Originally posted by SEAJ at 26-12-2010 18:36
Tony - I stand by my statement:
"And you telling me what the Chinese - in Hong Kong as well as China - is all about?! Get real Tony!"
You're NOT Chinese - how is it that you can tell me wha ...
I wonder if I, being of mixed parentage, would be allowed to butt in to this conversation without being told that I don't know what it means to be Chinese.
I have seen various forms of racism and prejudice in many parts of the world, from people of different races too. In my experience, the only thing that people in Hong Kong are normally guilty of is sweeping generalisations rather than any inherent racism.
These generalisations can manifest into individual acts of prejudice. People will, for example, choose to sit next to a local on a bus rather than next to an Indian or Pakistani. I have actually heard people say that they don't like to sit next to Pakistanis because "they smell bad". The problem with stereotypes like this is that even though it generally may not be true, when there are rare incidences of it being true it simply re-enforces that stereotype.
These generalisations can be positive as well as negative. For every person who dislikes foreigners, for whatever reason, there is another who likes foreigners. For every person who dislikes Japanese, there is another who loves Japan. So, yes, I do feel that many people in Hong Kong are guilty of over-generalisation and having a simplified view of the world, but I do not subscribe to the motion that Chinese are inherently racist, which is a racist statement in itself.
I have noticed, however, more aggressive forms of racism in the mainland recently. I do not think that this is proof positive of general racism in society per se, but rather a result of government support of nationalism. If you protest against corruption or poisoned baby milk then you should be prepared to face jail time, but if you protest against anything Japanese then feel free to march and riot to your heart's content. The government know that there are underlying social tensions right now, and it is easy to use nationalism to vent that tension. Beijing seem happy to allow people to let off steam, as long as its directed towards the Japanese, who, as we all know, are fair game in the mainland. This has been long supported in mainland editorials that regularly warn against a return to Japanese imperialism every time there is a dispute. Because it doesn't matter who is right, the Japanese are always wrong. These days it is becoming standard practice for Beijing to label any criticism of China as either anti-Chinese propaganda, when it comes from overseas, and subversion, when it is home-grown.
In Hong Kong, even though there are sometimes protests against Japan, we are far more likely to protest against national or local issues. In the mainland, however, even locally-owned sushi restaurants had better lock their security screens when the protests come, because those rioting sheep are going to seriously mess up your storefront. This kind of group aggression towards a particular race is unheard of in Hong Kong. Perhaps our mainland cousins are guilty of being easily influenced rather than actually being racist. |
