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Most Recent Anti-Foreigner Movement
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Anyone traveling or living in Beijing currently who has experienced the most recent 100 day movement of the Public Security Bureau (PSB) cracking down on "illegal" workers in Beijing...ie. people working on a student or tourist visa.
B Posts: 43
My husband traveled there this past week/weekend (Wed-Sun) and couldn't believe how different the vibe was in Beijing than Hangzhou. He is currently writing a blog about his experiences but I would love to know if anyone else is experiencing it and your stories. Reply to this
B Posts: 69
Has this thing got anything to do with the British guy who got caught on camera molesting a girl on the streets of Beijing? And some white ballet dancer fighting with a train passenger because he refused to take his feet off the front seat. These were recent Weibo videos that are causing anti foreigner sentiment here in China. I've not seen them, but there is no excuse for bad behavior. Reply to this
B Posts: 69
The man on the train has issued an apology for his bad behavior. He was the lead Cellist for the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. The apology video and the videos of the incident and the British molester are on www.shanghaiist.com Reply to this
B Posts: 24.6K
When I was in China last year for just one day, I found the Chinese particularly friendly towards me as a foreigner. There seemed to be a real effort made to attract tourists, in my opinion. It was so much more inviting, than it was the first time I was in China around 13 years ago.
I wasnt there this time long enough to see anything against illegal workers. Though, I think that thing about illegal workers has been there for a long time. Our friend was in China to do some work, in the 80s. He decided to go ahead and get the work done, even though his work papers were not yet processed. He was put in prison, the Austrian consulate(he is Austrian) got him out, and the Chinese police escorted him to the plane, and he has not been allowed back in China ever since.
Would you post the link to the blog here, when your husband is finished writing it. I want to read it. I didnt think the cracking down on illegal workers would be done in public for all to see and blog about. Seems like they are making it into a bit of a show.
Seems like some are actually trying to catch white or maybe all foreigners doing annoying things on camera, and then making a big scene about those 'bad white people', or 'those bad foreiengers'... Reply to this
I wasnt there this time long enough to see anything against illegal workers. Though, I think that thing about illegal workers has been there for a long time. Our friend was in China to do some work, in the 80s. He decided to go ahead and get the work done, even though his work papers were not yet processed. He was put in prison, the Austrian consulate(he is Austrian) got him out, and the Chinese police escorted him to the plane, and he has not been allowed back in China ever since.
Would you post the link to the blog here, when your husband is finished writing it. I want to read it. I didnt think the cracking down on illegal workers would be done in public for all to see and blog about. Seems like they are making it into a bit of a show.
...These were recent Weibo videos...
Seems like some are actually trying to catch white or maybe all foreigners doing annoying things on camera, and then making a big scene about those 'bad white people', or 'those bad foreiengers'... Reply to this
B Posts: 43
This article was the first spark on May 18th from Wall Street Journal China.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/05/18/state-tv-host-offers-advice-on-how-to-throw-out-foreign-trash/?mod=google_news_blog
Then on May 24th, CNN wrote this follow up article
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/24/world/asia/china-foreigners/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
The Russian cellist was fired within this time period and the British man was taken to the police station to sober up and then charged him with sexual assault.
I am in NO WAY down playing their rude and inappropriate behaviors, but the response in China from these 2 incidents is blown way out of proportion.
Today on CNN.com was this article http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/china-official-rape/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
In my 2.5 years of living and working in China legally, I have witnessed so many situations of Chinese men abusing a Chinese woman in public areas. Also, here in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang, there are so many store fronts of prostitutes open 24 hrs with men coming and go all the time. Why does the local government turn a blind eye to this?
I could go on for days about these issues but all countries in the world have problems but China does a great way of putting fear in their citizens when the Communist Party is facing lots of problems within the higher ups in Beijing and the rich vs. poor divide continues to grow causing friction. Reply to this
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/05/18/state-tv-host-offers-advice-on-how-to-throw-out-foreign-trash/?mod=google_news_blog
Then on May 24th, CNN wrote this follow up article
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/24/world/asia/china-foreigners/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
The Russian cellist was fired within this time period and the British man was taken to the police station to sober up and then charged him with sexual assault.
I am in NO WAY down playing their rude and inappropriate behaviors, but the response in China from these 2 incidents is blown way out of proportion.
