I found not just one or two, but quite a number of people standing around looking and laughing. You can imagine how humiliated and angry I felt! After all, it was only a small accident and could have happened to any of them. Was it because I was a foreigner and they found it funny that I was making an exhibition of myself?

2.

Wang Ping, a Chinese university lecturer, was teaching in a Mexican university. He had made some friends with professors and students there. One day he went to a party where the atmosphere became less and less inhibited. Wang Ping noticed that men and women touched each other a lot more than he was used to. 

At the end of the party, most people hugged each other good-bye. One woman came to hug Wang Ping, but he , stiffened as she attempted to give him a hug. He had never hugged any women except his wife in his life. Other women noticed this, and no one else tried to hug him.

However, Wang Ping felt left out when people hugged each other but not him. He found himself in a very awkward situation: he did not want to be hugged, but nor did he want to be left out. He did not know what he wanted or how to resolve his conflicting emotions.