racism towards 'overseas Chinese' - does it exist?

[artichoke]

Hi, I'm ethnically Chinese (that is, I look Chinese) but I don't speak Mandarin nor am I culturally Chinese (my parents, and their parents & I have grown up in Australia).

What do other 'overseas non-Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking Chinese' think of the local Chinese' reactions to them?

Keep in mind I'll be in Beijing (at BLCU) and then likely sticking to tourist haunts like Xi'an and Shanghai after then.

My European friends who have studied in Beijing warn me that I will face cruel verbal and possibly physical abuse in China because I can't speak the language (even though I'm going there to learn!) but look like I should.

I'm trying to gauge how mentally & emotionally prepared I need to be for this apparently inevitable abuse.

My experience here in Australia is that Chinese (immigrants/tourists) don't care (are tolerant) if I can't speak Chinese.

[geraldc]

Well I'm a British Born Chinese and I haven't experienced any real problems going back to China.

The issues I've had so far:

In Hong Kong any mistakes in my Cantonese (and there are lots) get pounced on by my relatives especially if they're amusing. e.g. getting tones wrong and calling a waiter a turkey.

A couple of times people have talked about my lack of skill in Chinese as if I wasn't there, but that wasn't really an issue.

Mandarin I've never really had a problem, people tend to accept errors in pronunciation with out feeling the need to correct you all the time, as they're used to Chinese from all over the country using slightly different pronunciations.

I found it a lot easier to get a language partner to practise with, as all the basic stuff like "do I like to eat rice?", "do I like China?" were all a given as I was overseas Chinese, so we basically got straight down to talking about stuff that interested us.

I only got shouted at once and that was a few years ago when the only mandarin I knew was "我不懂", and a beggar objected to the fact that I didn't give him any money and just kept saying "我不懂" to him, so he just walked alongside me for a bit and shouted "我不懂" back at me a few times.

[TSkillet]

I will face cruel verbal and possibly physical abuse in China because I can't speak the language (even though I'm going there to learn!) but look like I should.

Verbal and physical abuse? Not likely.

Teasing, be called "banana", being made fun of, curiousity? guarenteed. I think if you are prepared for it - it shouldn't be much of a problem.

[gato]

I will face cruel verbal and possibly physical abuse in China because I can't speak the language

Better learn some kung fu, just in case.

[iMm0rTaLBoi]

Well I am an American Born Chinese and when went to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China, there wasn't any racism toward me. I felt as if i was a citizen there but maybe only because I'm fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin and I can also read a lot of the words (thanks alot chinese school).

[Homeward]

Brit-Chinese here and I too never witness any racism when I visited Hong Kong, though there was one time at Circle-K, I thought the tag said, buy one, get one free, how wrong was I, but that wasn't racial, that was just me being an idiot

Anyway, go with it, if they're mean like kiddie-beggars in China, i.e. Shenzhen, you know, marvel them with some english. Works everytime. People stand there in marvel while you do a quick runaway.

If you got access to Chinese channel like TVBS-Europe, TVBS or the HK TVB programme, it'll help with your pronunciation.

[Mark]

I'm just curious .

How do you hahndle racist taunts?

[马杰]

Even if you spoke chinese fluently, your opinions and forms of expression would make you sound like an Aussie who speaks good chinese. No different from a white Aussie who is fluent.

This was told to me by native Shanghainese friends, they get annoyed with foreigners with Chinese faces trying to pass themselves off as mainland chinese. They don't sound like mainlanders, don't dress like mainlanders and don't even walk like mainlanders ( I nearly broke a co-worker's heart when I told him I could pick him out from a crowd of hundreds of university students because of the way he walked and dressed, his grandparents escaped the CCP and he grew up speaking Mandarin. But he grew up in the US, a big difference from growing up in a mainland factory town.).

Your are where you grew up, mate.

[miss_China_so_much]

Don't worry about this. There won't be any "abuse" towards you. Some people might laugh at you. But that's not abuse.

[Tsunku]

One of my best friends here is a BBC, and I've personally witnessed some pretty thick-headed recations to him on the part of (mainland) Chinese people.

Finding jobs teaching, where lots of times schools just want a white face to show off to the parents, can be kind of tough. If you don't plan on working, then this isn't much of an issue. There will be a bit of reluctance to accept you as a "real" foreigner, and Chinese people might be a bit perplexed when you act Western, as they are looking at you and seeing a Chinese face, and expecting Chinese responses. Sometimes people think he's just BS-ing about being English, or just being rude by not speaking much, when in fact his Chinese is pretty limited.

But all in all -- abuse? Not really. Most people will be genuinely curious about your background and as long as you are patient when people say stupid things and don't lose your temper, you shouldn't have problems.

[monkey_c]

You can expect violent racism in white countries like the USA, Russia, or Ireland (where they apparently like to assault Chinese). In the USA, speaking from experience, you'll be called ch*nk, g00k, nip. If you walk in the wrong neighborhoods, you can expect to get your ass kicked. I was with Taiwanese friends once in New York and these 2 white couples came by and one of them commented, "Hey ch*nks". A lot of these immigrants from China and Taiwan didn't even know what the term meant. Therefore they didn't "experience" racism.

The sort of racism you can expect here in China is the sort where if you're a foreigner and not white, then you're not exotic enough for them. I'm Chinese American working in China; guess where that leaves me.

If you don't speak good Chinese (like me), then they'll either assume you're Japanese or Korean. I of course quickly reassure them that I'm not Japanese :-)

And if you tell them you're American (or Australian in your case), they won't believe you as they expect real Americans and Australians to be the white sort.

Being ethnically Chinese in China is no advantage.

Oh and I had been rejected as an English teacher because I wasn't white.

