Bryan and I used to work in Times Square in New York City. The crowd there is constant; you are always surrounded by people even at two o'clock in the morning. However, despite the crash of people, we rarely ever bumped into anybody physically (unless it was New Year's Eve when you are squeezed on all sides by people waiting to watch the ball drop). People in Times Square seem to have an uncanny ability to avoid touching others. They turn their shoulders, step sideways, or even duck to navigate a narrow space without coming into physical contact with other people.

In China, the experience is quite different. We live near Xujiahui in Shanghai. It is the equivalent of Times Square in New York where shoppers and tourists congregate in huge masses. During the weekends, there is literally a sea of people in Xujiahui. Unlike in New York City, people here don't seem to mind the body contact between strangers.

One weekend, Bryan and I went to Xujiahui for some electronics shopping. As we walked on the crowded streets, people kept bumping into the two of us. And when they did, they didn't say sorry or excuse me. They just kept on walking as if nothing had happened. Bryan and I were really annoyed by this behavior. The first couple of times it happened, we turned our bodies to make more room for people to pass. By the third time, we literally stopped, turned around, and said, "Hey, watch it!" When it happened a fourth time, Bryan decided to square his shoulders and stand firm so that people who tried to pass us by bumping into Bryan's side would get bounced back. People were clearly shocked by this action. They stared at Bryan, and their face said, "I can't believe you didn't yield when we tried to pass you!" Then we began to understand why.

We finally realized that walking on crowded streets in China is just like driving bumper cars at an amusement park. The norm is to "bump with the flow." People are not trying to be rode. They simply have a different concept of personal space. For us, touching strangers in a crowd is considered invading their personal space (unless, of course, you have no choice like on a packed subway car). But in China, such personal space does not exist on busy streets.

(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)