Different in China?
Via my Facebook feed, I came across an article in the International Herald Tribune by a Chinese-American women whose biracial children were occasionally stared at during a trip to China. From this small sample of anecdotal evidence, the author muses about, in succession, the ethnic homogeneity of Chinese society, the "lack of privacy" in such a crowded country, and the general Chinese affection for children. She then concludes with a few tried and true suggestions for parents whose young children are the unwilling objects of attention.
I can't complain much about the theme of the article: taking personal experiences in a foreign country and making sweeping generalizations comprises the bulk of several blogs, including this one. But think about it- is there anything particularly strange about racial minorities being stared at? The author herself grants that a biracial relative attracted curious stares in cosmopolitan New York City. Why should Beijing be any different?
As a rather tall, broad-shouldered, and fair-skinned man, I'm not unfamiliar with being stared at in China. I imagine that mixed Chinese/white kids face a certain amount of grief from bigoted racial purity fanatics. But I don't agree with the implication that somehow the idea that people of different races occasionally breed is especially mind-blowing to the Chinese. The proliferation of Chinese/foreigner relationships (the subject of a friend's recent sociology thesis) should put such ideas to rest.
May 9th, 2008 - 07:14
Ugh, read the same article, and it just struck me as being so utterly pathetic I couldn’t figure out why even a London tabloid would run it. On the surface, there were several themes there that are simply ripe for numerous academic studies and PhD theses, but the author took them and ran….. nowhere. So people stare at mixed-race kids in China. People stare at anybody who’s slightly different from the “norm” in China. No news here, nothing to see, move along please.
Unfortunately, though, the proliferation of sino-foreign relationships isn’t doing anything to put any untoward ideas to rest, not in my opinion. Sure, I get less stares here in Beijing than I would in Yan’an, but I get noticeably more stares and the occasional hostile reaction when out with the Mrs. But that’s just life, and we’d have to face the same shit in NZ.
May 11th, 2008 - 15:44
I think it’s a fair enough article to inform anyone who hasn’t experienced the zoo-like experience of taking our “mixed blood” kids to China. We’ve taken our kids round Asia and they sometimes get a bit of friendly attention. But only in China have I had them literally ripped out of my grasp to be hauled away by gawkers with cameras. I wanted to get a card printed that said:
1. Yes they can speak Chinese.
2. No it’s not that difficult.
3. No, they are not automatically smarter just because they are hunxue.
4. Thanks, but they are already warm enough and don’t need to put on any more clothes.
5. If the children have alreday told you they don’t want their picture taken please don’t keep asking them.
May 30th, 2008 - 07:49
It’s all fun and games until they get to an age where they do things on their own. THen the ‘oh so cute ‘becomes a caustic, contant complaint and recognition that you are truely different in the eyes of the chinese. I’ve seen kids crying day after day because the teachers, parents, and classmates are so cruel to those of mixed race. It makes me sick to see such racism running rampant.