‘Throughout the ages the Chinese only have had one way of looking at foreigners. We either look up to them as gods or down on them as wild animals.’ – Lu Xun

While many Chinese will decidedly tell you that there is no racism in China, sadly this could not be further from the truth. This is unsurprising when you know that 91.1% of the Chinese population is Han Chinese. Whether you are black, white, Japanese, Indian or Korean your presence will not go unnoticed in China whether it is from out right prejudice to obnoxious ‘Hello’s’. In such a large, politically guarded country the world is seeing how easy it is for a nation to see themselves as the centre and anyone else as outsiders.

The whole issue was brought starkly to light with the election of President Obama. Black people are generally believed to be stupid by the Chinese and many would dread a son or daughter marrying one, primarily because they believe white skin to be superior and a sign of wealth. With black or half-caste skin finding any occupation above labouring is difficult living in The People’s Republic. It is for that reason that many of the Chinese do not know what to make of Obama. While he is obviously famous and has done very well for himself, he falls into the category of Michael Jackson and other famous black people rather than Bush, Kennedy and Roosevelt.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson recently implored Obama to understand the Chinese position in regards to Tibet because, the government argue, that the Communist party gave Tibetans freedom from serfdom. The spokesperson said Obama ‘is a black president and understands the slavery abolition movement,’ and should therefore be sensible on such matters.

Having lived in China for a short while I believe that these racist views are not out of any kind of violence of hatred you would connect to the word, but from ignorance. People would try and sneakily take pictures of me on the train, being the only white person in the carriage and put their hand on your shoulder to stop you walking in the street so they could have a good look at your face. They were almost always polite and kind though. I believe it is far more the product of the ridiculous amounts of censoring in the media and on the internet by the Chinese government than any bad feeling in the people. However as the spokesperson above has demonstrated, if China expects to play a leading role on the word stage this issue will be one of increasing significance.

Furher Reading Links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/13/china-race-obama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_People’s_Republic_of_China

And a Chinese point of view:
http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2003/0417/cu18-1.html