Slanted eyes equal to Insulting Chinese?

Recently, a 2019 advertisement of Chinese food brand Three Squirrels has gone viral on Chinese social media. People are accusing Three Squirrels for featuring a Chinese model with slanted eyes which appears to them a western stereotype over Chinese people. Meanwhile, not only Three Squirrels but also a newly launched Chinese anime movie, called "I am what I am (雄狮少年)”, has been attacked online for featuring characters with slanted eyes.
So why an advertisement posted 2 years ago has been exposed recently and then it has caused such a great controversy online in just a few days? Let me share with you my thoughts in this video.
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#china #chinese

[@leelin9783]

As a Chinese, I don't recognise slanted eyes as our culture...it is more like a stereotype from western countries.....

[@keard558]

You will never be white. Embrace your monolid

[@yoongles2665]

Idk is it just me but ngl I like slanted eyes and wish to have tho

[@yaka92139]

I'm Iranian. I think chinese eyes are so beautiful. Forget the hate western media trys to spread about different nationalities🤍🤍

[@foxkingking]

I’m sorry I dont’t like ur style.

[@yoyohighness]

Slanted eye is beautiful. Nothing is wrong with that. As a Chinese my self, I embrace who i am not what other think of me

[@yoyohighness]

@@ysw8291 I know perfectly the history behind. But should I dislike my bodily features because its dictated by the western superimposed nastiness ? Let me ask you one simple question, black skin is imposed by western colonialism as symbols of backward and slavery. Now, should the back people protest advertisement against model with thick lips or black skin ? A confident person love him/her self and should fight against the nasty ideology and discrimination, not your bodily/culture identifies. Slanted eyes is not guilty, only from the eyes of the beholders, unless you ALSO discriminate slanted eyes and believe the superimposed nastiness just like those backward ideology.

[@COCO-bl4ig]

Agreed, I am Chinese Australian and I won't trade my eyes for anything else. My eyes are not big or round, they are almond shaped and I am happy with them, I would not change it for anything else as I am proud of my ethnicity.

[@COCO-bl4ig]

@@ysw8291 Chinese people should support every eye shape, especially if slanted eyes is being used as an Asian stereotype by Westerners. How dare they make fun of our eyes but what is worse is Chinese people also rejects this look. It's hurtful to be honest. I am Australian and ethnicity is Chinese, I grew up with racism and it's sad to see Chinese people not supporting this look. White people mocked my eyes throughout high school and I still wouldn't change a thing about them. So yeh, I know the history behind slanted eyes and it's also part of my history... This outrage does not make sense.

[@risingdragon8886]

Its okay to love our own culture, race, but theres a certain limit to it. Doing the slanted eye gesture is a form of racism, its akin to doing the Hitler gesture, same thing. The fact that a CHinese person did it openly, willingly, is distaseful, an insult. Because it feeds into this already growing Anti-China sentiment of racism which is growing in America, it doesn't sit right with me. I grew up with racism at the age of just 5, i know exactly what it looks like, its ugly, i've lived through racism in the early 1980's in the west, so i know exactly what i'm talking about. People back then even today, used this slanted eye gesture as a racist taunt specifically towards Chinese people, so NO, it isn't okay in this day & age. You may think its okay, because you havn't experienced racism first hand like i have. Not only me, my dad also faced this racism as well as my sister, brother & mom & other relatives as well.

[@眼不见心不烦-m9e]

眼睛小不等于故意让眼睛小

[@ggyrcrrs.7]

Iam indian, no foreigner respect us, literally no one😔😔😰😡😞😞😞.........

[@yumaoliu5319]

I am really sad about it. I think you are educated and civil. Actually, many people from developing countries won't be respected from some arrogant westerners.

[@CraigWinstanley1]

I respect you and Indian culture.

[@ozyii2996]

I'm Chinese and I respect you.

[@AlIskanderZhao]

One ummah bro.

[@ggyrcrrs.7]

@@CraigWinstanley1 😊 thank you 😊

[@mrs.hardbazzi]

Wow people are nuts sometimes. Hating that poor girl for just being her.

