Being Black in China: A Student's unique perspective

Being Black in China: A Student's unique perspective
DumpsterDiver Dec 08, 2014 07:49

An article from my friends son, he’s an interesting student no doubt!

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Black in China, something that everyone is always curious about, I want to actually give a somewhat positive experience about this topic.

The funny thing is it varies so wildly from person to person that concrete data is almost impossible to find. Now, a lot of people post negative experiences, and as a result get jaded and hateful. I've met two types of black people who come out of China, or Asia in general; and its simple, they either hate it or they love it.

Now since I'm a student, soon to be grad, I want to share some positive experiences, because mindset also determines how we translate a situation. I'm going to go in a Q&A format, since I go to a historically black college in the US, I often participate in study abroad panels, and I'm going to talk about some of positives.

1.) How is racism in China, compared to the US? Most students ask this first

In my opinion, both places are racist as hell, but China is probably a bit less racist (hear me out first). Here was my explanation, in the US, our HBCU (historically black college or university) is 4 miles away from a KKK town, so when I was in the marching band, and we were practicing outside, the KKK loved to drive-by, and shout racial slangs and basically try to scare the hell out of us. A little known fact in America is why do HBCU's school semesters end  up to 2 weeks earlier than regular universities, and the reason is because in the past, when blacks were lynched, they let the students out of school earlier so they can get home, before white parents would get their kids from their school and decide to attack a black along the way.

I know that sounds brutal but the fact that a KKK town is close to the school is a harsh reminder, and the most racism I've gotten out of China was maybe a "oh, it’s a black person" I've been to China three times, I've dated, and maybe it's because I speak Chinese, that the number of problems are significantly fewer, but I didn't feel that anxiety I felt at my home university. I see racism in China, as extreme ignorance, for example, I can say this happened about three or four times, but once I meet a new Chinese person, after about 10 minutes of chatting, the racism factor is gone, but it seems to only be on an individual basis.

When I went on a trip with some Chinese friends, they were surprised to see a "black person" in the water village, and were surprised, "why would a black person be there?" Now this kind of thing happened a lot, as if they forgot that I'm black. Chinese people tend to be like that, once they become your friend, it’s “us against the outside” type of mentality. China as a country is like that, and the people are too, their family and circle of friends are the only important things, nothing else is of concern. Of course they stare, take pictures, and gossip, but they do that to all expats, and we as expats do that too, when international students come to HBCU's many students wonder where are they from, why'd they go to an HBCU, and yes, stare, out of curiosity.

2.) Would Chinese girls date black guys? The men are always concerned about this, while the women don't seem to care much lol.

My response is always the same, if you're respectable why wouldn't they?

I've dated a lot in China, and I always give my friends some advice that I've taught myself, and have observed.

First: If you can speak Chinese, life will be easier in so many different ways. Yes, everyone says this, but no one wants to put in the time. When I first came to China, I had handwritten phrases in pinyin, in a book I made, and carried it around me at all times, I had a phrases for every situation and one girl I was seeing thought it was cute and loved the effort. Just learn a little bit, I never got started from the small tones and all that beginner stuff, learn sentences, break the words up and make new sentences over time, just jump in.

Two: If you don't understand the highly confusing aspects of Chinese culture, you will never be their match. Modern Chinese culture is driven by face and impressions, when a Chinese person says "5000 years of history," and I at one point asked "for an example" they were confused, because no one ever asks. A Chinese girl will throw around "I'm traditional," but will grind with guys in a club, or in so many instances, yes means no, and no means keep trying. I've seen so many times when a Chinese girl says yes to something, then looks desperately for an excuse to back out of something, or when a girl will say no, but get pissed off when you take the no. The gold diggers and all of that other stuff, doesn't even need to be discussed here, that’s a discussion by itself.

Three: Have a talent

There’s a saying in America that black people have to work twice as hard to get the same level of respect, actually that’s more of a fact, but in China, it's confusing. Its fact that white is way more preferred, but there are some "hardcore" Asian girls that only like black guys, or some people who think you're the best thing since sliced bread because normal black people can't speak Chinese. So, you want to have some kind of talent.

A lot of white students that I knew, thought that since they are white, they can go to the campus park and sit there and wait for the girls to flock. If you have a talent, use it, Chinese girls love to brag about something their boyfriend can do that others can't, if you can sing, go to the international festivals and sing, if you can dance, you're set, because everyone loves dancers, if you can play basketball well, then they will love that as well, bottom line is find something you're good at and use it, don't expect them to want you just because you're a different color.

3.) What kinds of things did you do in China that gave you hope that maybe not all Chinese are racist?

Well little things like safety, as much as I've travelled in China, including Macau, I've been lucky enough to not even get in a heated argument with a Chinese person. Or, the fact that my odd sense of adventure, i.e. getting on a random bus or train, get off at a random stop and see what’s around, never gotten mugged or anything like that;  I had a lot of fun.

