Black-American girl going to China!

Hi Niqua.

Chinese people in the main are friendly and inquisitive and have a different sense of personal space than westerners are used to.

Just be prepared for lots of people looking at you and asking to have their photo taken with you. Other than that, you will probably be ignored. They are too busy getting on with their life.

Have fun and don't take it too seriously. Reply to this

Hello Deaniqa 😊

'Dont take too seriously' seems a strange comment to make about such a serious issue as rascism.

I hear people tell about some shocking incidents of rascism in Asia. However, my friend whose father is from Senegal says he has not experienced any of it while travelling in Asia, so hopefully the rascism I heard about are incidents, rathar than the usual.

Mel Reply to this

Hi Niqua, I am from Europe and have red hair, my husband has black hair. The Chinese really NOTICE me, children cry, people laugh and STARE, they want to take pictures and get up close to really check. They don't care so much about my husband. I have asked Chinese people why all this attention and they explained that many Chinese people have never seen a red-haired person before. In Chinese TV for example people are 99,99% Chinese (they don't show foreign shows) and the black people an ordninary Chinese person will have see will probably be Obama and some athletes. So understanding that makes it easier to understand them. I try to take it all with good humour (even if a man calls over his friends to really stare at me, to make sure I am real), I smile and say hello. Having said that, most Chinese people are very friendly and in Beijing and Shanghai they will be used to foreigners. Hong Kong is very international anyway. In Wuzhen (have never been) it will probably be some staring etc. so just be prepared. I wouldn't call this racism, but rather curiosity, and I don't believe anyone will treat you really badly. Indeed as John said most people wil be busy getting on with their own life. I am sure you will have a great trip and think of it as like for once you will be a celebrity.
Inga Reply to this

I have found that, if I carry my own fears into situations, I find all sorts of issues and problems. If I relax a bit, I realise they are mostly in my own head and not really happening.

Unfortunately, rascism is very much happening. I had a case of it aimed at me, when I was in Brazil, from an English guy. I know Irish people are not a race, but similiar issues apply. The guy could do nothing to me, even if he does not like Irish people much, but it can often be a case of one comment or incident of rascism too many and one becomes allergic to it.

But, more seriously than comments, I read a comment on another site from a guy who was staying in a hotel someplace in Asia. A black guy wanted a room in the hotel and was told there were none. The guy asked the receptionist why the black guy was not given a room when others who came in after him were given rooms. Now, that is a serious problem for black people who are travelling.

A blatent but incorrect way of interpreting this is that they are "racist".

Yeah, non Chinese people are often charged more, because they are not Chinese. There is probably a word for this too, which is not so positive. Maybe not rascism, because white westerners have not been at the butt end of rascial discrimination, but charging people more, and treating them with less friendliness because they do not look Chinese is not a good thing either.

We need to be aware that sometimes "racism" is in the eye of the beholder. If you look hard enough, with a sufficiently jaundiced eye, you can find whatever you want.

I dont think we should try to excuse rascism away, with theories like this one. Rascism is a serious problem and it does exist.

For sure though, those who have been too frequent victims of it can become overly sensitive and maybe jump to conclusions too quickly. This is something I think we all owe it to the world to be patient with, whether we are the vicitims of rascism, or whether we are the ones who have been misunderstood.
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The people here are generally pretty friendly. Like anywhere else around the world there's some unsavoury people, but aside from a complete different sense of personal space, I'm pretty sure you'll feel fine here in China.

Trust me, being a foreigner in China isn't too bad. Expect a few stares from the locals, but you'll get used to it over time when you realise they don't mean anything by it. It's more of a 'look! foreigner!' thing than anything.

Hope you enjoy your trip! Reply to this

Well yeah, staring isnt rascism, but some other things happen to people of certain races that are rascism.

This thread isnt a comparison of which countries are more rascist than which or if rascism actually exists. It is about whether a black woman travelling in China will experience rascism againt herself or not and in what form. Reply to this