[@The0ldg0at]

Every time I hear about that kind of controversy about a western ethnic stereotype I'm saddened by the fact that some people find self pride in not corresponding to that stereotype. The stereotype is saying you are ugly if you are different from western beauty stereotype. Remember the surgical procedures of Michael Jackson to replace the black stereotypes he was born with by western beauty stereotypes. It's hard to cleanup our mind from the western beauty esthetic propaganda. Hard to see that black is beautiful. Hard to see that slanted eyes are beautiful. Hard to admit that Chinese models with slanted eyes can be as beautiful as the other Chinese models because of the western stereotype stigma.

[@bigbullet9224]

Michale Jackson had a disease he did not do that to him self

[@Ok-oo2kh]

@@bigbullet9224 so why he did nose , jaw and others things. The problem was his skin not his feature.

[@bigbullet9224]

@@Ok-oo2kh because it was a skin disease who knows he prolly had a nose job like all celebs do until it looks like shit

[@bigbullet9224]

@Kian Hong Chua it was nothing to do with that but ok

[@chey6073]

@@Ok-oo2kh The reason he bleached his skin and the reason he got plastic surgery are not the same.

[@makamakolee5284]

Chinese young people are more confident and know more about the culture of other countries.

[@JesusGarcia-nf4yl]

East and SouthEast Asians must be proud of their features🇹🇭🇻🇳🇲🇳🇱🇦🇸🇬🇰🇭🇰🇷🇨🇳🇯🇵🇲🇾🇲🇨🇹🇼🇵🇭❤️

[@wanashugaru2555]

I will never buy in this store again.

[@tonymontana9754]

Blacks: black is beautiful. Mongoloid people: slanted is beautiful. You see the pattern?

[@aroonsubway2079]

We should not blame people who feel offended. If it is not rasism, who can explain why westerners use slant-eye gesture to mock Asians? (For example , Serbian Volleyball Team Poses With Racist Slant-Eyes to Celebrate Going to Japan)

[@sushicatvids]

Interesting topic Alex ❤️ thank you for sharing your perspective on this.

[@curiousnomadic]

I'm confused about this because the girl is hot, why should the style of her eyes bother anyone?

[@kanadangwal6808]

Can you please ask from Chinese people what they think about India 🇮🇳🇮🇳 from public

[@吴-p4v]

我可以回答你，中国人对印度没有恶意，中国人很喜欢印度的咖喱和美女，电影和舞蹈，同时，由于印度的发展程度低和贫困问题，中国人认为自己有优越感。还有就是政治分歧，领土分歧，我想这些问题，大家都会支持自己的国家。

[@ozyii2996]

I'm a Chinese and I can tell you what do most people on internet think (not what I think). They don't even view India as a threat because they think India is weak and poor. They think India is dirty and unhygienic. And they think Indians are too arrogant, overconfident, and nationalists. This is what I observed throughout the year. I don't know about the public. Maybe a street review will get better result bcos internet users are the most offensive people in the world.

[@alexfromxinjiang]

Sure, I will do one street interview video on this topic.

[@kanadangwal6808]

@@alexfromxinjiang thanks you for replying we Indias love Chinese but political situation is not good we are half of the world population

[@kanadangwal6808]

@@ozyii2996 I know that there is Poverty in India and we are working on it but we are not arrogant and and we are not unhygienic we can spread love through social media to each other

[@GuyWhoLikesTheSnarkies1435]

Happy New Year, Alex🎉🎊🎆 I wish you good health, wellness, happiness and long life🙏

[@alexfromxinjiang]

Happy new year, thanks a lot for your support in 2021!

[@aroonsubway2079]

As mentioned by this youtuber, he didn't even know what the slant-eye gesture by westerners mean (Serbian Volleyball Team Poses With Racist Slant-Eyes to Celebrate Going to Japan) until he later realized it was a common racist gesture towards all asians. Imagine that there was a country XYZ in Africa, a lot of XYZers have very big noses (not all of them), and people from Europe started doing "Big nose gesture" to XYZ people everytime or always add XYZ models with biggest nose in ads. Can we still say it is not racism? IMHO, people should not blame this model but meanwhile others should not deny the racism and stereotypes in this advertisement.

