This is the photo I chose for our Photo Reflection Assignment in GEM305, spring of my senior year. This picture was chosen because it was the very first of what became one of my favourite things about China, and one of the things I miss the most about being there. Basically, in China, if you are too tired to stand, it is completely socially acceptable to just squat. I really liked this idea because quite often, as I go about my day and find myself standing for long periods of time, there is nothing I want to do more than to sit. In China, you can!

The ability and convenience of just being able to sit when you do not want to stand made me think a lot about why, in Western society, we feel socially obliged to stand all the time. Especially in Europe, where I traveled after this, even doing something like leaning on one foot or against a wall is a clear indicator that someone is American and not standing straight and balanced like a European. It is an inconvenience that is completely unnecessary.

Looking at this picture for the first time, I figured that most people would not have any idea why the people in the photo were squatting altogether, since it is not something that is common in the US or really any of the other countries I have been to.

Assignment:

(Alex Kuo • June 28, 2024 • Nanjing, China)

This photo is taken from a small day trip I did to Nanjing, China. I had arrived in China just a few days before and was extremely excited to do as much as possible. The night before, I had met someone my age at the bar who was from Nanjing. He invited me and a few others to Nanjing for the day and gave us a tour. That night, we booked our train tickets from Shanghai to Nanjing and back, intending to do a full walking tour of the city in one day.

We did embark on that walking tour. I learned a lot about the history of Nanjing through the guy I had met at the bar, something I would not have ever learned otherwise. However, it was extremely tiring. This photo is from towards the end of the day. We had been walking all day in the pouring rain and were extremely exhausted from a day of sight-seeing and consuming information. We had finished the sight-seeing part and went to walk along the river. Under the protection of the trees, the rain had subsided, so it was a lot more pleasant, and we were able to talk a little more amongst ourselves instead of trying to hear our guide over the pouring rain and running off to subsequent locations.

On our walk, we saw some old men crouching on the ground in an “Asian squat.” In this photo, you can see the group I was traveling with try out the Asian squat. To do it, you have to have your feet flat on the ground with your knees fully bent and your hips by your ankles. As the rest of the trip had been very rainy, we had not been able to observe local people so this caught our attention because in the United States people do not usually just sit down when they are tired, we either find a seat or stand slightly reclined. Out of both curiosity and amusement, this photo shows us trying out the pose for ourselves.

In our group, only the people who were ethnically Asian were able to do the Asian squat. This is because Asian people tend to have more flexible hips and ankles. In the photo, you can see some of us struggling to get into the position while others are effortlessly able to do it. I was able to do it pretty easily and honestly prior to this I was not even aware that this pose would be impossible for some people.

Going into the Asian squat felt very relaxing after an entire day of being on our feet. We ended up sitting and chatting here for quite some time just to reset. This moment was pretty memorable because  for the rest of the trip in China, whenever I felt tired, I would just squat like this, and it was completely socially acceptable.