The bobbed haired girl was interested in my camera

Walking through the alleys of Shanghai, I came across a little girl with a neat bob haircut who approached me and peered curiously into my camera lens. In this corner of China, being photographed did not yet seem to be an entirely common practice, at least not for children who appeared on the street without the faintest trace of self-consciousness. The girl’s round eyes, framed by her straight bangs, carried a sharp yet innocent gaze, as if she were simultaneously examining me and testing the strange black box pointed in her direction.

The bob haircut itself deserves a note. In East Asia, this style has long been favored for its practicality—easy to maintain and perfectly suited for the humid climate of Shanghai. Historically, the cut was even associated with the modernization of China in the early twentieth century, when Western fashion slowly blended into Chinese daily life. Here, however, it was less a fashion statement and more a matter-of-fact choice, much like the plain white shirt she wore.

While Japanese travelers like myself might be tempted to read some symbolic meaning into such encounters, there is little need. Children in Shanghai are no different from those anywhere else: curious, playful, and sometimes wary. The only difference lies in the backdrop—the brick walls of a Chinese alleyway instead of the wooden houses of my own neighborhood. Still, the girl’s gaze, half shy and half defiant, left me with the impression that she understood more than I did about the rules of the street.