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China Elevator Stories
“I’m very unlucky to have ended up in Siping”
I chat with a hairdresser in Siping.
04/09/2015
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
It’s February 2015. I visit a hairdresser in Siping, and as he works on my hair, we strike up a conversation.
He asks me where I had my hair cut last time. I recount my experience: “I went to a hairdresser near the university. After he finished cutting my hair, he told me that this kind of hairstyle doesn’t suit me.”
He laughs and quips: “Did you tell him that he doesn’t suit cutting hair?”
He continues: “Honestly, hairdressers near the university here don’t really cut hair—they practice cutting hair. University students aren’t picky. As long as it’s cheap, it’ll do. In bigger cities like Shanghai, hairdressers near universities are usually skilled, but not here in Siping. Where are you from?”
“I’m from Austria,” I reply.
He shares: “I’ve cut hair for a French person and an Australian here in Siping. Your hair is very similar to Russian hair. When I lived in other cities, I used to cut a lot of Russians’ hair.”
Curious, I ask: “Which cities have you lived in?”
“I’ve lived in Beijing and Harbin. I’m originally from Harbin,” he says.
“How did you end up in Siping?”
“My wife’s from here,” he explains. Then, with a sigh, he adds:
“I’m very unlucky to have ended up in Siping. If only I’d met a woman in one of the bigger cities. There’s not much going on here. I go to work in the morning and come back home late at night. That’s all my life is about right now. Unlike the bigger cities, people here don’t go out in the evenings. There isn’t anywhere to go anyway. Life was much more fun in Beijing—it’s so lively in the evenings.”
Where do you live and how do you like it there?
This is part of the series ‘Conversations with Locals in China,’ where I share conversations with Chinese people on my blog.