I don't see how it's rude - most 'white-skinned foreigners' in Kunming speak pretty good English, whether or not it is their mother tongue. It is important, however, to communicate the idea (which is largely the result of the fact that most foreigners who travel here can speak English) that English is the language of non-Asian (at least) foreigners.
Anyway, back to the point: if you don't want to get into conversations with the kids, don't growl at them but be nice - the expat growl would only reinforce the xenophobia they may be getting from history and culture through their parents, teachers, etc. - i.e., they don't have to carry cultural baggage that is no longer appropriate (if it ever was).
Counting down Kunming's Top Ten Smells
Posted byDon't worry about it.
Counting down Kunming's Top Ten Smells
Posted byYeah, well, it's perhaps useful to tourists and very new arrivals.
Counting down Kunming's Top Ten Smells
Posted byWet markets, smells - yeah, but not all bad. Cf. sterile supermarkets.
Counting down Kunming's Top Ten Smells
Posted byNice article, Ginger, and on a subject that one might not think about until, once one does, it's obvious that it should be explored.
The point about foreigners particularly applies, as you indicate, to people from milk-product-using 'western' countries and, as you indicate, it is one picked up in some southeast Asian countries as well - but foreigners from other areas will be pegged also (e.g., South Asians who use many different 'curry' spices, etc., that are not used so much in China).
And then there is the widespread smell of tobacco, noticeable primarily by those foreigners who don't use it. Baijiu has a particular smell also.
Food and Drug Administration issues southern China alcohol alert
Posted byThose responsible should have their faces publicly rubbed in the dirt.