China Local News
“Black Man Causing Trouble in Hefei” Incident Triggers Waves of Racist Remarks on Weibo
Photos of the arrest of a black man in Hefei triggered waves of racist remarks on Weibo this weekend.
On August 4, police in Hefei, Anhui, arrested a black man in the city for “causing trouble” and “picking quarrels.” The man reportedly injured another person on the street.
Photos of the incident made their rounds on Chinese social media on August 5. Hefei Headlines (@头条合肥) was one of the accounts sharing the news on Weibo with the headline “Black Man Causing Trouble in Hefei” (“黑人男子合肥寻衅滋事”).
The incident occurred around 4 pm on Fanhua Street, right before the Foreign Languages College. In the photos that are making their rounds on Weibo, the man can be seen running from the police, wearing nothing but underpants and sneakers.
It is not clear what triggered the incident and what the man exactly did, nor are there any reports on where the man comes from or whether he is a student at the college.
The photos triggered two types of responses on Weibo: on the one hand, there were those people who just praised the police for the work they are doing and risks they are taking, and on the other hand, there were large numbers of netizens who made racist remarks about the black man.
“Black monkey go back to Africa,” or “black trash” were typical comments amongst the thousands of reactions on Weibo.
“There are so many black devils in Guangzhou, and they bring AIDS with them, it’s disgusting,” one person said. Guangzhou has the largest black community in China.
Online racism against Africans has been an ongoing issue on Weibo ever since the platform was first launched in 2009. At the time, an essay about the racism against Chinese in Africa drew much attention. In 2013, Weibo was flooded by news of Chinese being killed in Ghana.
The existing idea that Chinese are looked down upon in Africa has allegedly worsened anti-African sentiments in China, although there are also those who already warned in 2013 that “the denigration and discrimination of black people [in Africa by the Chinese] is spreading like an epidemic.”
Throughout the years, multiple news stories concerning Africans have triggered waves of racist remarks.
In “From Campus Racism to Cyber Racism”1, scholar Cheng (2011) argues that anti-black racism in China has re-emerged with China’s deeper economic involvement in Africa, due to which large numbers of Chinese and Africans have come to work in each other’s countries.
Cheng writes that although there already were waves of racism against Africans in the early post-Mao era, it has resurfaced over the last decade with the rise of China as a global power. Given that there are still many regarding Africans as “racially inferior,” “these people think it is wrong for Africans to create social problems in Chinese cities and impede China’s actions in Africa” (561)1.
But on Weibo, there are many who take the issue of racism in China lightly, comparing it to other countries: “If this were America, this guy would have already have been shot and killed.”
“We have no racism in China,” one commenter says: “We just have a distinction of good versus evil.” Others had similar jokes, saying: “There are only two types of people I can’t stand: 1. racists and 2. black people.”
Despite all racist slurs and racist jokes, there were also those who had a serious message for all foreigners: “There are many foreigners from wherever who don’t take Chinese law seriously. I don’t care where you are from, but you have to abide by the Chinese law if you’re in China.”
It is unknown how long the man will be detained.
By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo
1 Cheng, Yinghong. 2011. “From Campus Racism to Cyber Racism: Discourse of Race and Chinese Nationalism.” The China Quarterly (207): 561-579.
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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers
Tsingtao Brewery ‘Pee-Gate’: Factory Worker Caught Urinating in Raw Material Warehouse
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China Local News
Streamed Without Realizing: Chinese Village Cadres Suspended after Sex Scene Video Leaks Online
“Village cadres are so hard-working. Besides conducting conferences, they also do live-streaming!”
Two cadres working in Weicheng District in Shandong Province were suspended this week after an “inappropriate video” that showed them engaging in sexual acts started circulating on Chinese social media.
The two got a bit too cozy together in a meeting room, and the moment allegedly was unknowingly caught on camera after a secretary did not turn the camera off after a video conference.
On October 6, Phoenix News (@凤凰网) reported that the subdistrict office in question denied that such an incident took place in their jurisdiction.
The local Discipline Inspection Commission, however, confirmed that the incident did take place and that the case was under investigation, although they would not confirm which positions the two cadres held. Online, it was claimed that they are a thirty-something male secretary in and a fifty-something female director.
Two officials working at a local subdistrict office are suspended after a leaked video showed them engaging in sexual acts. The secretary allegedly forgot to turn camera off after a team meeting. News says it's not clear what their positions were, but I think it's pretty clear 🫢 pic.twitter.com/eRCX3owLDo
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) October 6, 2023
Some Chinese media sources noted that the video in question seems to have been recorded from a security camera system screen, raising questions about whether the two had forgotten about the security cameras, or if they actually forgot to turn off a conference call camera, or if the incident was captured by both the security cameras and the webcam.
On Weibo and other Chinese social media, the incident has caused some banter among netizens.
“At least our Party comrades are now addressing their needs internally without causing harm to society – that could be considered a form of progress,” one popular comment said.
“It’s not bad, it’s just bad that they forgot to turn the webcam off,” others replied.
“Ah, so this is officially what officials do?” others wondered.
“Village cadres are so hard-working. Besides conducting conferences, they also do livestreaming!”
By now, it’s been confirmed by a staff member at the Wangliu St. Office in Weifang that the two individuals involved, both village cadres, have been suspended. They are currently under investigation by the Disciplinary Inspection Committee. By early Saturday, a related hashtag had garnered over 200 million views on Weibo (#两干部流出不雅视频被停职#).
By Manya Koetse
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Truthspeaker
August 8, 2017 at 5:27 pm
Tiny nationalists of the internet never miss the occasion to remind us all how pathetically small their manhood is.
Joe
August 10, 2017 at 2:41 am
You must know from sucking their manhood .
Adolf Hitler
October 14, 2017 at 1:46 am
This guy knows. I love getting my dick sucked by these pussy ass leftists. Every time there’s a black blocc protest in the tristate area I make sure to swing by, fully erect and ready to party. I just make sure to bring protection, both from all the bike locks and all the rampant AIDS spread by these racemixing faggots.
14/88 y’all, jet fuels don’t melt steel beams.
Ya boy A.H.
SpeakTheTruth
August 11, 2017 at 8:52 am
Better question is why are there so many black African sexpats in China who pump and dump Chinese women and project their desire for racial supremacy over Asian men and anti-Asian racism?
garrett
October 12, 2017 at 7:55 am
Chinese and Asian citizens are nothing but suspected white supremacists. No different from white americans who they stupidly call “good”.
Moshe Shekelsteinberg
October 14, 2017 at 1:38 am
Oy vey, just reading this article made me remember all the racist remarks those nazi’s made against me in the death camps, we better start helping china in rooting out all those racists and accept the ways of multiculturalism.
No jew will rest until all chinese women have accepted progress, diversity and a beautiful black man in their lives.