09.30.07
Beijing shows true colours
Everybody who has spent some time in China knows how xenophobic and racist the Chinese are. Normally they are careful not to display their racism too openly in this ‘all face and no shame’ society. Not so in the latest incident in Beijing, where African expats were attacked. See the following article from the Guardian of September 26:
At least 20 black men, including students, tourists and the son of a Caribbean diplomat, were arrested in a popular nightclub district of Beijing on Friday, several of the group being severely beaten on suspicion of dealing drugs, witnesses said.African expatriates in Beijing and witnesses claim the episode revealed a pervasive prejudice toward dark-skinned foreigners in China.
According to five bystanders, teams of police, dressed in black jumpsuits and reportedly wielding batons and taser guns, cordoned off a street in the popular Sanlitun nightclub district at around midnight and rounded up almost all the black men there. Many of the men were beaten.
The raid took place in front of hundreds of stunned expatriates outside the packed bars and clubs of the neighbourhood, which is popular with Beijing’s burgeoning foreign community.”I saw a guy being beaten by these kids. He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t fighting back,” said one witness, a white American college graduate working in Beijing.
“I have not really ever seen anything so brutal,” said another American. “There was blood on the streets. They were basically beating up any black person they could find.”
Beijing police yesterday declined to confirm or deny the incident.
The detainees included 22-year-old Joslyn Whiteman, son of Grenada’s ambassador. One witness said he saw police grab Mr Whiteman and beat him repeatedly, despite onlookers crying out, “Stop! He’s a diplomat!” According to the South China Morning Post, Mr Whiteman spent the night in a hospital with concussion. “Obviously I’m very angry,” the ambassador, the elder Mr Whiteman, told the Post. “My son was arrested and beaten for no reason … I will be taking this up with the authorities and looking into the matter.”
Chinese investment in developing countries, and especially Africa, has prompted a reverse migration and a growing number of African and other black people are migrating to China to study, work and learn the language. However, many African immigrants have entered China illegally and work as drug mules, a trade that is highly lucrative but which can bring the death penalty.
African dealers in Beijing offer a wide range of drugs, from cocaine to ecstasy, to a mostly expat market. Sanlitun was once a dealers’ haven but has been substantially cleaned up by roundups. None, though, approached the scale or violence of that on Friday night, described as “excessive” and “chaotic” by witnesses. “I wasn’t surprised [by the use of violence],” one person said. “I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before, but never against foreigners in front of other foreigners.”
This latest raid comes as part of the effort to clean up Beijing ahead of next month’s annual meeting of Communist party leaders and the 2008 Olympic Games, based in the city.
Africans say that living in China in the face of pervasive prejudice can be challenging. When Beijing rolled out the red carpet for more than 40 African heads of state last November, billboards depicting Africans clad in leopard skin underwear, and an indigenous man from Papua New Guinea, plastered the city.
07.02.07
Good Morning Shanghai!
The long weekend is over, and after a short visit to Holland, I am back in smoggy, smelly Shanghai. A bit more depressed than normally on Monday mornings. This mood goes away quickly with a nice big mug of steaming hot coffee, and a quick browse through news and favourite blogs.
There was enough to laugh again today. First of all there were MyLaowai’s brilliant and hilarious two posts ‘Keeping Fit in the PRC’ and ‘This Is Your Life, Wang XianSheng. Part 1.’
Then there was this latest entry for the ‘Darwin Awards with Chinese Characteristics’:
Drunk man vomits his head off
By Winny Wang 2007-6-29A RUNNING truck killed a drunk man by almost beheading him when he was vomiting out of a car window shortly after midnight last Friday in Beijing, the Beijing Times reported today.
The victim, surnamed Liao, and his friend Tan Tuanyuan were returning home after a night’s drinking, the report said.
Tan, who was also drunk, drove his car to take Liao to his home in Shijingshan District. When they reached Badachu Road, Liao said he wanted to vomit and, according to Tan, “stretched his head out of the window,”
Tan then began pulling over but the car collided with a truck. Half of Liao’s head was smashed by the impact with the truck, the report said.
The truck driver immediately called the police, but when police reached the scene, the car was not there. The police found only some of Liao’s body tissue on the truck.
Around 3am, Tan surrendered to the traffic authority, the report said.
“I didn’t know what happened at that time. (After the collision,) I was holding his hand, talking to him on the way to hospital,” Tan said.
But Tan was so drunk that he drove the car in the wrong direction and did not stop until he rammed his car into a balustrade beside a railway line.
When he became sober he took Liao to Shougang Hospital where a doctor told him Liao was dead, the report said.
Tan has been detained and the investigation into the accident is ongoing.
And last, but not least this quote from an unnamed Chinese Government Official, let’s call him Mr. Wang:
In China, we don’t have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that’s a different problem… I’m sure I don’t know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all… Some people say that there are journalists in China that have been arrested. We have hundreds of journalists in China, and some of them have legal problems. It has nothing to do with freedom of expression.
Fucking priceless!
06.03.07
Chinglish (4)
I came upon a blog called ‘Adrift in a sea of phlegm’ by Keir (I don’t know what is worse actually, being adrift here or being stranded). Keir calls a spade a spade, and I like the pictures and link collections on his blog. I found this picture of a convenience item list from a Beijing hotel room. I saw one a few years ago, which was almost exactly the same, but I did not have my camera with me at the time.
Seems there is still a lot of work to be done before the 2008 Olympics. But I must admit the Traveller’s mates are not too expensive. Guess they are Mongolian. Not sure though if 30 RMB is for the whole night.
A good one is the line ‘These product will be charged to your account according to your consumption’. I can see the scene on checking out the next morning: “What do you mean you charge me 15 RMB for a whole can of cunt cleaning spray? I only used about half of it!”
