The ‘racist’ Chinese washing powder ad and the truth about Afrophobia in China
African traders in Guangzhou. (Reuters/Staff Photographer)
Is Afrophobia really on the rise in China?
Roughly two months have passed since the Qiaobi
detergent advertisement went viral. The advert, in which a Chinese woman
shoves a black man into a washing machine only for him to emerge as a
shiny, clean, Asian man, prompted Western media to call it “the most racist ad ever”.
At the height of the controversy, commentators
from all over the world quarrelled endlessly over whether or not the
advert was evidence of China being a racist society. Eventually, the
Chinese government intervened and the company behind the offensive advert issued an apology.
Any
non-white foreigner living in China knows discrimination is not only
against black people it extends to other dark-skinned people. Across my social and academic networks, the ad caused a major storm.
Everyone from traders to academics and advertisers weighed in. With
tensions running high, African traders in Guangzhou were quick to point
out that Chinese ignorance in race-related matters was probably behind
the advert.
Academics debated the need to “contextualise” racism and racial prejudice in China.
They also highlighted how international media tend to portray China and
the Chinese in a negative light (especially in the context of Sino-African relations). At the same time, advertisers pointed out that adverts like the Qiaobi one are influenced by the long history
of racist advertising in the West. They also explained that the advert
showed how Chinese advertisers were unaware that their adverts could
have a global reach.
Racialism and a rising China
Despite the fact that “race”
as a biological category was discredited long ago, racial thinking or
“racialism” is still common in China. Racialism is the belief that
humans are naturally divided into biological categories called “races”.
Sometimes, the term racialism is used interchangeably with “racism” to
mean a race-based way of thinking through human differences.
Contemporary racial thinking in China is informed
by historical ways of imagining “otherness”. These ways centre around
differences such as skin colour, class and “ethnicity”. Contact with
19th-century European colonialism and racial theories was also
influential. More recently, the “rise of China”
within the context of global consumerist societies has stirred up
ethno-nationalist sentiments that affect how Chinese people think about
“race”.
To equate Chinese racialism with racism in the West is intellectually and historically dishonest. In
China, like other places, racial thinking is often accompanied by
stereotypes and prejudices. Dark skin, for instance, is often seen
negatively. This is something many of us foreigners have to live with in
China.
Within this context, the Qiaobi advert was seen by some as proof that there’s racism in China, and as evidence that “Afrophobia” was on the rise. Those who “see” Afrophobia are quick to point to Chinese hiring practices, which prefer white foreigners to black ones.
Any
non-white foreigner living in China knows that these practices do not
only discriminate against black people. They extend to other
dark-skinned people. So, while deplorable, it’s not exactly Afrophobia.
Despite little concrete evidence supporting
claims of Afrophobia or “Anti-African” campaigns, these claims are often
picked up by Western media. Some journalists seem all too ready to cast
China and the Chinese as “racist” and Africans as the poor victims with no agency. This pattern is replicated in coverage of China as a “neo-colonial” power in Africa.
Billboards in big Asian cities show white bodies pervasively used as the markers of success, power, beauty and romance. To
equate Chinese rac(ial)ism with racism in the West is intellectually
and historically dishonest. Rac(ial)ism and racial prejudice in China
are still far from producing the exploitation, oppression,
discrimination and murder that racist worldviews continue to produce in
the West.
In short, while there are deep-seated forms of
rac(ial)ism in China, the rise of “Afrophobia” is difficult to prove.
The issue is much more complex than that.
‘Race’ and racism in global media
In most of the articles and comments following
the offensive Chinese advert, people from all over the world used the
terms racism, stereotypes and racial prejudice interchangeably. It
quickly became clear to me that we haven’t figured out how to talk about
“race” and racism in globally inclusive ways.
The conversation is usually dominated by the
American ways of talking about “race” and racism. Needless to say, using
the black/white binary paradigm of race as a measuring stick for racial
issues in global and non-Western settings is problematic. If the many
“racist” comments I’ve heard from African men about their Chinese
counterparts is any guide, the problems highlighted by the Qiaobi advert
are far more complex than what the American binary suggests.
