Why do whingeing white expats think anti-Chinese racism is OK?
Some advice, white guys: having a Chinese girlfriend and not using the word ‘Chinky’ doesn’t mean you’re not racist. In fact, everyone is a little racist. And if you don’t like that suggestion, why don’t you just go back home!
Everyone is a little bit racist. After all it’s nice to feel superior to others at the end of a hard day at work – office politics; the irritation of the commute … you can let out all your frustrations by grumbling to a sympathetic friend about an entire ethnic group. Who hasn’t done that? I have. I mean, honestly, who doesn’t make a bit of a generalisation every so often about people just on the basis of their race? Who can honestly say they haven’t maybe kicked and punched a few foreigners or maybe even stabbed them? And who hasn’t committed a little bit of genocide once or twice? I know I have.
Expatriates are terrible whingers, aren’t they? Moaning away. They never realise they’re offending people. When I was in the Beijing office, my Australian friend Shane used to grumble about China to our head of IT, a lanky Beijinger called Zhang. “If you hate it so much, why don’t you go back to ‘Australia’?” Zhang would say, doing air quotes with his fingers for the word Australia. This gave Shane a chance to make everyone laugh by pointing out that Australia is a real country and doesn’t need air quotes, but Zhang was right: no one likes hearing their own country being criticised. Is that really racist, or is it just normal annoyingness?
Nobody has a monopoly on racism
Westerners think it’s fine to make remarks about the Chinese in a way they certainly wouldn’t about other ethnic groups. The logic seems to be that China is a political state and not an ethnic group – but that isn’t the way many Chinese see it. And for Americans, the confusion is compounded by the fact that their ethnically Chinese friends (known as “Asians” in the US) are often far ruder about mainland Chinese than anyone else, not realising that to the average whitey from Whitesville, Oklahoma, they’re all just Chinese guys.
Most Western expats instinctively know that it is not OK to make racist remarks about black people, but they’re a lot less sensitive when it comes to Chinese people. They think that as long as you don’t use words like “Chinaman” or “Chinky”, you’re not racist. But who under the age of 90 would use those words anyway? The real problem is crass generalisations.
India bemused by ‘racist’ Chinese video
Listen when expats talk about China and its problems. These guys could fix anything, to hear them talk. Social unrest in rural China? Bring on the white guy. Ethnic trouble in Tibet? We need that white guy. Rule of law? The aggression of China’s Pacific fleet? Undervalued Renminbi? Too much spitting? There’s nothing the average white guy can’t solve.
And for many white people, having a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse proves you’re not racist, no matter what else you say or do. Sorry, white person, that is not a recognised defence to a charge of racism. “Mr Perkins, you have been found guilty of ethnic cleansing.” “What, me? But my girlfriend is from Shanghai.” “Oh, OK then you’re free to go.” That is not how it works.
Of course, this view of China is often put about by Chinese “consultants” who set up companies around the Western world called things like “Gateway of the Dragon” or “Jade Panda Advisory” or “Great Walls of Fire”. These fellows make their money by telling everyone that in China, all business is taken care of by a mysterious oriental concept called guanxi of which there is no equivalent in the rest of the world. Luckily these consultants are friends with the brother of the local vice-mayor of Pingzhou, so they can get things done. Consultants like these encourage a stereotypical view of China, so I suppose you can’t completely blame foreigners for repeating it.
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What do Chinese people view as expat racism? Well, here’s the thing. The Chinese are the most tolerant people on earth when it comes to anti-Chinese racism. In fact, Chinese people love stereotypes. Whole sections of the Chun Wan gala (in the old days, when people used to watch it) were devoted to stereotypes of people from different parts of China: Shanghainese calculating, Dongbei people pugnacious, Beijing people verbose ….
Perhaps the most important distinction is between doing something racist, like attacking a person or refusing to hire them just for being the wrong colour, and saying something racist. Most people make racist remarks all the time. Perhaps we need to be more tolerant of intolerant people. ■
Nicolas Groffman writes on China, practised law in Beijing and Shanghai, and is currently a partner at law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys