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China Memes & Viral

Watch: This China-based Black Man is Fed Up With 3 Major Things

A short video by a black man who has been living in China for three years is making its rounds on Chinese social media. Speaking in Chinese, the young man talks about three things he is really fed up with in China in relation to the color of his skin.

Manya Koetse

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https://youtu.be/IZaUka4Kmk4

A short video by a black man who has been living in China for three years is making its rounds on Chinese social media. Speaking and swearing in Chinese, the young man talks about three things he is really fed up with in China in relation to the color of his skin.

Just when a Chinese laundry commercial caused big controversy for being “completely racist”, a short video by a black man living in China has gone viral on Sina Weibo.

In the video, the New Yorker, who is said to have been living in China’s Chongqing for three years, talks about three things that he is really fed up hearing.

The video was posted on Weibo by ‘Master Pi‘ on May 30 through the Miaopai video app. The original video was posted on May 29 by the New Yorker himself, who calls himself ‘Li Heishuai’.

In the video, the young man says:

Hi Everyone (..), I’m from New York in America. I want to talk to you about three things that make me really uncomfortable. The first is when I come to many places here, people will say ‘hey black devil’. What?! Your mother’s pussy! Don’t call me black devil! It is really very disrespectful. I hate it.”

He continues:

The second thing (..)..fuck..(..) is that sometimes people will ask me (…) where I am from. When I tell I am from NY, USA, they will say ‘that’s impossible, aren’t they all white there in America?’ (..) Hello, Obama?! Isn’t he a black man?! What about Will Smith, isn’t he black? What about Kobe Bryant? Isn’t he black? I hate it.”

[rp4wp]

Then he says:

The third thing, is that sometimes men will often ask me if I’m big down there. Fuck! The next time somebody asks me this, I will take off my pants and let him see for himself!

Within one day, the video has already been shared over 25000 times, receiving over 15400 comments on Weibo and 19000 on Miaopai, with most netizens appreciating the man’s humor, his Chinese proficiency, and Sichuan dialect.

Although some netizens think he’s “cute” and others are “laughing out loud”, there are also those who are upset with the young man using swear words and call him “low”. One commenter says: “He swears better in Chinese than I do.”

“It’s funny but he is right,” one commenter says: “Don’t call black people ‘black devils’, it is very rude and uncivil.”

As some netizens are calling out the young man or talking about his appearance, a female Weibo user responds: “I really don’t get why people can be so low. You only evaluate others by saying they’re ugly. But I think this black man is very funny and cute, and moreover, he addresses a problem that is recurrent in China. ‘Black devil’ really is rude, and he’s found a way to make his statement with humor. You can scold him, but it only makes you ugly.”

Apart from talking about ‘Li Heishuai’s’ words, there are also some netizens that are still wondering about the third point addressed by him.

“Hey handsome,” another netizen comments: “You’ve gone viral now.”

– By Manya Koetse

©2016 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

Manya Koetse is the founder and editor-in-chief of whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer, public speaker, and researcher (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends, digital developments, and new media in an ever-changing China, with a focus on Chinese society, pop culture, and gender issues. She shares her love for hotpot on hotpotambassador.com. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Avatar

    DIANDIAN GUO

    May 30, 2016 at 9:47 pm

    The first point is genuine impoliteness, but Chinese also address Japanese as 鬼子,Koreans as 棒子,Russians as 毛子… it is disrespectful, with a sense of superiority, but no one says Chinese discriminate against Japanese or Russian. The second point is genuine ignorance. The last… Genuine ignorance plus a vulgar curiosity…
    I think either racist or not, it takes much more time when China get enough foreign exposure on the life world level, before the issue of transcultural/multicultural can be really on the agenda. I doubt whether anti-racism can be an preemptive. It has always bee remeditory hasn’t it.

  2. Avatar

    Thomas Jones

    May 31, 2016 at 5:01 am

    While I think that PC in the west has gone out of control, this guy makes some good points as China upon first glance appears to be the complete opposite, which is also just as bad.

    For starters, making comments like “white devil”, “black devil”, any sort of “devil”, “wide nose”, “big lips”, or for westerners/Arabs and sometimes even Indians “big nose” is EXTREMELY offensive, yet Chinese think little about saying such nasty things. While it’s not an everyday occurrence, but I’ve had Chinese who I’ve asked for directions say straight up me and my friends have “big noses”; friends of a friend sitting around us at a dinner table commented on my nose while having dinner at a fancy restaurant. The husband of my former boss taught his young son to look at my nose to the point that 3 years later at my wedding the first thing the then 6 year old said is “wow, what a big nose” (他的鼻子好大).

