Tall Man in Short World

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When I first arrived in Shiyan there were many signs that I was living in a world of short people. I happen to be 1.9 meters (6'3") tall. Ducking is required every time I enter the kitchen in our home and depending on the shoes I wear every other door in the house too!

When walking on the street I must pay attention to the trees and signage. Most trees seem to be trimmed somewhere between 5'10" and 6'. The signs all hang at roughly the same height.

Early in the Fall Semester on our Yunyang Medical College's campus, I hit my head on some signs and suggested to President Zhang jokingly, but with a serious tone, that all the signs, doorways, and trees should be no lower than 2 meters! The next day I noticed the signs that I walk past the most were moved up to that height!

They haven't changed the height of the doorways yet. I'm not holding out for it either.

Another interesting thing, most shops here have metal roll down doors, like the ones you see in rough neighborhoods to protect the entire shop from vandals. Of course, this is not a rough neighborhood, but they really like to lock things up! When they open the shop for business they roll up the door to a typical Chinese height of 5'8" to 5'10", which means I often need to duck going into many businesses! I feel like Yao Ming or Shaq.

When we go out into the countryside, all the doorways are sure to be low. But if you really want to talk about a low ceiling, just visit the outhouse. Almost all of the ceilings are under 5'6"! Then there is the wonderful odor of the fertilizer-to-be, open cesspool visible through the floor's "toilet" - a large hole in the floor!

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