Today on CNN.com was this article http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/china-official-rape/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
In my 2.5 years of living and working in China legally, I have witnessed so many situations of Chinese men abusing a Chinese woman in public areas. Also, here in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang, there are so many store fronts of prostitutes open 24 hrs with men coming and go all the time. Why does the local government turn a blind eye to this?
I could go on for days about these issues but all countries in the world have problems but China does a great way of putting fear in their citizens when the Communist Party is facing lots of problems within the higher ups in Beijing and the rich vs. poor divide continues to grow causing friction. Reply to this
B Posts: 43
It has indirectly spread to Hangzhou. I have been attending events sponsored by Hangzhou Green Drinks (HZGD), an organization in over 800 cities worldwide.
Email from HZGD:
"A quite disturbing issue for HZGD.
Finally, and this is the disturbing and strange event we were referring to above, some words about Hangzhou Expat's on-going disgraceful, anti-community activities.
Unfortunately, after trying to appease their erratic,unprofessional and inappropriate attempts to control what we write in our HZGD emails and put on our online documents for the past few months, as well as them trying to control at which venues we do or don't hold our events, Hangzhou Expat has started to delete our HZGD event notice posts as soon as they are posted all without any rational justification.
As you would likely know, Hangzhou Green Drinks is an independent, non-profit community group run by volunteers in their own free time. Our speakers are also community-minded volunteers and they receive no payments, nor do we pay fees to the venues that host our events. We are, we think, the epitomy of a community group.
The biased, mercenary and baseless actions of Hangzhou Expat's administrators outlined above show that they have no understanding of community-mindedness whatsoever.
Hence forth we will be ceasing to use Hangzhou Expat as a site for disseminating information about our events, and as a site for discussing green issues and connecting with like-minded people. Please see our other online sites for event details and updates, and to discuss green issues and make social/business connections.
We can only suggest you avoid Hangzhou Expat and their anti-community policies and try to use other Hangzhou Forum sites, information directories, classifieds and event listings.
e.g.
HZScene Forum/Events/Groups/Classifieds: http://www.HZScene.com
MORE Hangzhou Directory/Events/Forum/Classifieds: http://www.morehangzhou.com
Hangzhouvian Directory/Events: http://www.hangzhouvian.com/index.php
HangzhouNetwork Forum/Events/Groups/Classifieds: http://hangzhounetwork.com/"
I will stand behind and NOT SUPPORT any anti-community policy or movement moving across China.
Reply to this
Email from HZGD:
"A quite disturbing issue for HZGD.
Finally, and this is the disturbing and strange event we were referring to above, some words about Hangzhou Expat's on-going disgraceful, anti-community activities.
Unfortunately, after trying to appease their erratic,unprofessional and inappropriate attempts to control what we write in our HZGD emails and put on our online documents for the past few months, as well as them trying to control at which venues we do or don't hold our events, Hangzhou Expat has started to delete our HZGD event notice posts as soon as they are posted all without any rational justification.
As you would likely know, Hangzhou Green Drinks is an independent, non-profit community group run by volunteers in their own free time. Our speakers are also community-minded volunteers and they receive no payments, nor do we pay fees to the venues that host our events. We are, we think, the epitomy of a community group.
The biased, mercenary and baseless actions of Hangzhou Expat's administrators outlined above show that they have no understanding of community-mindedness whatsoever.
Hence forth we will be ceasing to use Hangzhou Expat as a site for disseminating information about our events, and as a site for discussing green issues and connecting with like-minded people. Please see our other online sites for event details and updates, and to discuss green issues and make social/business connections.
We can only suggest you avoid Hangzhou Expat and their anti-community policies and try to use other Hangzhou Forum sites, information directories, classifieds and event listings.
e.g.
HZScene Forum/Events/Groups/Classifieds: http://www.HZScene.com
MORE Hangzhou Directory/Events/Forum/Classifieds: http://www.morehangzhou.com
Hangzhouvian Directory/Events: http://www.hangzhouvian.com/index.php
HangzhouNetwork Forum/Events/Groups/Classifieds: http://hangzhounetwork.com/"
I will stand behind and NOT SUPPORT any anti-community policy or movement moving across China.
Reply to this
B Posts: 24.6K
Hello Elyse and Pete 
I just want to let you know that TravleBlog is watched by many lurkers, including very nationalist Chinese people.
For your own safety, please be careful that you don't post anything that would put you in danger, since you live in China, and your names and photos are on your blog account.
