"A country in decline with a young president." 2009. First trip.

You know why this happened, you want to know why this happened? I'll tell you why. You know why they thought America was in decline? Because we elected a BLACK man president. This is all about race. Putin's treatment of Obama? RACE. Trump's treatment of Obama? RACE. 

China is the most racially homogeneous major country on earth: 91.6% ethnic Han. 91.5%! And the rest of them that aren't Han:

Look Chinese to me! Well, they are, but they are not ethnic Han.What's the diff? Right? Same Asian features: almond-shaped eyes, black hair. I have no fucking idea what the diff is, but I guarantee the Han Chinese know!  Those are members of the largest ethnic minority population in China, the Zhuang. You know what percentage of the population the Zhuang, the largest ethnic minority group in China, constitute: 1.27. 1.27%! 

How unusual is it for Chinese to see a person who does not have Asian features? So unusual that a Chinese guy almost fell off his bike when he encountered a White American after opening! So unusual...now I'm a pretty standard issue, standard-looking White guy, right?

Put that one aside.

Here. That is moi in China.

In ought-eight. Went in ought-six, too. Each time I was accompanied by a friend-girl, in 2006 by a petite blonde American; in 2008 by a tallish brunette American. 

It is so unusual to see a guy who looks like that and either of the womenz I was with that BOTH TIMES a Chinese surreptitiously took photos of us in Tiananmen Square! Now think about that. This was in BEIJING, okay? Not frigging Anhui province, BEIJING, the center of the Middle Kingdom. And this was in TIANANMEN SQUARE. "Whoa, look at that. What is it? What's that thing with him?"

Imagine if I was BLACK. HOOO-DOGGIE. They'd a fucking been selling admission tickets. 

It is so unusual to see a BLACK man in China that Chinese asked if they shake hands with him "does it rub off?" 

It is RACE. It is ALL RACE.