“Racism against black people may be the strongest form of racism in China,” says one site: The China Expat. “Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises,” says another: The China Digital Times. Racism in modern China looks to be a hot button issue arising in the area and thanks in large part to the internet and blogs, the topic is spreading to people outside the border and around the world.
Blog Sites
Four sites dive head first into the issue of racism in China: The China Digital Times, The China Expat, Topix.com, and The Fools Mountain Blog. The China Digital Times is a news site online with articles about issues and newsworthy stories related to the country of China, written by journalists from the area. The China Expat is an internet blog site dedicated to topics and matters relating to China but commented on by all, as is Topix.com (although not every thread has to do with China) as well as The Fools Mountain Blog.
Range of Racism
The range of opinions flaunted by the bloggers about the issue of racism in China runs the whole gauntlet from staunch liberals who are appalled at some of the stories and sometimes rumors surrounding the issue as well as truly racist people, who offer their opinion on the matter as well. Personal stories about the person’s experience in China spark the most debate but in some cases actually news stories take center stage, as in The China Digital Times article about authorities ordering bars to not serve black people in Beijing or in The Fools Mountain Blog wherein a section of the city of Guanzhou has been labeled “Chocolate City” by the locals because of the high number of Africans migrating from their country to trade in China.
The range of opinions on these matters can be explained simply by the issue itself. Racism is such a hot button topic that it can sometimes be commented on by people that wouldn’t normally remark on issues in general. When talking about an issue such as racism, people in general seem to get riled up and stubborn about what they believe in. In a quote from the China Expat a blogger writes, “ Does racism against blacks exist in China? Yes it does. But guess what? Racism it a two-way street and blacks can be some of the most racist people in the world as evidenced by [another blogger] who calls all Chinese people ‘ignorant’ and ‘petty thieves.'
Chinese are very racist towards blacks. While living in China I met a young man from Nigeria who spoke Chinese fluently. Many Chinese ignorantly assume that foreigners do not understand their language and this young man told me that there were times he wished that were true because of the terrible things that have been said in his presence thinking he couldn't understand what was being said.” This is an example of the many personal stories that are written and blogged about on the sites.
The Western World's Reaction
The issue of racism in China hasn’t received much attention from the Western Press but some articles arose from the New York Times and both were opinions and in that section. Racism is such a touchy issue it would be hard to write an objective story about racism in China and thus it seems to end up in the opinions section or in blogging sites, where editorializing and personal experiences are acceptable. With the newspaper industry starting to fold (many scholars believe that newspapers will be wiped out in this century due to the internet) and the internet used as such a strong connecting tool issues such as these are getting the attention they deserve, though not by the news media in general.
Will Forgrave - Will Forgrave is a recent graduate of Albion College (Albion, Michigan) where we majored in History and Journalism. He currently writes ...
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