    These comments are dehumanizing, demoralizing and just plain offensive. China doesn’t need PC like we have in the west, but it does need to learn some basic human decency and manners. Do they have any idea how some of us feel, when we become so self-conscious that we can barely function properly in China because locals are so rude and distasteful in their comments just based upon the way we look? I wouldn’t walk down the street in Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Toronto and call Chinese “slant eyes” or “small nose” what makes them think it’s OK to abuse us foreigners when we’re in their country?

    As for the “only white people in America” comment, that’s just hilariously ignorant. One look at any American film made since the 1960s shows that America is a very diverse society – can’t believe Chinese would believe the west is just a “white” version of China. Our societies are completely opposite in this respect and I’m pretty sure most Chinese would have seen at least one Hollywood film or at least have been taught something about our societies. Evidently this doesn’t apply to everyone.

    • Avatar

      samy hung

      August 28, 2016 at 7:36 am

      Five thousands years of civilization is destroyed by the communism through this past 60 years of ruling. Please forgive.

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China Celebs

Fandom Meets Matrimony: Sea of Brides at Roy Wang’s Concert as Female Fans Show Up in Wedding Gowns

After showing up as brides at Roy Wang’s concert, some female fans attempted to return their gowns within the store’s 7-day ‘No Questions Asked Return Policy’.

Manya Koetse

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A recent concert by Chinese celebrity Roy Wang (Wang Yuan 王源) has become a hot topic on Chinese social media as female fans attending the show collectively decided to wear wedding dresses to express their love for the singer.

Born in 2000, Roy Wang is best known as a member of the hugely popular TFboys idol group that debuted in 2013, but his solo career has also been thriving for years. Wang is an award-winning musician, who is now among China’s most influential young celebrities. On Weibo, he has nearly 85 million followers.

The sight of so many fans coming to Wang’s Chongqing concert wearing wedding dresses was already remarkable, but it garnered even greater attention when it turned out that some of the women’s boyfriends were so upset over their girlfriends wearing a wedding dress for another man that they ended the relationship because of it.

On Douyin (China’s TikTok), the related discussion made it to the top 5 trending daily topics list.

Female fans partying in their wedding dress. Photo posted on Weibo.

The story gained further traction when reports emerged that some female fans who had recently purchased wedding dresses for the concert attempted to return them to the store the next day, taking advantage of the store’s policy that allows returns within seven days without requiring a specific reason (7天无理由退货).

“I already wondered why business was suddenly booming,” one Chongqing wedding gown seller wrote on social media, complaining how the return policy was being abused by some of Roy Wang’s fans.

Others saw the fact that they wore the wedding dress to the concert as a unique selling point, and tried to resell their gowns online for more than the original price, claiming that the dress still had “a hint of the concert’s aroma.”

Scene of the concert.

Commenters bombarded these women with negative comments, as the topic also drew wider discussions on how far some fans are willing to go to show their love for their idols.

Some social media users expressed that a wedding dress has a symbolical or even sacred function, and that tying the concept of fandom to matrimony is inappropriate. They condemned the women for showing up to the concert as brides.

Given that many of the commenters criticizing the women were male, there were also feminist voices that condemned these men for their pettiness and chauvinistic attitudes. One comment stood out: “There will always be men whose ego is bruised when women they don’t even know won’t wear a wedding dress and save their chastity for them. Thanks to Roy Wang’s concert, I once again realize the diversity of species.”

In an online poll asking people “Can women only wear a wedding dress once in their lives” (#女生一生只能穿一次婚纱吗#) the majority of people replied that they should just wear whatever they like.

“My first thought is that this is romantic,” one popular entertainment blogging account (@娱大蜀黍) wrote: “My second thought is that it’s actually quite moving. In the midst of their youth, they are writing a passionate chapter for themselves. They will treasure it as a beautiful memory later on in life. They do what they love and they’re not bothering anyone. It’s perfectly fine.”

By Manya Koetse & Miranda Barnes

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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China Memes & Viral

“The Frog in the Well”: China’s Condemnation of the G7 Summit

The most noteworthy criticism of the G7 summit came from Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying, who started the frog analogy.

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There has been a lot of talk about frogs in Chinese online discussions following the G7 summit. Over the past week, the G7 summit, that was held in Hiroshima from 19 to 21 May, was criticized in Chinese newspaper headlines and by official media accounts, while China’s ministry of foreign affairs accused the G7 of “smearing” and “attacking” China.