Mel
Reply to this
I just want to let you know that TravleBlog is watched by many lurkers, including very nationalist Chinese people.
For your own safety, please be careful that you don't post anything that would put you in danger, since you live in China, and your names and photos are on your blog account.
Mel
Reply to this
B Posts: 159
We just saw a CNN news article on this, saying a lot of foreigners (who are there working legally) are very, very worried that they won't be allowed back in if they leave the country for a holiday.
The CNN reporter (Stan Grant - the guy who is always, and we mean always, getting into scuffles with party officials!) was interviewing Chinese people too who were saying 'let's get rid of all these foreigners' and other such statements. In response to the attack on the Russian guy who sexually assaulted the women, a couple of guys said something like 'yes, we would have beat him to death'.
All countries use the 'enemy outside' to distract, so reports say this crackdown will last 100 days and foreigners have reported being stopped and harassed by the police even though they are there legally. Instead of focussing on illegal immigration this seems to just be targeted at any foreigner?
The CNN reporter (Stan Grant - the guy who is always, and we mean always, getting into scuffles with party officials!) was interviewing Chinese people too who were saying 'let's get rid of all these foreigners' and other such statements. In response to the attack on the Russian guy who sexually assaulted the women, a couple of guys said something like 'yes, we would have beat him to death'.
All countries use the 'enemy outside' to distract, so reports say this crackdown will last 100 days and foreigners have reported being stopped and harassed by the police even though they are there legally. Instead of focussing on illegal immigration this seems to just be targeted at any foreigner?
[Edited: 2012 May 29 11:09 - Donna and Neil:22231 ]
Reply to thisB Posts: 43
It was a British man who sexually assaulted the women in the streets who was beaten and a Russian man who had his feet on the train seat.
We are leaving China in 4 weeks as we are returning to the US and I feel confident we will be ok as TB has never been blocked in C*N%@ unlike ALL other blog sites. Reply to this
We are leaving China in 4 weeks as we are returning to the US and I feel confident we will be ok as TB has never been blocked in C*N%@ unlike ALL other blog sites. Reply to this
B Posts: 69
I'm sorry but I have only ever felt welcomed in this country. I am half Asian, an have spent half my life in Asia and half in the West. I tell you honestly, I experienced alot of racism in the West, and very little in China, Japan, and Singapore. Reply to this
B Posts: 43
I agree that I have usually felt welcomed in this country, especially at my places of work. But Mainland China is also the ONLY country of 29 that I have visited that I have been pointed at, yelled at and looked at with the words "Waiguoren" said to me. Meaning Outsider in a degrading way, Laowai is ok as it is a nicer term.
When I am in small groups I am reminded how nice the Chinese people are, but I find the opposite in a larger group situation. Helping foreigners out when in need or customer service is the lowest in China of all the Asian countries we have visited.
Everyone has their own experiences in every country and this is just my view on recent experiences. I know this isn't the view of ALL Chinese just a small group that is making the atmosphere a little tense in China. I hate when people make generalizations, so that is what I am NEVER to do. Reply to this
When I am in small groups I am reminded how nice the Chinese people are, but I find the opposite in a larger group situation. Helping foreigners out when in need or customer service is the lowest in China of all the Asian countries we have visited.
Everyone has their own experiences in every country and this is just my view on recent experiences. I know this isn't the view of ALL Chinese just a small group that is making the atmosphere a little tense in China. I hate when people make generalizations, so that is what I am NEVER to do. Reply to this
B Posts: 69
I guess being half Asian I don't get the full on experience. Traveling around China with Stel T and my fully Caucasian brother I was kind of jealous that they were always approached like movie stars with people just wanting to shake their hands or have pictures taken with them. These recent events will blow over. I just hope that they don't happen too frequently as they do lead to generalizations that bundle all foreigners as barbarians when in truth, every society has a few bad apples.
[Edited: 2012 May 29 23:45 - The Great China Roadtrip:226884 ]
Reply to thisB Posts: 43
Here is a link to the blog about his experiences in Beijing, this is his 4th time traveling to Beijing since September 2007 and 1st time facing this type of treatment.
http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-720387.html Reply to this
http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-720387.html Reply to this
B Posts: 69
I know you guys are heading back soon and I am sure you will carry with you fond memories of this diverse nation. It wasn't so long ago that your nation segregated people based on the colour of their skin. Give China time. This is a sensitive period of rapid growth and opening up. These sort of incidents happen in every country in one way or another. Reply to this
