On Tuesday, I had this conversation:
Woman at camera shop: Are you from (whispers) Xinjiang?
Me: No, I’m Chinese-American. You thought I was a Uyghur?
Man at camera shop: Uyghur women are very beautiful, you are very beautiful, that is why we asked you.
Me: Ummm.
I don’t know what goes on in Chinese people’s minds when they get all wound up in determining someone’s ethnic background.
That is odd, but I’d take it as a compliment if I were you.
The shopkeeper probably didn’t want you to feel offended. The stereotypical Uyghur in a lot of bigotted Chinese minds is dishonest or aggressive. Beijing and many other Chinese cities have unfortunately their own breed of Chinese rednecks, who think of Uyghurs as robbers and shoplifters. And my guess is that the woman who asked you the question is one of them.
And if you don’t mind my asking, do you speak fluent Mandarin without foreign accent? The lady at the shop probably judged you by the way you speak.
I can understand why a Chinese-American would feel awkward about the experience. But frankly, it’s not odd or surprising at all to me. Many societies in East Asia have extreme homogeneity in ethnicity, and are somewhat racially exclusive and xenophobic. By liberal American standard, you could them all racists.