From Campus Racism to Cyber Racism: Discourse of Race and Chinese Nationalism

Abstract

As Sino-African engagement keeps developing, racial relations have emerged to concern people on both sides. The recent Chinese cyber discussions on Africans have shown a blatant racialism against Africans. Comparing this with the campus racism in the 1980s and contextualizing it in China's modern history and, more importantly, China's recent rise as a global power, the article argues that racial discourse has become an important component in Chinese nationalism without public awareness of it.

Public Discourses About International Students

“…Cheng () finds pervasive, xenophobic language against African students, and other foreigners and minorities, among Chinese ‘netizens’ (internet citizens) in social media. The anti‐African discourse is led by Chinese netizens with experience working in Africa; they recount bitter experiences of exploitation by corrupt or greedy government officials.…”

“…Scholars who critique Chinese racism are often labeled as anti‐Chinese. “[I]n China racial language and concepts have emerged to help articulate nationalistic claims since the early 1980s, encountering little resistance from the media and intellectual community….For historical and ideological reasons, the Chinese people are aware of their history of being victims of Western and Japanese racism but are often blind to their own racism, and society does not provide anti‐racist education or promote public awareness of sensitivity to racism” (Cheng , 562). Some online discourse does criticize racist commentaries and advocates ‘universal compassion’, but this critique is ‘less visible’ in China, although relatively vigorous among Chinese netizens in North America (Cheng , 571).…”

Africans in south China face social and health barriers

“…For some, Africans are viewed as having a propensity to violence and posing risks to public health through spreading diseases. 5 Discrimination is seen in business interactions and in their daily life (to rent apartments, to take a taxi, to go to restaurants).…”

Transnational business and family strategies among Chinese/Nigerian couples in Guangzhou and Lagos

“…Some regard it as evidence for anti-black racism in China (Sautman 1994;Dikötter 1994;Cheng 2011); others consider it symptomatic of deeper problems such as nationalism, increasing social inequality and students' quest for democracy (Lufrano 1994;Sullivan 1994;Crane 1994). In 1989, the city of Nanjing witnessed the biggest anti-African student protest in China.…”