Being Black And Mixed-Race in China | Gen 跟 China

Being mixed-race is often considered a privilege in China, yet Blackness can be stigmatised. Mixed-race Eurasian face filters and models are prolific on Chinese social media, but the same preference isn’t given to mixed-race Black and Chinese people, even though they are a growing demographic.
In fact, there is a small pocket of Chinese netizens spouting strong nationalistic and anti-Black racist views, which increased after changes were proposed to make it easier for foreigners to gain permanent residency in the country. VICE World News speaks to mixed-race Chinese people about their experience living in China.
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[@smug880]

as a fellow asian this kind of racism towards people with darker skins are sadly all too familiar. here in Indonesia, there are still a large portion of the population who thinks darker skin tones are inferior in terms of appearance, and discrimination towards people who are of eastern indonesian ethnic groups are still way too common and normalized which is crazy.

[@ilaria6984]

I knew two sisters in China who are mixed race, Russian mother and Chinese father, they were treated sooo differently, the older sister being more pale and the younger one having a darker skin tone, Chinese people would praise the older sister and call her beautiful all the time, yet they will always question the parents of why their second daughter has dark complexion, it was so bad that the younger sister would cry herself to sleep and spend tons of money on whitening products, she would lock herself indoors because she was afraid of sun, of getting darker, it is sad, extremely sad.

[@helenaaoki1911]

as a blasian girl who lived in Japan in my younger years, I can identify with all this girl experienced. I had English classes with an American (Caucasian) teacher, and the difference between his daughter's society treatment (child of a white man and a Japanese woman) and my own was quite obvious.

[@tianai9119]

I've been spat on, pushed in the street and called a prostitute for 'being a pretty white asian' and people just stand in utter shock when I speak Mandarin. They can't fathom that I speak it, even though my grandparents are Chinese! I've had people follow me like paparazzi, buy me dinner, drinks and snacks like I am a celebrity or did something brilliant like cure cancer but at the end of the day I'm an average person who got tired of being stared at and being asking the same questions. I feel for anyone who has experienced any prejudice.

[@yahgirl1726]

Ive been living in China since 2013 as a teacher. My student told me just the other day "you are black" I said "thank you" she said "No black is not beautiful". These type of comments are so annoying. It never really gets easy. In the US I would be considered "light skinned", so I can't imagine how much harder it is for others with darker skin tones than me. EDIT: I am still living in China, my life here with my husband is great. I was simply sharing an experience I had with a student at school. Kids everywhere say ridiculous and ignorant things, if you are a teacher, you know that.

[@kirstenchelsea870]

Thank you for bringing this issue to light. As a brown girl living in Beijing, I’ve experienced my fair share of discrimination. To the point where locals aren’t even willing to sit next to you on the subway.

[@margaesperanza]

My nieces are full sisters but their coloring is very different. It was so clear that people treated my younger niece better because she is "light" while her older sister is mostly ignored or called "a waste" of beauty because she was dark. It's ridiculous how many times I called people out for this, I would call them assholes to their face just to shame them for trying to shame children into insecurity for something they can't control. Asians in general are not phased with voicing out prejudiced beauty standards, but are really shocked when you call them out on it.

[@gtd65]

I lived and worked in Hong Kong for 6 years and the negativity towards darker skin tones was pretty much the default outlook. I'm Scottish and have an American son (British passport pending) who is half Asian. He identifies as a white American boy, as far as I'm aware. Put him next to a white kid, he looks Asian, put him next to a fully Asian kid and he certainly looks more white. When I lived and worked in Hong Kong, I have to say the Eurasian women I met and observed were normally very attractive! I did meet a girl on the train from Hong Kong to Beijing, who was a mixture of White/Chinese/Black and she was absolutely stunning. She got the best DNA, from each ethnicity, as far as my outlook was concerned.

[@lemur531]

I remember this Chinese mother wouldn’t allow her daughter to be friends with my little sister and her friends because they were black. Sad thing is, her daughter wanted to be friends with my little sister and her friends because they saw her as a friend but her mother wanted her to be friends with these white students that bullied her and made fun of your culture/facial features/skin colour and “how she smelled”… It blew my mind how delusional and racist this mother was. Mind you, my sister and her friends were straight A students but because of skin tone, her mother made a judgment that those white students that won’t straight A students and had trouble in school were some how better!

[@ThanhNguyen-ku4dw]

When I visited my motherland, people asked me why I looked so dark, I told them because I didn’t stay inside the house to avoid the sun like a vampire, I didn’t cover my body like an assassin during the day, I didn’t bleach my skin, I am South East Asian so it’s very normal for my skin to be tanned, I’m active and happy in my own skin.

[@ModernManAfrica]

I'm a millenial Black African male, I went to Guangzhou back in 2012. I was shocked to see the number of Black People there. I personally didn't experience much racism. I thought the locals were welcoming and helpful. I saw a lot of Blasian babies which I thought were absolutely adorable!!! I even had one of the best nights of my life exploring the nightlife of the city. I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's lived experience, my experience should be viewed through the lens of having grown up in Apartheid South Africa where racism was in your face and unapologetic.

[@iDelta77]

I think the fact that they labelled a person black and dirty are pure IGNORANCE. I can understand these kind of mindset by the older generation but not the younger generation. My heart goes out to this girl. I wished i can speak mandarin like her! her mandarin is awesome!. Gurl, you are an asset and a treasure and don't let anyone tell you different!

[@plutomutt]

It's really messed up that not even a fashion model paid for her looks, can feel good about herself because outside the studio people call her ugly. It must create such an intensely chaotic and hurtful dichotomy inside her :(

[@eggpotat5435]

Very odd, considering the huge Chinese population in African nations. In my country, there are a lot of Chinese there, and they prefer to distance themselves from locals and look down on us, whilst benefitting from our resources & people. Black ppl are not wanted anywhere, so best thing to do is to focus even harder in building our own countries instead.

[@-xyts-1910]

Im a mixed blasian girl living in China and im glad more people are taking about the this.I have been bullied as a child.A lot of Chinese people have said “your not that black” to me as a compliment,even my Chinese grandmother.Once a old Chinese neighbor said to me”your getting whiter,good!”.It makes me really uncomfortable.Why do we have to be treated like this 😢

[@user-gn3lc3df4t]

This video will always break my heart as half black and half Chinese

[@Alunae]

Eden is actually really pretty. I sometimes wonder what's wrong with people's so-called "beauty standards", honestly...

[@marsfrog104]

I'm so glad this is being talked about, as a blasian girl myself I have faced lots of racism from my Asian community but have brushed off their racist remarks because I thought I was just being sensitive, Wasians have always been perceived as the "cute mix" whilst Blasians are seen as the n word, Blasian's are always slept on with little to no media coverage in Asia and in America, it makes me sick to see that people specifically want a mixed child because it's a trend and a statues without thinking about the actual identity issues and racism that the child has to face because it's cute to be mixed, being mixed always comes with the baggage of feeling like a foreigner and both of your racial heritage not accepting you

[@solarlunar689]

Eden actually looks so much prettier than the average Chinese woman (no offense to Chinese women…as I am one myself lol). When I was studying in university in Beijing, I was so impressed by how beautiful a lot of the African students were. They are much taller than us, have a much more athletic build, have nicer bone structure, and much larger eyes. Their skin color was deep and reflected light a lot more than our pale skin. They looked like royalty compared to us. It left such a big impression on me, and that was over 10 years ago. Plus I’ve also noticed that black people age so much better than people of other races, even us Asians who are obsessed with paleness, sun protection, and skincare.

[@smoothbanana]

The root causes are the "values" instilled by the media and older generations.