A couple of days ago two lady friends (B and H) and I were standing on the street here in Chengdu. We were talking animatedly and laughing and suddenly a middle-aged Chinese woman pulled up close beside us on her motorscooter and began barraging us with questions. Here's how the conversation went (I'm sure you can figure out who is saying what):
[After closely scrutinizing us out for about 30 seconds]
"Where are you from?"
"Sweden, England and Spain."
"All three of you look so old! How old are you?!"
"45, 48, over 50..."
"You're that young??! I'm over 50 too. Your hair is all grey, why don't you color it?
"We like it natural!"
"Look at mine. It's cheap and easy, no problem!"
[Pointing chin towards beauty parlour down the street. Her hair has no trace of grey but is also clearly not her natural color. Coppery brown is the "in thing" amongst middle-aged Chengdu ladies.]
Then B thought she said that B was fat and B said "I know I'm fat!" and I said that she didn't say that you were fat, she said something else and we all cracked up laughing. But not the Chinese lady who didn't catch this extra interchange. She put up a good smile anyway and drove off on her motorscooter shaking her head at the crazy foreign ladies who have the money to color their hair but still choose to look old and frumpy.