[Song You Shen]

You can expect violent racism in white countries like the USA, Russia, or Ireland (where they apparently like to assault Chinese). In the USA, speaking from experience, you'll be called ch*nk, g00k, nip. If you walk in the wrong neighborhoods, you can expect to get your ass kicked. I was with Taiwanese friends once in New York and these 2 white couples came by and one of them commented, "Hey ch*nks".

This is definitly a case by case example, and not general. It completely depends on where you go in America. If you go into the inner city, expect this type of racism and taunting, whether you're chinese, japonese, european, american, or whatever else. This isn't a violent racism towards Chinese people specifically... it is just how lame and violent the "inner-city" is in general. There will always be people that are racist, but raicism is just a form of fear.

Like monkey_c said, just don't walk in the wrong neighborhoods... it is EASY to know which ones are the wrong neighborhoods, especially in major cities.

Youshen

[wai ming]

Hi, I'm ethnically Chinese (that is, I look Chinese) but I don't speak Mandarin nor am I culturally Chinese (my parents, and their parents & I have grown up in Australia)

What do other 'overseas non-Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking Chinese' think of the local Chinese' reactions to them?

...

My experience here in Australia is that Chinese (immigrants/tourists) don't care (are tolerant) if I can't speak Chinese.

I'm also an Australian-born-and-bred ethnic Chinese, who is probably more culturally Chinese than "Australian", and although I know some Mandarin, I'm not anywhere near as fluent as my accent makes me sound. From my brief (one-month) experience in Beijing, I would say that the locals will expect you to speak Chinese, and some may find it hard to accept that you don't speak Chinese (or speak it that well). The best way around this is to be prepared to say something like "I was born in Australia, and grew up there... and speak English at home" in Mandarin. That, or make sure they hear you speaking English to other people.

I'm not sure that they'd get physically abusive, although if you do find yourself in an unfortunate situation (ie accidentally offending a local), be prepared for the reaction. (If you think this sounds unlikely... my blond-haired, blue-eyed friend was run-over by a bicycle-riding woman on a busy Beijing street, and after he ran off, she came up to me and started complaining that her bicycle was damaged as a result . If I'd told her I couldn't speak Chinese then... well, you can imagine what would have happened )

It's more likely that you'll be regarded as somewhat of a curiosity, or a 'banana'. Whether this bothers you depends on your own values and views.

Personally, while I find that native Chinese speakers (eg overseas students, immigrants) in Australia are 'tolerant' of my non-fluency in Chinese, I find that it does create a significant gap, and it's difficult to really fit in with these people without at least some Chinese ability. It becomes an 'us and them' situation. But like I said, it depends on where your priorities are.

[Peng]

This made me wonder. I was born and grew up in China for 9 years then I went to Canada/US. My residing in US is pretty longer than my previous residing in China. I only know half of reading/writing Chinese. Would I be different treated when I go visit China?

I read some article, it said that native Chinese welcome oversea Chinese like family while native Japanese treat oversea Japanese as foreigners, like giving them Katakana names rather than Kanji names.

[gato]

There is an expectation that a Chinese-looking person would speak Chinese. If you can speak Chinese, you'll be fine.

[bhchao]

I read some article, it said that native Chinese welcome oversea Chinese like family while native Japanese treat oversea Japanese as foreigners, like giving them Katakana names rather than Kanji names.

That is true. I read this in a New York Times article. Once a Japanese person leaves Japan, lives overseas for an extended period of time, and becomes a citizen of another country, he or she is not treated as Japanese anymore by native Japanese.

In contrast, overseas Chinese and native Chinese still hold some kind of intimate connection. I'm not saying this because of any bias of any sort.

[skylee]

I read some article, it said that native Chinese welcome oversea Chinese like family while native Japanese treat oversea Japanese as foreigners, like giving them Katakana names rather than Kanji names.

I think this is the case with Fujimori, the ex-president of Peru. Chinese media call him 藤森, but I think he is フジモリ on Japanese newspapers etc.

[jessica]

I read about this sort of thing in a book called 'Chinese Cinderilla'.

The girl couldn't speak or read Chinese and she suffered a great deal because of that.I don't know why they act like that;I've never been to China or any country in Asia.My advice to you is to start learning the language,but do not worry about it.It will only stress you.

By the way,I am new and don't know anything about the site.Could you help me?

[outcast]

You can expect violent racism in white countries like the USA, Russia, or Ireland (where they apparently like to assault Chinese).

That is BS. I almost never hear about that sort of thing. I most certainly never see it happening.

But don't forget that racism works both ways. From the way you sounded in that post, I would say that you have some......issues with race.

And how do you know you didn't get that job because you were not white? did you ask them why you didn't or are you just assuming that you didn't get it because of your race?

[owen]

You can expect violent racism in white countries like the USA, Russia, or Ireland (where they apparently like to assault Chinese). In the USA, speaking from experience, you'll be called ch*nk, g00k, nip. If you walk in the wrong neighborhoods, you can expect to get your ass kicked. I was with Taiwanese friends once in New York and these 2 white couples came by and one of them commented, "Hey ch*nks".

Ya, i'm really sceptical about this comment. I've been all over north america and if would have a big job on my hands if i wanted to manifest 'violent racism' towards every chinese face, let alone other non-caucasian races. It would simply make me too tired. I have lived in Western Canada (including Vancouver) and I can say without hyperbole that NOT ONCE did I ever see direct racism as described by monkey_c.

And anyways, the original poster, a chinese descendant, grew up in a 'white country', Australia, and made no mention of experiencing the daily kind of racism you point out. In fact their concern is that going to china they may experience an increase of racism.

Ya, I'd definitely say your chip is showing.