[@yngvardtherotten6612]

I always envy people who have slanted eyes, they're beautiful

[@chrisc6721]

Some people just hater's. She's beautiful. She woke up like that. Again, beautiful she is. I like.

[@naturelover2356]

It is slanted eyes or any type of eyes.....every eyes are beautiful. No one should be bullied or get judge by anyone for one's eye type,by the way her eyes are beautiful ❤️ Take love from Bangladesh. Your videos are awesome.

[@jakejones6056]

Not sure...but I do know that the model is drop-dead beautiful!!

[@GuyWhoLikesTheSnarkies1435]

I'll try to bring a nuanced take of mine here, but feel free to add or clarify my take down below👇 So about that Three Squirrel ad, honestly I think it does bring out that Western orientalism aesthetic and therefore, I understand why it triggered anger among Chinese netizens on Weibo. But at the same time, I think people were putting too much weight over the model and projected all the blames against her, when in actuality the blames should instead be directed to the said creative firm hired to produce that photoshoots for the ads. I feel she's definitely pressured and feels threatened from the mass scrutiny online so I think it makes sense she would do that stunts on her Douyin, she just wanna let out her bitterness and anger for being treated unfairly. Also from what I've learned, apparently Weibo has many toxic online communities because of these vocal mobs of online buzzers, either for being too nationalist (ultras) or liberal. One person shared few screen caps on his tweets and they could go on certain length which even anti-China buzzers on Twitter wouldn't normally or dare to do it. It's also partly the reason why Weibo admins are so clumsy to decide which individual or group they should ban and remove and which shouldn't. But again, this is only my surface analysis of the issues. So please take it with a grain of salt.

[@yumaoliu5319]

I think that model posted those rude disgusting videos long time ago, it's not a reaction toward the bully from the angry chinese.

[@lordronn472]

This is how all Central East and Southeast Asians look

[@Sajbaisho1010]

We're on a generation where a shape of an eye is a big deal. They're just advertising their product, no other else lmao. How dare them bully the model of an advertisement, she's just doing her job as usual as a model.

[@iampakistani9951]

Love you from Pakistan 🇵🇰❣️🇨🇳

[@jorjiang1]

Correction, No one has attacked the model initially, no one cares about her personally, no one knows who she is, all the heat is towards the company. She herself starts to "defend" herself voluntarily for attention. and only then did people put attention on her and dig out her old contents

[@KG-tn5kk]

Hey there I just saw your video during scrolling and found it interesting infact watched most of your video. My granny was Chinese( but we couldn't get to meet her) and I've always been curious about Chinese people's customs. We came across many people who use to pass comments as if we are Chinese or Koreans by pointing our eyes or nose.

[@misikoala6368]

For the western viewers who didn’t get what he means, here is a bit of cultural background: The social background is: in modern China, those Chinese have been abroad are the upper class only - well achieved scholars and kids of rich families that were studying abroad. So in China, people would thought any people that have been abroad or being able to understand western culture narratives to be superior to other average Chinese. In China, even having relatives or friends that have been abroad would be considered upper class. I grew up in China and have been to western countries for fifteen years, and I just realized there were a thing called piglets Chinese workers: those 200 years ago Chinese long shore man that were scammed by western slave traders and brought to America in a ship containers and they were called piglets workers. Currently in China, it is not known or noticed that there were descendants of the piglet blue collar class because they were of tiny percentage compared to those modern rich immigrants’ children, more like 1:100 ratio. And normally those descendants of the piglet workers would not be able to speak Chinese any more and they normally don’t reside in China. Currently people in China don’t even know there are overseas Chinese that are not from the upper class Chinese society. This model was trying to behave in a westernized Asian stereotypes way to show she have been abroad or having relatives and friends being abroad to show that she is from an upper class, but at the expense of degrading her own race.

[@killeryhiltons8499]

How is she degrading them lol. Because she has slanted eyes . Which China has surgery like Korea to hide their features . Go to Chinatown most look like that .

[@keard558]

A lot of words for nonsense

[@rhiannonwilliams2521]

It is not anti Chinese but very sexist; demeaning to women. What does her exposed legs have to do with the product???

[@COCO-bl4ig]

I feel sorry for the model and the company, people are over sensitive. Every eye shape is beautiful, and some Asians do have slanted eyes or almond eyes and that's NORMAL! These features should be embraced by everyone, especially the Chinese community.

