{"id":6060,"date":"2010-03-07T09:26:43","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T00:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6060"},"modified":"2010-03-07T14:03:59","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T05:03:59","slug":"weekend-tangent-china-daily-publishes-snotty-anti-laowai-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6060","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Tangent: China Daily publishes snotty anti-laowai article"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS now on iTunes, subscribe free<\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0Turning over the keyboard to Debito.org Reader R for commentary about some pretty nasty (and repetitive: \u00a0how many ways can we say “you don’t get it”, and “you don’t belong here” in a single essay?) anti-foreigner media published in a major English-language daily in China for a comparison. \u00a0And I thought 2-Channel<\/a> was bad. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Subject: \t“gaijin” discrimination in China
\nDate: \tJanuary 18, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Debito,\u00a0I am a regular reader of your blog, even though I do not usually participate or leave comments.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am quite interested in your work about discrimination in Japan (where I currently live) ; I also keep an eye on what happens in China (I was living there before).<\/em><\/p>\n

I found this article in China Daily online the other day<\/em> (http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/life\/2010-01\/12\/content_9304769.htm<\/a>).<\/p>\n

When I was reading it I was thinking 2 things :<\/em><\/p>\n

– there is discrimination in Japan, but hopefully it won’t get as obvious as the tone of this article. Can you imagine this kind of article about “Gaijin” in Japan (FYI, Laowai means Gaijin in China) published in a serious english newspaper, like Japan Times for example ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ed<\/strong>: Yes I can. I’m thinking something like Amy Chavez and Japan Lite. Although in the case I will cite<\/a> I think if it more as failed sarcasm than borderline hatred. Both are snotty and asinine, however.]<\/p>\n

– this article reminded me of your work. unfortunately we have nobody like you in China to prevent that kind of article from being published \ud83d\ude41 Because the truth is I was very shocked by the tone if this article and how it pictures white people living in China.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I know it doesn’t talk about Japan at all, but I thought you could be interested by what happens in our neighbour country… Best regards, R<\/em><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Dear laowai, don’t mess with our Chinese-ness
\nBy Huang Hung (China Daily) 2010-01-12<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/life\/2010-01\/12\/content_9304769.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, listen up, you foreigner boys and girls, Chinese New Year is around the corner and I want to talk to you seriously about fireworks.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I saw this picture in a newspaper, where a smiling, cordial Chinese girl (rather pretty as well) was explaining the tradition of lighting fireworks to a group of foreign guys. They all looked very happy.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I will let you know that is false information. Fireworks are no small matter, and no laughing matter either. So wipe that smirk off your face and listen up.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As a Chinese, I want to be honest with you. For the past 30 years, we have opened up to the West, and welcomed foreigners like yourselves to come here to do business, to make money, even gave you some easy credit to let you buy real estate, marry our women, whatever. But this does not make you Chinese. There are things we reserve for ourselves, and it really doesn’t matter how long you have been here, just don’t assume you can be one of us, and don’t touch the following three things:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHICKEN FEET,<\/strong><\/p>\n

SEA CUCUMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

AND FIRECRACKERS!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of you are well trained enough to withhold your chopsticks, whichever way you are holding them, and stay away from the chicken feet at Chinese dim sum restaurants. But some of you are show-offs. Most of the time, you are trying to prove to your Chinese girlfriend’s parents that you are so Chinese. “Look, I am eating chicken feet. Mmm … Good!”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t do that. We really get annoyed when foreigners try to chomp on chicken feet. Sometimes, you are so polite, you don’t spit out the bones, you chew them and try to swallow them. That’s totally unacceptable. Because, when you do that, most Chinese start getting anxious about you choking to death on the damn chicken bones. And it is very difficult to enjoy dim sum when you are anxious.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sea cucumbers are not for you either. Most of you are rather intimidated by slimy sea things – jelly fish, sea cucumbers. But, there are those of you who are so brave that you insist on trying it, and pretend to enjoy it. Most of the time, you are a foreign businessman, you don’t want to offend your Chinese host by not eating the most expensive dish ordered.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve got some news for you. Guess what? He didn’t order it for you! He ordered it for the Chinese at the table! Do you know how difficult it is to soak the sea cucumber so it acquires the right slimy texture? No one can master it in his own kitchen. Only the restaurants can. So stop trying to pick up the sea cucumber with your chopsticks, it will probably end up in your lap anyway. Just politely put the untouched dish back on the lazy susan. We are not impressed by sea cucumber chivalry.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now fireworks. It is strictly, strictly for us Chinese. We really don’t want you anywhere near fireworks. First of all, it is dangerous. You don’t understand why 1.4 billion people have to turn into pyromaniacs for one night. It’s totally beyond your comprehension. But we love it; we have been setting off these things since we were three and for 5,000 years. So let me just say that fireworks are not for barbarians like you. You don’t get it. On the other hand, we Chinese have great tolerance for fireworks; it’s one night when you can do some damage and get away with it. For example, you can burn a building down, a brand new building, with stuff in it. How can you comprehend that level of generosity?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And, don’t you dare try to do the same, we simply have no tolerance for it. You try to burn a building down, we will kill you, because, you were probably high, and we really don’t give a hoot whether you are mentally disturbed or whether your prime minister is going to make endless harassing phone calls.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, you better be good, you better be nice, because firecrackers are coming to town!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Huang Hung is an opinionator on arts, lifestyle and showbiz.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ed<\/strong>: \u00a0And [comes off as] a nationalistic asshole.]<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debito.org Reader R: I found this article in China Daily online the other day and thought:<\/p>\n

– there is discrimination in Japan, but hopefully it won’t get as obvious as the tone of this article. Can you imagine this kind of article about “Gaijin” in Japan (FYI, Laowai means Gaijin in China) published in a serious english newspaper, like Japan Times for example ?<\/p>\n

– this article reminded me of your work. unfortunately we have nobody like you in China to prevent that kind of article from being published :-(Because the truth is I was very shocked by the tone if this article and how it pictures white people living in China.<\/p>\n

Well, I know it doesn’t talk about Japan at all, but I thought you could be interested by what happens in our neighbour country…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,22,34,11,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-exclusionism","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}