Also, personally for me, as a black woman living in China I can say that people do treat me differently than my white counterparts. I am definitely stared at more and have encountered some negative experiences with people spitting at me or touching my skin in public. This however, rarely happens and my attitude to ignorance is indifferent. I feel if you don't know me and respond to me in a negative way due to my skin color, or differences then its your problem not mine.
But by far most of my experiences being different in Chinese society is very positive. I wear dreads so my hair is always topic of conversation and they are always telling me how beautiful I am. They are absolutely intrigued with black skin and often will come and compare our skin tones and tell me how beautiful ''feiguoren'' (African) are. Many of them have never seen black foriegners before so it is not uncommon to have mother and fathers pointing me out to their children in the street. Somtimes I feel like a zoo animal, but other times I'm sympathetic and try my hardest to understand the homogenous society in which they reside.
I have a lot of African friends here who have many stories about being discriminated agaisnt due to their nationality. I have noted that within a conversation, if you mention you are American and black it goes off far more favorably then being black and African. This simple fact leads me to believe that Chinese society has more of a problem about someones country of origin than by their race.
But not to defend or offend Chinese society, but when was the last time you heard of them draggin black people in the back of their pick up? or systematically disenfranchising black people to create difficulties for future advancement?
Niqua, dear you are a citizen in my most racist country that ever existed, don't be concerned with discrimination in China where you will be a visitor. I promise you, I've been in China 6 months now and though my physical differences are often noted, I have never gotten the feeling that the status of my qualifications and worth have been jeopardized, as I have often felt in my own country. I'm excited that you are a young African American girl who is about to embark on an unforgettable journey. The world is not so scary and you will be amazed with all the things you will see and experience and at the end of the day, that is the most important!
Good Luck girl
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4 posts moved to this new topic: Prejudice Reply to this

don't worry too much. Most chinese even don't know what racism is. Imagine how many black people there are in china. I guess not too many. All they notice is a person who looks different from others. racism is something that happens in places where people of different races constitute a threat of any kind to the dominant race. In china, this won’t happen for quite a while. China is just like any other developing country (may be a little better?) in terms of crime rate. there are crimes against tourists, not because they are different, but because they are more vulnerable and have more cash on them. This happens everywhere, including america. And I don't think it happens more often in china than any other country. I've heard a lot cases in NY, Miami. if you watch trueTV everyday, you would think that america is hell.

regarding the staring and looking and even touching, I know that very well. If you look so different and you are traveling in small cities or rural areas where locals have never seen people like you in their real life, you expect that to happen. I'm a chinese living in US. I came from a remote rural area from china. I still remember when I was a kid (20+years ago) and I saw a white lady in the street waiting for a bus or someone to pick her up. Guess what happened, I joined the tens of people surrounding her just watching her like a whole new species in the zoo. I remember I told my mom back home how white a person can be and how could it be possible that a person’s eyes were not black. I wish I could say sorry to her today if i could find her, but at that time it was just pure innocence and curiosity. I did not even know at that time that was impolite or rude. Nowadays, if you are traveling in big cities in china, I bet no one would even pay attention to you at all. It’s just simply because there are so many tourists and they have been used to all types of people already. I have to say, though, that black people may get more attention just because there are much less black people than white people. Btw, it looks like people in America use more “African American” than “black people.” I don’t think one word is more racial than the other. It all depends on how they think deep in their heart. A person who smiles at you does not necessarily respect you more than a person who stares at you.
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I guess there are people who would like to throw the tibetan and uyghur issues to the face of every chinese they see. Tibetan and uyghur issues mean a much bigger deal to you guys than to normal chinese. there are more than 1,300million chinese in china, but maybe less than 1 million (?) among them are tibetans and uyghurs (combined). they are not a threat to us. we are to them. we don't discreminate them. they do to us. I guess when people don't like you, whatever you do is wrong.

I'm not saying chinese do not have rascism. that is in the blood of all human. that is the animal instinct of human as a species. you find rascism in china, in US, and any other country where there are people. some people cover it better than others. I guess in your next post you will talk about human rights, environment, corruption, or something else. save it. they are not the problems of china, they are the problems of humans, although they may be a bigger problem in developing countries. there are people out there who have too much to eat for whatever reason but are always addicted to telling other people who strugle everyday to find enough food in their face that they need to improve their restrooms. sorry, we have more important things to worry.

for the young girl who is asking about the rascism in china, i think what she needs to worry is more about what might happen to a young girl tourist traveling alone (no matter where). they are vulnerable. in my oppinion, compared to a lot of other countries (especially developing countries), china is definetly among the safest ones, especially for travellers.

Hi Niqua, I feel that I need to clarify a little bit on the issue of Lou Jing since you mentioned her. The whole thing was not because she is black, but because her mom is from shanghai and he father is from a western country. there are some people from western countries who have done some pretty disgusting things in china and some chinese have a prejudice about local shanghai people. Even if she was white, she would still be picked on. It's not right, but it's happening.I feel that I need to clarify a little bit on the issue of Lou Jing since you mentioned her. The whole thing was not because she is black, but because her mom is from shanghai and he father is from a western country. there are some people from western countries who have done some pretty disgusting things in china and some chinese have a prejudice about local shanghai people. Even if she was white, she would still be picked on. It's not right, but it's happening. Reply to this