Body hair seems to be non-existent in China, or at least I thought so. After my husband, who is a kindergarten teacher, shared so many funny stories about his students playing with the hair on his arm or wanting to touch his arm "fur" as they call it, I noticed that Asian people don't seem to be as hairy as Americans. It is another thing that makes me jealous of Asians.

My husband has been stared at for having hairy arms. Some people have found his hairy arms funny or gross on occasion, and, because he is bald with hairy arms, some even asked what happened to the hair on his head, thinking it unfortunate.

Many Western women expect a man to be hairier than them. Having a lot of body hair on your chest and arms is even seen as a sign of manliness in many Western countries.

The rising temperatures have caused most of us to change the way we dress. Summer dresses have shown me that our cultures see hair on different areas of the body as gross.

Recently, during my morning commute on the subway, I saw a beautiful Chinese lady dressed in a pretty white summer dress get on. I was admiring her pretty white dress when she lifted her arm to grab onto the handrail.

What I saw shocked me. This tiny lady who had no hair on her arms had an armpit full of straight, black hair. My 5-year-old son couldn't control himself as he shouted and pointed at her.

I felt very embarrassed, but I must agree with him; I also thought it was disgusting.

I instantly understood that Chinese people probably think this when they see my husband's hairy arms. It is weird how differently other cultures view body hair.

In Western countries, most women shave their armpits, and it is understood that this is just part of good feminine hygiene and maintenance - like taking a shower. Even small children from Western countries share this view.

I am finding that while both our cultures view body hair as gross, the difference is where hair is located.

As we merge our cultures through global interaction and travel, I am interested to see what the views on body hair will be in the future. Perhaps body hair will be viewed as undesirable everywhere on the body except for the head.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.