From: launce@apollo.med.utah.edu (Tri-Ungulate)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Discourse on Race in Modern China
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:07:23 GMT
Article-I.D.: apollo.LAUNCE.92Oct16110723
	<8161@public.BTR.COM>
Followup-To: soc.culture.asian.american
Organization: Trifurcate-Hooved Ruminant Surveyors, Inc.

In article <8161@public.BTR.COM> timlee@public.btr.com writes:

>   >>   Racism is very high there, particularly for dark skinned people.
>
>   > Besides, what kind of dark-skinned people can you find in China??
>   > Tourists from Ethiopia??
>
>   Actually, one incident that managed to hit the news here (USA) was that
>   some male black African students studying at a university in China
>   were found to be dating local Chinese women.  The result was a large
>   protest against the students, including signs that translated to mean
>   "beat the black ghosts" (or something like that).  This was a few
>   years ago, perhaps a bit before the Tiananmen incident.

Got this firsthand from some people I met in Xinjiang back in '89:

My primary source was a guy I travelled with who had been studying at
Nanjing University.  Living in the "foreign students compound," he
spent a good deal of time with African students, "goodwill students"
from Angola, Zimbabwe, etc.  Official and unofficial harassment
directed at these students was ongoing, ranging from verbal insults to
walling off the "African compound" to not allowing African students to
park their bikes in certain places to having their bikes stolen or
confiscated, etc.  The final straw came at a dance sponsored by the
school (or some such school-related event) where one (or more) of the
African students brought Han women as their dates.  Interracial
romance between whites & Han, though perhaps frowned upon, was
condoned however.  The African/Han couples were denied admittance to
the dance, the confrontation escalated, and things got out of hand.
Later that night rumours spread around the community, a mob formed
outside of the "African compund", things got ugly and the African
students had to be "escorted" (rather roughly, I heard) out by police
"for their own safety" and sequestered in a dormitory somewhere far
out of the way, again "for their own safety".  

When my friend and other white students found out where they were
being kept, they made attempts to visit them, but were usually denied.
Those who did manage to see the Africans (usually white women)
reported that they were being kept in very poor conditions, with
inadequate food, heating & blankets.  They reported that "ringleaders"
amongst the African student "troublemakers" (the ones known to be
"dating" Han women) were singled out for "special treatment" which
included being stripped naked, poured water on and left to stand
outside in the cold.  There were also reports (from the African
students to the few white students who talked to them) that some had
been been subjected to cattle prods to their genetalia -- all these
treatments mentioned did not leave any visible markings as beatings
might, and are therefore not confirmable.

Finally, the "ringleaders" were deported, and the remainder of the
African students left on their own in fear & disgust.  My friend, who
had made many friends among the Chinese community (some who condoned
and others who condemned the action) finished up his studies and left
Nanjing with a mixture of resignation, sadness and anger.  He went
west to travel around before he left the country.  I met him in
Kashgar (Kashi) the week after the Tiananmen Square incident.

Lest this become more "I-told-you-so" cannon fodder for a person
unnamed but whose initals are Dwight Joe, such incomprehensible fear &
hatred of dark-pigmented people occurs in his wonderful Japan as well.
Nor is it confined to Asia, as obvious examples in the US, UK, France,
Germany, etc. attest (all wonderful Western-kookoo places, of course)
I won't waste more bandwidth with anecdotes (and articles, including
those from DJ's favourite, _the Economist_) concerning *that*, though
I could if provoked...

   |>press tries to promote this.  I find it amusing that non-Chinese would
   |>believe the propaganded that Uighers and Han are intermarrying in large
   |>numbers.  The idea is abhorrent to most Hans I know.

Happens more in the large industrial capital of Xinjinag (Urumchi),
but less frequently in smaller cities & towns.  Still not a common
occurrence, however, as there is resistance from *both* Han and Uigher
(or Kazakh, or Uzbeki, etc.) sides 

| _, launce gouw * internet: launce@apollo.med.utah.edu * ooniversity of ootah 
|(_) medical center * department of human genetics *   palace of the brine
___) we apologise for the previous opinions. those responsible have been sacked
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american,soc.culture.europe,soc.culture.usa