Shanghai: Fifteen minutes of fame on the Bund

When a tall, blonde American stands on Shanghai's Bund, Chinese people have an overwhelming urge to take a picture with him.

Allen and I had just asked a man to take a picture of the two of us on the iconic banks of the Huangpu River. Perhaps others passing by thought I was just another Chinese tourist, and perhaps they thought this was a hard-to-come-by opportunity, to stand side by side with a foreigner and have it memorialized.

The first ones were men who had hired one of the professional photographers along the river. Others saw this and within less than five minutes, fifteen people stopped to ask Allen for a picture. Men and women, young and old. At one point, three people who didn't know each other -- with point-and-shoot cameras and camera phones -- were taking pictures of him at the same time.

This isn't the first time Chinese people have made this request to him. I just found it strange that it should happen in Shanghai and, not only that, the most touristy part of Shanghai. Plenty of other foreigners were walking along the river too. Why they targeted Allen I'm not sure. One theory is he stands out more with his height and light-colored hair. Another theory is that he was with a Chinese girl (me) so perhaps seemed more approachable. Whatever the reason, this was celebrity.