The G7 was called a “failure” on the China Daily front page of May 22. On the same day, Global Times called the summit “manipulative” in its front page headline and suggested the Group of Seven had descended into an “anti-China workshop” in its op-ed, which featured an illustration by Liu Rui that showed the seven nations in a boat, not cooperating and barely moving.

The Global Times op-ed, including the cartoon by Li Rui. Source: Global Times.

But perhaps the most noteworthy criticism on the G7 summit came from Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying (华春莹).

On her official Twitter account (@SpokespersonCHN) Hua lashed out against the G7 and its participating nations in a series of tweets in which she condemned the summit as hypocritical, deceptive, and biased, while highlighting China’s contributions to global economic growth.

Some of the tweets posted by Hua Chunying in response to the Group of Seven “attacking” and “slandering” China.

The Chinese condemnation of the G7 is a direct response to the G7 Communiqué and to the summit’s supposed “hype around China-related issues.”

During the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the participating nations expressed growing concerns about China’s expanding global influence. The summit’s official statement emphasized the need to “de-risk” rather than “de-couple” from China in their relationship. The statement mentioned China 20 times, a significant increase from the 14 mentions in 2022.

The discussions focused on various aspects related to China, including its relations with Taiwan, human rights issues in Xinjiang and Tibet, interference in democratic institutions, and responses to Russia’s military aggression.

Prior to the summit, President Emmanuel Macron of France made it clear through one of his advisers that the G7 was not an ‘anti-Chinese’ coalition. However, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom went beyond the official statement, emphasizing the significant threat posed by China to global security. Speaking to reporters at the G7 meeting, Sunak stated that “China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity. They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.”

From China’s perspective, the Group of Seven is unwilling to go beyond their own distorted world view in which China is labeled a threat. And so, in one of Hua’s tweets, she posted an image showing a frog on the bottom a well, looking up to the sky and wondering: “G7 = world?”

The image tweeted out by Hua Chunying on 22 May, 2023. Source: Twitter.com.

The depiction of a frog in the well is a direct reference to the well-known fable by philosopher Zhuangzi about a frog in a well who does not believe it when a turtle tells him that the world is bigger than the view from the well. The frog stubbornly denies the existence of the wider world and asserts that nothing lies beyond what he can see. The fable has given rise to Chinese idioms such as “the frog at the bottom of the well” (井底之蛙) and “looking at the sky from the bottom of the well” (坐井观天). These idioms are commonly used to describe those who exhibit ignorance and resist broadening their understanding beyond their limited perspective.

Hua’s frog-tweet and others were also shared on Weibo by state media outlet China Daily, which initiated the hashtags “Hua Chunying Fires Back with Series of Tweets to Counter G7’s Smear Campaign Against China” (#华春莹连发多条推特回击G7抹黑中国言论#) and “Hua Chunying Uses Frog at Bottom of Well to Hit Back at G7’s Smearing Remarks” (#华春莹用井底之蛙回击G7抹黑言论#).

One nationalistic Weibo blogging account (@大大大餅乾丶) shared additional images of frogs, including one with a frog adorned with an American flag and the word “independence” written on its forehead. The blogger pointed out that some groups in Taiwan believed that Hua’s frog tweet was directed at Taiwan, stating: “It seems like their self-awareness is right on point.”

Post by Weibo account @大大大餅干丶, including the frog image. (Source: Weibo.com).

The connection between the frog idiom and Taiwan is not unfounded. In August 2022, during Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan, an illustration depicting a frog leisurely relaxing in a hotpot while the US increased the heat and mainland China held the lid also went viral online.

Illustration by Kokita Chang, circulating on Weibo in August of 2022.

Meanwhile, on Weibo, many praised Hua’s sharp criticism of the way in which China was targeted during the G7 talks and embraced the frog analogy. “One a frog, always a frog,” some wrote.

Other state media outlets, including Global Times, also reported about Hua’s tweets and argued that that the G7 is purposely hyping the “China treat” theory (中国威胁论). The louder their anti-China rhetoric is, the less impact it has, the article argues.

Other commenters, however, seemed to note some irony in the frog analogy. One blogger argued that since the frog in the image himself wonders if the G7 is really the entire world, he actually already does not have such a limited worldview. Several Weibo users wondered who the frog actually represented, suggesting it could either be the G7, Taiwan, or mainland China itself.

Within this context, some individuals expressed curiosity about Hua Chunying’s choice to post the original message on the American Twitter platform, which is inaccessible within mainland China. They humorously remarked, “Twitter? What is Twitter?”

By Manya Koetse & Zilan Qian

Get the story behind the hashtag. Subscribe to What’s on Weibo here to receive our newsletter and get access to our latest articles:

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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