[@aroonsubway2079]

As mentioned by this youtuber, he didn't even know what the slant-eye gesture by westerners mean (Serbian Volleyball Team Poses With Racist Slant-Eyes to Celebrate Going to Japan) until he later realized it was a common racist gesture towards all asians. Imagine that there was a country XYZ in Africa, a lot of XYZers have very big noses (not all of them), and people from Europe started doing "Big nose gesture" to XYZ people everytime or always add XYZ models with biggest nose in ads. Can we still say it is not racism? IMHO, people should not blame this model but meanwhile others should not deny the racism and stereotypes in this advertisement.

[@hagesonyak3868]

Even in india some of the place like northeast...very racism because of small eyes...😑😑

[@TD-yj8ch]

I’d rather have Chinese eyes than frog eyes!

[@unifieddynasty]

Ehh, I mean, most Chinese people don't look like that model, but a significant number of Chinese people do look like that model. And that's 100% ok. Chinese people and Asians should embrace the way they naturally look, including the diversity of how they look. But the intentional action of making your eyes thinner/slantier with your hands would be considered as racist in certain contexts.

[@ozyii2996]

that model is kinda over exaggerated. many Chinese people do have small eyes but not like that. the model's eyes are too long and too slanted.

[@crystalharris7394]

You are beautiful don’t listen to the haters you are a model now long till the world how beautiful you are

[@ajbhandary]

Hey Alex, Can you make a video on Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis, a famous Indian doctor who was well respected by the Chinese govt. for his works. Also show us his memorials from Hebei province, just read this in a blog and wanted to verify the fact.

[@feathermilkalley551]

I’m pure Han Chinese, but I have regular eyes just like white, black, and “brown” people do. And Chinese people tend to prefer the look of bigger eyes than small slanted eyes. Small eyes are just ugly, we have a phrase, eyebrows of a thief and eyes of a rat, to describe people with small slanted eyes. So the fact is, people got triggered so easily just because they know that they are ugly and don’t wanna admit it.

[@keard558]

You're eyes don't look white. You have a monolid it's the most prominent phenotype of Asians you dismissing them is some self hatred nonsense.

[@feathermilkalley551]

@@keard558 my eyes do, how did u even come up with your conclusion without even seeing someone’s look? Your hypothesis can’t apply to something that you made up outta your own imagination.

[@feathermilkalley551]

@@keard558 think before u even speak, btw, it’s “your” not “you’re.” Next time, make give your judgment after you have seen the truth, don’t just assume, or I can assume u look like a rat in the sewer with ninja turtles.

[@keard558]

@@feathermilkalley551 I'm a doctor I posted a link but It got deleted how all Asian eyes are distinctly different. Anyone who's not Asian would instantly see your eyes as different. It's not a bad thing but don't delude yourself

[@feathermilkalley551]

@@keard558 not all asians look the same, I respect the fact that you are a doctor. But I’ve been asked if I’m mixed blood multiple times since I was little, but I’m not. Both my mom and I have that kinda eyes, it’s an inheritance. Again, not all Asians look the same, and not all the white people look the same either, if u know the actor Will Poulter, his eyes are small and slanted like Asians’.

[@JiangNanHandMade]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, happy new year!

[@alexfromxinjiang]

Happy new year!

Slanted eyes are so SO sexy! Especially like hers omg she has foxy eyes wowwwwww! What is going on with asians beauty standards ffs 🤦‍♀️ So you think that the chinese are right to not want to see real models with real eyes that aren’t surgically altered?

[@keard558]

@ODELIA . (00000015129) you're not white you will never be white no one would ever think you're white as much as you want to self-delude yourself. The only one who think slanted eyes are ugly are other Chinese who have inferiority complexes

[@Lao_lu]

Hey Alex. I’m really interested what people have to say about the new Tesla store in Xinjiang. It would be cool to hear what people think of Tesla cars, quality, affordability, Elon musk, etc. I think they could provide an interesting insight.

[@ES2990]

Excellent info and excellent channel, you've got a new sub

[@falungonguncensored2109]

I mean she should know better it’s racist.

