Being white in China has its benefits!

[Song You Shen]

Hey all,

I've been studying Chinese here at BeiDa for the last 7 months and during the whole time I've been planning out my marriage proposal (my girlfriend - at the time - just came out to see me). While this proposal plan would have probably been impossible to accomplish in America, it came to reality here in China - I wonder if it's because I'm white?

I recorded the whole event and posted it up to youtube and youku... feel free to check it out! And if you like it, feel free to share it with others!

Youtube:

Youku: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU4MDg0ODgw.html

I hope you enjoy!

Youshen

Edited April 12, 2010 at 08:20 AM by Song You Shen

[simonlaing]

This is not a being white,

The movie and scavenger hunt were pretty cool. The chinese and subtitles were great too.

I was surprised by the music video in the middle of the film but it seemed very well done and cute.

It is cool that you were able to organize so many people to help you with the project.

Hey you may want to post the link to the short version with the Chinese proposal and the video . It is pretty good just by itself.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU4MTA2MjUy.html

Nice going!

Are you going to do a movie video as good for your wedding?

have fun,

Simon:)

[Song You Shen]

haha, thanks. and thanks for posting the shorter clip's link. I don't know... our wedding is gonna be a ton of fun with a lot of artsy stuff, so maybe we'll try to make a fun video... we'll see. ;)

[valikor]

Pretty good ;) congratulations

What does this have to do with being white?

[Meng Lelan]

Amazing vid.

[zerolife]

congrats to the successful marriage proposal

but I'm not sure either why being white has any influence on the success..

[Meng Lelan]

While the vid is amazing, I don't think I like the title of this thread, Being White in China Has Its Benefits. For one thing the "it's" is grammatically incorrect, should be "its". And the title implies that being white is better. I would ask the OP to change it.

[xiaotao]

They were probably entertained my the unusual spectacle.

[gougou]

And the title implies that being white is better.

Why? It's only stating that there are certain benefits connected to being white - which undoubtedly is the case. Whether that is right or not is a different question.

I could imagine that a Chinese person would have had more trouble arranging everything Song You Shen did - but then again, it seems that you had some trouble too? What kind of contracts did you have to sign.

Oh, and last but not least, congrats on the successful proposal. Just do me a favor and take all of those videos offline before I decide to get married - it would just give my future wife ideas...

[Song You Shen]

I'm sorry if the title is offensive, it was not intended to be so. the reason why I say that it's beneficial to be white in China is because, from what I've experienced, the oppotunities that present themselves to a "white" person compared to that of a foreign born asian is considerable. If you don't belive this, then that's up to you (we all have our own opinion)... but I have experienced the benefits for the last 7 months. One small example: At school, they check EVERY Chinese person's ID before they allow them on-campus... but in my case they don't ask. Probably because it's a hassle for them to stop me and ask for it... but this is still a benefit... doesn't mean I'm better than any of the other Chinese people...

Benefits, in no way implies something is "better"... and I'm sorry you feel that way. It simply means that being white can present a person with certain opportunities that might not necessarily be offered to the native habitants. I could have said, being Asian in China has its benefits... does that automatically imply that it's better to be Asian? To me, it simply means that being Asian has it's own set of rewards that might not be open to other people of different ethnicities. The title was supposed to be somewhat funny, I'm sorry it offended you Meng Lelan.

And thank you for correcting my English too. I was typing this out very fast before heading to class, so there was bound to be mistakes... but that's no excuse for my sloppy grammar I guess.

Youshen

[Song You Shen]

I could imagine that a Chinese person would have had more trouble arranging everything Song You Shen did - but then again, it seems that you had some trouble too? What kind of contracts did you have to sign.

For anyone who has lived in Beijing for any period of time, they'd understand how bureaucratic it is, and how difficult it is to get things done. As you mentioned, this is increasingly difficult for a native Chinese person. Even in my case there was still a lot of trouble arranging everything, because the mall wanted to be in control of everything... which would have ruined it... so we had to fight (my first time doing business in China).

Luckily the friend who helped me out in this is becoming a Lawyer and so she dealt with all contract disputes. The contract for the site with the giant screen was that if they would allow me to use their screen for free, I would allow them to professionally video tape the whole thing to use for their advertisement. Then on top of that they had a lot of outrageous additional requests that had to be hammered out in contract disputes... for example: they wanted me to be liable for any damages... but they way they worded it would make me liable if anyone, anywhere in the mall, hurt themselves and decided to sue. So, we had quite an ordeal making sure everything ran the way we wanted it to. It was very hard to get the flash mob dance (they kept insisting NO dancing)... haha.

[Meng Lelan]

At school, they check EVERY Chinese person's ID before they allow them on-campus... but in my case they don't ask. Probably because it's a hassle for them to stop me and ask for it... but this is still a benefit... doesn't mean I'm better than any of the other Chinese people...

Doing that way is like saying the rules should apply only to Chinese. That's not appropriate even if it makes things easier for you. And it's a security problem too because if they don't id everyone who comes in then that becomes a security problem for everyone involved and it's not benefecial to everyone including you in the end.

[xiaotao]

One good thing about being Chinese in China is that we can blend in and get lower prices on everything while the white person has to pay more.

[Meng Lelan]

One good thing about being Chinese in China is that we can blend in and get lower prices on everything while the white person has to pay more.

Good, that's the way it should be. Actually I thought this wasn't much of a trend as it was in the past.

[xianhua]

Good, that's the way it should be.

Yes, that's right. We really must start adopting a two-tier system in all of our shops: one for foreign faces and one for the natives.

[daofeishi]

Congratulations, Song You Shen! All the best to both of you! That has to be one of the best proposals I've ever seen. Heck, I'd even consider marrying you myself after seeing that video

[taylor04]

I would have to agree that there's nothing wrong with the title. But I would say being white in China is a double-edged sword, it has its upsides and downsides. There are even benefits to being a minority in America, scholarship money for your race, grants to open your business, etc. It's not as if these things are hidden, I don't see why anything wrong with saying white people have some extra benefits in China, just as one could argue they would be worse off in Korea (so I have heard).

Congrats with the proposal! It was pretty cool and a great idea.

[cui ruide]

Amazing effort and congrats!

The title's fine. The phrasing (in my reading) actually suggests that there being benefits is contrary to the presumed reality. And regardless, there are benefits. But there are benefits for lots of races (maybe not all) when in China. China is not at all race-blind, and it serves little purpose to ignore its relevance in most facets of a foreigner's existence here.

The only question that remains is whether you intended race to be a part of the discussion of your very nice video, as a the title of a post usually directly frames the discussion of the thread. I think it's probably a lot easier with you being white (i.e. something of a celebrity and thus good promotion)--and I wouldn't be surprised if a local would have had to pay something for what you did.

[Xauner]

Congratulations on the engagement!

I wonder how you're going to make the wedding even more spectacular, good luck on that.

[bottledpoetry]

Lucky girl! Congratulations. Re: the title - thank you, Captain Obvious