Attitude to Chinese expats

ColinSpeakman

This is an aspect that has come up a few times here. I engage with American university students who come to study in China. An increasing number are Asian Americans and particularly of Chinese ethnicity. They are treated rightly like any other study abroad student - they are US passport holders, get their X visa etc. I have arranged for some to do a great job teaching English as volunteers to Chinese school students. Many such expats speak some Mandarin and of course they grew up learning Western Culture but with Chinese parents (at least one) who earlier moved to USA. A great basis for cultural comparison understanding. Of course some activities are advertised in China for expats because they want to bring together experience of western culture with local Chinese culture. The China Daily expat bloggers contest is a good example as any foreign passport holder can participate.

However there is a bad example set by Futian District in Shenzhen and their volunteer organisation for expats. They want them to engage with locals, speak good English, understand western culture and speak some Chinese - but the first requirement is they be NON-CHINESE expats! Why? A Chinese ethnicity US passport holder can bring everything they require for this, except facial appearance. It the west that would be racist and certainly discriminatory. Sure one might need one Anglo appearance face in a balanced team, but this is a recruitment of large numbers of expats and room for all kinds, Shame on Futian District for this. They need to change policy and China needs stronger anti-discrimination laws.

skater7

i'm an english-speaking asian. i'll tell you this story about me in japan...some japanese do still want someone white to teach them english...they let me teach out of pure politeness, because there was some confusion and they thought i was white, but after a year, they didn't want another westerner....at my last class with them, they asked me to help find another asian for them...i told them i had a white australian friend who wanted to teach, but they said they didn't want white anymore...

so...i don't really care for anti-discrimination laws. it can't really stop discrimination. if people don't like you, then they don't like you...as long as things don't get violent and they don't purposely harm or attack you, i'm fine with discrimination. it's really a fact of life, unfortunately. until we become more spiritual, we will keep discriminating....the only way to understand that the garbage man is as important as the president of a country, is to understand the true nature of the spirit and of the world.

but you are not out of options. there is always a home country...if you don't like the country you are in, you are free to leave for better shores....i like the smart mainland chinese people, not the stupid ones who only care for appearance...your own attitude will bring you to the city that suits you...

KIyer

Good post Colin. Are there any reasons given for this official policy by the people in Futian District?
It does appear to be discrimination that is not fair.

ColinSpeakman

KIyer Post time: 2015-4-17 06:54
Good post Colin. Are there any reasons given for this official policy by the people in Futian Distri ...

Officials rarely give explanations! It comes with absolute power!

KIyer

ColinSpeakman Post time: 2015-4-17 17:46
Officials rarely give explanations! It comes with absolute power!

even when officials give explanations (reasonable or otherwise) the power is separate from that. I see this sometimes in the News from around the world. Often an explanation simply adds insult to injury. Keeping quiet is probably less hurtful.
Often the spokespersons are removed from decision making and even then it might take a long while for things to change. Asian countries do not tend to have good spokespersons or responses that are media savvy or glib. Often they are told not to say anything because they cannot say it right or say it well.
Anyway, many times, people that have lived or grown up in another country from their ancestors, have it difficult in both places. They experience discrimination in both places and learn to live with it.

BlondeAmber

There are many blogs on this site from people who have faced discrimination because of their skin colour.
It seems to be due to cultural expectations that only Caucasians can teach English, which as we all know is not the case.
Many Chinese can not see beyond the surface. (fake Prada, Gucci, Nike Rolex etc)
the same for people.
See the obsession with 'skin whitener' and the like.
Witness the superficiality of 'face': just because someone is rich, I doesn't automatically mean they deserve respect.

Newtown

BlondeAmber Post time: 2015-4-17 16:55
There are many blogs on this site from people who have faced discrimination because of their skin co ...

Spot on in all respects. If you want other examples of the "face gaining" obsession of rich ( and wannabe rich ) Chinese go no further than Wenzhou. You can see dozens of extremely expensive foreign limousines threading though the traffic betwixt the pedal rickshaws, and a farcical overabundance of wine shops whose customers clearly believe that buying a bottle of Chateau Lafitte ( fake or not ) clearly sets you apart from the run of the mill of Chinese peasants.