I also picked up badminton, which I learned by getting whopped by three different "shifu's" in a local park, about an hour away from my school. I met a lot of the older generation there as well, and would go there about twice a week for badminton, I ended up with a lot of "guardians" in a sense, who would treat me to a meal, practice the language with me, and I even met two female friends who were their granddaughters, though I'm not willing enough to accept those marriage proposals yet ;)

Aside from these small things, attending on-campus events with a lot of Chinese students who were always eager to make international friends, and just hangout, explore, eat etc. without feeling used because we speak English, gave me some hope that despite all the bad publicity there is some hope.

Even professional hope as well, I did an internship at a Chinese company, where no one spoke English. One Chinese person I met at an event hooked me up since I wanted to experience the professional environment, I ended up working in HR, so I learned a lot about business and laws there, they took care of my visa and all, and I was glad to see there were some possibilities outside of English teaching, of course my Chinese was up to par, it has to be in order to do those kinds of things.

So the point of this blog article was that I wanted to give a student's perspective and experiences being black in China, with a little bit more of a more positive spin, and also use some of the questions that students here, or first time black students I met over there were curious about. I hope it’s not taken the wrong way, as it only relates to my experiences and what I've seen with my own two eyes, not what I've read. Enjoy and thanks for reading

Tags:General Relationships Teaching & Learning Business & Jobs Travel Language & Culture Expat Tales Lifestyle

7 Comments

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qianqianwan

different people have different opinions on this topic. in my view,all kinds of people are good.as long as they are kind to others.

Feb 04, 2015 16:38 Report Abuse

Guest14172048

Hello, I believe you have an interesting perspective on being Black in China. I think we should also consider a few more factors, which deeply impact an individual's perspective. Here are some more factors to think about: color of skin, weight, height, age, level of attractiveness, and education level. All of these factors will impact ones experience. Let me explain, I am culturally and racially an African American, I attended an HBCU and I studied culture and race, thus my reason for being in China. However, because I am what many would call "racially ambiguous," which makes my experiences very different, even Chinese's people will ask if I am part of some minority group. Thus, virtually my being "Black" is constantly challenged, or a non-conversation. I become an "unknown" minority person, which is a completely different conversation. Nonetheless, this notion of Black in China became extremely salient when a friend came to visit. She is a beautiful and intelligent brown sister, but when we visited major sites in Beijing we were called "ghost" "black ghost" "zhen Hei," accompanied by lots of laughter. I can't remember a time that I felt, so angry. This was her first time in China, and this is how she was welcomed! I was very disappointed. Her work specifically focuses on "colorism" and this idea of color privilege was depicted when she visited

Jan 09, 2015 13:28 Report Abuse

Guest2805766

Life in China is hell, am black so I know how it feels to be black. Bad education about blacks especially Africans is widely spread in China. We are different colors but one people. Even in the animal kingdom is made up of different colors. Why do we human see our self so differently. There is a saying once you go black you will never like to go white or yellow. In Africa we have our own history and beautiful culture until it was being polluted by our forefathers and is still on, We have been over shadowed. Is hard to get a hotel at certain provinces in China to lay your head as a black, incase you are there for a purpose. The world fight for all kinds of stuffs that destroy the image of Africa. But we forget to fight against racism. Racism does not only exist in China but other countries where white exist. If the world is not ready to accept black people then do we have a world. We Africans we pray for the day the word racism will be out of a dictionary.

Dec 20, 2014 14:08 Report Abuse

Bukhosi

i don't think there is any difference in color just that some chinese people are ignorant and all that ......being from Africa ,Europe America is not a big deal after all

Dec 18, 2014 16:24 Report Abuse

Robk

Decent article with many items I agree on. Kind of strange to read though when everything is centered like that, haha. One thing you should keep in mind, is that African-Americans are smiled upon more than say black people from the continent of Africa itself in China. They sort of connect you with basketball stars, rappers and generally people with skills and talents (as you mentioned). Unfortunately, "fei zhou ren" are considered poor, dirty womanizers that bring crime to China. I hear this a lot from Chinese people as they assume I will automatically side with their racism. Instead, I explain to them that Chinese were once considered the same at certain points in history.

Dec 11, 2014 20:41 Report Abuse

Guest2293436

all I have to say is that if you think being black is hard in China, trying being asian... at least being black is..well..exotic.. I mean white guys can easily get one night stands here in china cuz girls are looking to explore and experiment, and at least black guys are exotic enough to be worth a try by some girls unlike us asians... I'm talking about one night stands here only, so save your arguement of how asians tend to do better with long term meaningful relationships... you look different, and girls go with you for one night stands.. maybe not as much as the white guys..but be happy please as there are always guys who are worse off than you...

Dec 11, 2014 19:35 Report Abuse

Guest434920

Try not assuming that Asia belongs to just one race. There are whites who are Asian. It's not like being black (or white) is mutually exclusive with being Asian. Also, being yellow (assuming that's what you mean by "Asian") in Asia might have some disadvantages, like not getting to be seen as "exotic" for the purpose of getting the attention of girls, but let's not assume that black (or white) people have such an easy time here. The fact that they are considered exotic has disadvantages, like the assumption that they don't belong here. For whites and blacks who are Asian (they are a minority, but, yes, they exist), they are still treated as outsiders, even in their own countries.

Dec 23, 2014 07:50 Report Abuse