Figuring out who’s the racist, or if this or that
is racist, or if the Chinese are racist, is a waste of time. Rather
than being black or white, it’s a complex matrix of practices that
reproduce global systems of exploitation and oppression. Despite our
skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, “race”, nationality or faith,
we are all, to different degrees, participants in these systems.
White supremacy the Chinese way?
As pointed out early on during the Qiaobi controversy, the advert is a revamped iteration of old Western racist tropes.
To understand why such iterations emerge in China – and elsewhere in
Asia – it’s important to look at how contemporary global media
imaginations are influenced by long-standing racial theories and ideas. Enter white supremacy.
As I write this piece, a tram covered in
advertising stops in front of me on Shipyard Lane in Quarry Bay, Hong
Kong. In the advert, a young, handsome, white guy in a suit is
levitating in front of a building. The Chinese words next to him are
about leadership and success.
On the next tram a blonde woman wearing a
Swarovski ring is being admired by a young white man. Any survey of
street advertising in this, or any other big Asian city, will show that
white bodies are pervasively used as the markers of success, power, beauty and romance.
It is hardly news that global media are deeply
shaped by a racial hierarchy that frames whiteness as a superior state
of being. What I find fascinating is how these racially informed
imaginations are negotiated by people in China when they imagine
themselves and the world they live in.
These negotiations have to be factored in against
the backdrop of the “rise of China” – a rise that has led many to
believe that the country will take up the reins of the global capitalist
system.
I believe that there are few
indications that China would be willing (or able) to transform the (old
imperial, capitalist, white supremacist and patriarchal) structures and
practices that inform contemporary capitalism and that are, ultimately,
behind the Qiaobi detergent advert.
For me, these reflections were the main takeaways amid the uproar that followed the advert controversy.
Roberto Castillo, Lecturer in China Africa Relations, University of Hong Kong
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Watch Ethiopian runner Almaz Ayana win Africa’s first gold medal and smash a world record
Taking home gold. (Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi)
Ethiopian long-distance runner Almaz Ayana has set the world record
in the women’s 10,000-meter race, finishing in 29 minutes and 17.45
seconds. In addition to winning the first gold medal for an African team
in the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ayana beat the previous record, in place
for the last 23 years, by a remarkable 14.46 seconds.
After crossing the finish line, the 24-year old raised her arms in triumph and then crossed her heart as Ethiopian fans in the stands cheered.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya took silver in the event, while Tirunesh Dibaba, also from Ethiopia won the bronze.
The race of about 6.2 miles is one of the longest track events, with runners completing 25 laps around the Olympic sized track. The previous world record of 29 minutes and 31.78 seconds was set by Chinese long-distance runner Wang Junxia in Germany in 1993. Ayana also set the world record for the fastest debut run of the 10,000 meter race during Olympic trials in June.
Paula Radcliffe, the world’s fastest female marathoner, told the BBC, “I’m not sure that I can understand that. When I saw the world record set in 1993, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time.”
African teams at the Olympics haven’t fared well so far. Kenya has had two coaches sent home over doping while Namibian boxer Jonas Junias has been charged with attempted sexual assault. Frustrated with the internal politics and mismanagement of local sports bodies some athletes from African countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria have quit their nations to run for countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey.
Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief — the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox.
After crossing the finish line, the 24-year old raised her arms in triumph and then crossed her heart as Ethiopian fans in the stands cheered.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya took silver in the event, while Tirunesh Dibaba, also from Ethiopia won the bronze.
The race of about 6.2 miles is one of the longest track events, with runners completing 25 laps around the Olympic sized track. The previous world record of 29 minutes and 31.78 seconds was set by Chinese long-distance runner Wang Junxia in Germany in 1993. Ayana also set the world record for the fastest debut run of the 10,000 meter race during Olympic trials in June.
Paula Radcliffe, the world’s fastest female marathoner, told the BBC, “I’m not sure that I can understand that. When I saw the world record set in 1993, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time.”
African teams at the Olympics haven’t fared well so far. Kenya has had two coaches sent home over doping while Namibian boxer Jonas Junias has been charged with attempted sexual assault. Frustrated with the internal politics and mismanagement of local sports bodies some athletes from African countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria have quit their nations to run for countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey.
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