Chicago Smile

I am a freshman of America and Chicago. I came to Chicago last August. I can remember that day when I stepped out of O’Hare airport, the blooming lavender jumped into my eyes. I was so happy to see so many lavenders were planted in the sidewalk, because there were no lavenders planted in my home town.

A couple days later, after I unpacked the baggage stuff, and settled in an apartment, I began to cruise around this city. I found there was another thing attracted me. It was smile, Chicago smile.



Everyday, when I walked through the corridor of my building, several unknown women or men will greet me, “Hi!”

When my eyes encounter strangers’ eyes on sidewalks, they would give me a sweet smile.


Every morning, after I fix breakfasts, struggle to wake up my daughter, and prepare my husband’s lunch box, I and my daughter rush out of the building. I am utterly discomfited, until I get on a round 8 bus, a CTA driver’s shining smile soothes me. At the moment, I feel I am in lavender’s aroma again, peace and calm.

In China, smile is sort of a cautious job. It is weird to smile at a stranger, even if he is you neighbor.
If someone I don’t know smiles at me on streets, I will think warily, “What is the guy gonna to do with me?”

There is a discipline to the staffs in Wal-Mart China, “Smile at the customer who you meet within 3 meters”. The staffs who break this rule will receive a punishment from the company. However, when the staffs smile at me in the market, I do not feel comfortable at all.

So I understand why the Chinese characters in Hollywood movie were designed so cold, mysterious, and expressionless. This is a reflection on Chinese people.

Why do Chinese people seldom smile? Don’t they know politeness?

A friend from New York told me, “You can not find as many smile in New York as in Chicago, because New York people are busy and tired.”

I got an answer from what my friend told me..

China is a crowded country; there are always too many people struggle for too little resource. China is undergoing a tremendous change in every aspects of the society and people’s life. Everybody in China is unavoidable suffering high pressure. They are tired, exhausted. They hardly afford the energy to give a stranger a shining, sweet smile.



"THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE". When we face different culture, it is easier to find the discrepancy. But to understand another culture background is another story. It depends on information accumulation. The more you know, the more you may understand. Before we could give judgment about something unknown, what we should do is open-mined, and tolerant.