How do Asians/Chinese feel towards blacks..

[xuechengfeng]

My old teacher said at least in Japan they are highly discriminated against, even more so than by Caucasions.

[LiYuanXi]

I dont know if you consider the indians as black but i do have a lot of indian friends over here so i am not a racist~ Most chinese in Singapore are not racist.

[Shi Rui'en]

I'm not sure how it is all over China, but I spent about two weeks in a little city right outside Beijing and most of the people I talked to didn't have many nice things to say about blacks. Of course, the four black people in the city at the time were all there on falsified nigerian passports and they stole things all the time, but still maybe that was just a regionalized thing. Not that you can blame them.

[Yang Rui]

Most of the Chinese people i met in China who expressed an opinion did not have a favourable view either. There's a lot of the classic "i'm not racist but..." kind of racism. The girls in the university seemed to be afraid of the African men who were studying there, because they were seen to be sexual predators who went round trying to get Chinese girls into bed. Although they seemed pretty sure about this, they had never actually spoken to a black person, so didn't have any basis for their suspicions.

After i introduced a couple of the girls to my friend from Rwanda, who was a perfect gentleman, they agreed that he was very nice, but for some reason they saw him as an exception to the general rule, and their views didn't change much.

A lot of British people have a similar reluctance to change their views about foreigners, even when confronted with evidence that contradicts their prejudice. So it's not exclusively a Chinese issue, it's common to most societies and stems from ignorance.

[xuechengfeng]

Yeah, that's sadly even the view sometimes in America. People will have a negative view about someone black, but then they meet a nice one, and they go..

"Oh, he's a really nice guy... for a black person."

[wushijiao]

I think there is some discimination towards blacks in China, certainly staring. If you want to join the whole ESL industry, they might not want to hire you because they have heard black people can't speak "standard" English.

Although, I sometimes think that it wouldn't be that bad being a black person in China. There is a very straightforawrd prejudice/ unfamiliararity with black people, which results in stares and ignorant stereotypes. But once you pass that stage, there isn't a hidden, complex history, like there is sometimes in American white-black relations. So, maybe, it would be a bit refreshing. I think Chinese people have strong prejudices (they pre-judge), but they aren't really racists, in the sense that they hate your race and won't think otherwise. I'm not black, though, so I can't say for sure.

[ThePhatGentleman]

I have lived all over China. I even speak mandarin. I have a extremely high GPA. I am in the top 1% of american students. I think what attracts me about the Chinese is their ability to observe character. I have always been a well spoken and proper individual. When I lived in China I notided that most people could tell. I never felt tension and I never was looked upon as the outsider. At least I never noticed it. If people stared at me, I talked to them. Usually they wanted to be friends and practice english. Or, they never saw a black person before and wanted to take a picture with me. I even met some hip hop fans in Hong Kong! They knew about Wu tang clan and some other artists due to LMF. One of my friends flipped when I told them of my relation to Ice Cube. I am not the biggest fan of hip hop but, I was happy to make friends. I never felt betrayed or that my character was spit on. I made and still have many friends over in China. I even went to a university in China. I made life long constituates. I played with children sometimes and their parents didn't show fear or racist attitudes. Some children addressed me as big brother. Im not sure where people see the racism. I can say that I felt good being judged on my individual merit. I am not compunctious about who I am and I am proud to know people of all races. In China I was truly able to relax at times.

Im not sure if this makes a difference but, unlike American television, Chinese television isn't swamped with stupid falsified images of black people wanting to be gangstas, thugs or pimps every 5 seconds. I think that the big media influence has a real effect on peoples opinions of others in different countries. Some people ignore it but, I think it is a big deal.

[xuechengfeng]

Well, it's good to hear something positive. You're related to Ice Cube?

[SnoopyRules]

It's hard for blacks because it seems that people discriminate againstthem all over the world. Personally I try hard not to discriminate aginst anybody but I know some Chinese friends who are prejudiced against not only blacks but Pakstanis and Indians too.

[Yuchi]

Older generations that I know of, are racist towards blacks. Most chinese should be familiar with the term "Hei gui" or "黑鬼".

Unfortunately, my grandmother has assimilated those stereotypes of african americans (which are probably worse in china than in america), she is usually kind, but has this weird thing against them. So has my mother, but she's quite friendly with the ones she's been acquainted with.

Both adopted the term 黑鬼, and both use them in shanghainese whenever referring to an colored person. They use it like an everyday word, which bothers me a bit. My father seldom uses it ofcourse..

[林彪]

Just out of curiosity, how many Blacks are there in China?

[SnoopyRules]

My parents say hei gui as well, it annoys me a bit, and I try not to use it. But in Cantonese they call whit people bai gui, opposite to hei gui, which I use as well. I think it is in such common use that it isnt that racist anymore.

[pazu]

I've met a girl from Jamaica here in Vietnam, one day I went around with her, people stared at her in a very unfriendly way, I felt sorry for her.

She said it was okay, but after a month she sent me an email, in Hanoi a hotel staff had an argument with her, and he said, "you black, you stink!"

He didn't know that he was the one who stinks.

[geek_frappa]

so, does most of the world despise Blacks? is that the situation? or am i missing something?

[ChouDoufu]

There is a history of racism against blacks (mostly africans) in China. Some of it is based of a hatred of immigrants. Some africans are seen as coming to China to make a living and in the proccess displace chinese from jobs. A large factor in the black/chinese relationship is the sexual stereotype. In most of western society blacks have been seen as more sexual than other races. The Chinese borrowed this notion. I've read about riots in the 80's in universities in China that were caused because a black was taking his Chinese girlfriend(or possibly friend) to a dance. It was seen as a disgrace to the race in some ways.

I think the prejudice towards blacks is still in it's early phases. most of the concepts and views toward blacks are borrowed from the west, and some are "reinforced" a chinese guy seeing a black guy with his Chinese girlfriend reinforces the idea that blacks are somehow more sexually motivated in their interactions.

There also seems to be a differentiation between africans and african-americans or lighter-skinned blacks. I've heard comments about some african-americans by chinese, "He's obviously mixed." ; "I don't consider him black." Interestingly enough, these types of comments are made by higher educated Chinese. Perhaps it allows them to create to racial stereotypes, one for light-skinned blacks and one for "real" blacks.

[roddy]

Some africans are seen as coming to China to make a living and in the proccess displace chinese from jobs

Really? I've had people tell me that black people are 'dirty' or 'stupid' but never 'they steal our jobs'.

Roddy

[pazu]

There's indeed another ugly scene in the border of Tibet. A black guy in a tour group with a Chinese visa on his passport was refused entry, because the Chinese police questioned about the validity of his passport! The only apparent reason for this suspicion was only because he's black.

The police then said they would let him enter China if he could pay them some "penalty".

The guy did it right to refuse to pay anything, and went back to Kathmandu to seek help from his embassy.

[BeijingSlacker]

Who should we blame for Chinese people's stereotype of black people?

I would say the western media.

[pazu]

I really doubt it...

[Ian_Lee]

Actually the mentality shifts with the diplomacy.

In the '60s and early '70s when Africans were the best friends of PRC, a lot of these proletariat students came to PRC with full scholarship. By that time, there was no discrimination against the Black students (at least not openly).

Now the students who come from Africa are without such diplomatic or financial blessings. But anyhow they still choose PRC because the tuition is still cheaper than what is charged in US or Europe.