[@belladamex767]

I’m curious which country this happened to you in as this type of blatant and obvious racism doesn’t really go on too much these days considering the huge amount of Asians who are studying or living abroad. I’m just surprised this type of nonsense still occurs…

[@abeldasilva9368]

There are so many idiots in the world why can’t people live in harmony and peace together.Learn to appreciate the different cultures. As for that poor beautiful model really your own people picking on her ? She is gorgeous are they just childishly jealous of her. Grow up.

[@JL-gn9sx]

Actually slanted eyes are not that bad. But this is just for herself, I respect her as a human. However she can’t represent every Chinese women, right?

[@MJ_123]

Chinese are the cutest people in the world.

[@falungonguncensored2109]

2019 wasn’t that long it’s 2022 now.

[@risingdragon8886]

I think its a mixture of a extremely bad decision by the company, distasteful on their part, and as for the model? I have nothing against her personally, but she should understand Chinese peoples sentiment, along with our own history with 100 years of humiliation at the hands of foreigners, it just doesn't look good for her, she can claim all kinds of excuses be it for fashion, but that doesn't sit right with me. To be honest, this Chinese model doesn't seem to have any grasp of self respect for her own people, her own race, i used to face this kind of racism in the early 1980's in the west, and to see a Chinese born model doing this for a company product etc, is saddening. Others may think its okay, but NOT to me it isn't. We Chinese already face a lot of racism already, racist attacks, both verbal & physical, so seeing this is truly shocking as a Chinese HK person myself, it is truly upsetting & makes me extremely angry. 😡😡😡😤😤

[@mindmybusynassm1645]

it is just human nature most precisely saying it is called jealousy. Not everyone is beautiful but in fact if I my say the Asian Chinese eyes are very much lovable. I can not imagine ever the World without the Chinese and Chinese culture. You doing great job, Keep on and all the best to you and your channel. Happy, healthy and posperious 2022 Year. Thank you for being between us.

[@misikoala6368]

You are not understanding what he is saying.

[@killeryhiltons8499]

China has 56 ethnicities lol.

[@superrider4481]

If You Ask From Western Guys on Chinese Girls Slanted Eyes, Vast Majority Would Say They Are Beautiful Than To Normal Eyes For Sure ! Truth is Western Girls like to have a Tan Skin and Asian Girls like have a fairer Skin !

[@Wan40666]

您好 先生 對不起，這是題外話。 為什麼大多數白人女性都說亞洲男性沒有吸引力？🤔🤔 謝謝你 先生 😁😁

[@alexfromxinjiang]

Salam! 我和白人女性接触不多，但我觉得或许是因为刻板印象吧，他们觉得亚洲男性很多都是nerd或者不够cool，对她们没有吸引力。

[@tianye6443]

I am not going to place any concept like “racism” or “cultures” here， it is a simple question：we hate it， are you gonna stop？ If you don't， then I would say you don't even know the basic courtesy at all. How can you call yourself “well-educated” or “upper class” or “knowing other cultures”？

[@asahiglass]

Alex do u have local social media?

[@adriandelosreyes263]

Happy New year Alex 🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

[@alexfromxinjiang]

Happy 2022!

[@axsemotel]

Love china from someone with Chinese descent

[@ohdolly1456]

that american animation about le ratatouille had severely bad portrayal.. The end scene wedding cake on par to characters in disputed show

[@Genso326]

What is wrong about having slanted eyes? Chinese people as a fact in general have slanted eyes, why do they want to portrait themselves as Europeans?

[@Ok-oo2kh]

Go study more about china before commenting, asians can have big eyes lol

[@Genso326]

IN GENERAL Chinese have slanted eyes, I'm not saying it is not possible for them to have somewhat bigger eyes.

[@Ok-oo2kh]

@@Genso326 so why are u saying they want to portrait themselves as europeans?, dont make sense

[@Ok-oo2kh]

@@Genso326 in general chinese people dont have her slanted eyes , her eyes is too slanted for averege chinese people

[@Genso326]

@@Ok-oo2kh Because IN GENERAL they have slanted eyes.

[@richarde.halliburton8022]

I find it interesting that here in Taiwan there has been no reaction to this and the other ads mentioned. In fact, the Taiwanese seem not nearly as “sensitive” to such things as netizens in China. It seems to me that the Chinese government, which through it’s vast censorship of social media, exerts a strong influence on public opinion, could have censored this subject matter, as it does others (such as criticism of the CPC or defenders of Hong Kong free speech and democracy, etc.), which would have effectively squelched it - but the CPC chose not to - perhaps do they regard these sort of hurt and resentful feelings toward how foreigners depict Chinese people as fitting into their overall goal of fostering nationalism, even through xenophobia?

[@PumaDAce-sg5zv]

How can you post videos on youtube? Isn't the website censored in china?

[@broohogameing5973]

Anyways but Chinese eyes 👀are so 😝😝🤣🤣funny man 🤣😂😂😂😂😂 Love from india🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@debopriyadas5006]

Your "absence of mind" is more funny than "eyes of Chinese"...As an Indian I'm ashamed of you!

[@debopriyadas5006]

আপনার "মস্তিষ্কের অনুপস্থিতি" "চীনাদের চোখ" এর চেয়েও বেশি হাস্যকর... একজন ভারতীয় হিসাবে আমি আপনার জন্য লজ্জিত!

[@jbob6545]

que Onda mi chino compa

[@Eronicavel]

The people criticizing the model for her eyes sound like they are self-racist. That's what I am understanding from this. It reminds me of that crappy Japanese comic espousing hatred of Koreans and Korean residents of Japan: within the Korean residents resemble actual East Asians while the Japanese have White European features such as light hair tone and wide eyes. Except in this case it seems to be ethnic East Asian Chinese criticizing a model for being ethnic East Asian. At least that's my understanding.

[@tmd-w1552]

Agreed

[@jb9mic]

Watch the video.. He explained it. timemark 4:27.. Dont generalize.. Different country, different culture.. It is too long to explain the difference between that and this.. Wanting big eyes yes, but there is never backlash from something like this.. I do think some of them are too toxic, still keep attacking the girl.. Internet are too toxic..

[@killeryhiltons8499]

Koreans themselves are racist towards Ainu people and they’re the extremist there in Japan and pretend to be the natives lmao . Ainu and Jomon genes is what makes Japan unique you’re hating them for their natural features wtf. Go to Osaka and see yourself they’re not a poor community struggling as the media portrays them. Also Koreans self hatred is done on their own smh. Chinese have diversity there they just show the Han Chinese more even though they have 56 ethnicities lol.

[@broohogameing5973]

🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@broohogameing5973]

🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@besi-shop7801]

I really like the almond eyes of Asian people, do you know why you East Asians have such small eyes? 我很喜欢亚洲人的杏仁眼，你知道为什么你们东亚人的眼睛那么小吗？

[@AlIskanderZhao]

What a strange question

[@Ragingmarmot]

Ok. First of all, that woman is really attractive. I just had this discussion with my Chinese wife re: the Mercedes commercial with the same issue. So, I guess there is a historical wound here that contributes to this feeling. Westerners in China(British?) treated Chinese people poorly and treated them like lower class people in the past(during occupation). Now-My observations-(Value unknown) Only eastern people have these eye characteristics, making them special and unique on this earth. I would imagine that this would be a part of the Eastern identity. I find it difficult to understand why someone would not feel proud of their own identity? Now, if this woman was deliberately pulling her eyes back with her fingers in a mocking fashion-that would, of course have a different meaning. What the complainants may not realize is that they are criticizing this woman's NATURAL appearance-her "Asianness"....ANNNND...THEY ARE CRITICIZING EVERY OTHER ASPIRING MODEL, ACTOR OR PERSON WITH PRONOUNCED ASIAN EYES- Excluding(?) them from ever presenting themselves publicly.(?). ie. "Sorry miss/sir, you have great talent, but your eyes are too asian looking". Ridiculous, no? If I were Asian with such "slanted" eyes, what am I to feel? Keep my personal appearance hidden so I do not offend anyone? Hurtful. Self destructive. I don't think viewing people through the lens of prior insults is the best way to promote acceptance. I don't really know what Asians prefer from their perspective regarding eye shape etc., but this westerner certainly finds This woman's eyes to be very attractive.