August 18th 2023.
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Chinese social media has become a breeding ground for anti-Black rhetoric and the advocates of the marginalized are calling for change.
According to Human Rights Watch, disturbing videos mocking Black people or portraying them through offensive racial stereotypes have been circulating the Chinese web, with major platforms such as Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu, choosing to remain silent since 2021.
The videos often feature “Chinese savior” content, where Chinese people are portrayed as wealthy saviors, while Africans are presented as primitive. For example, a video posted on Douyin shows a woman in an African country washing her hands in a hut before drinking homemade alcohol from a muddy container, with the caption “#LifeInAfrica #cleanandhygienic #PrimitiveTribe”. The video received 12,000 likes and many negative comments, such as, “Thank you to my eight generations of ancestors for giving birth to me in China”.
In response, Chinese authorities have openly condemned racism and have pledged to crack down on “unlawful online acts”. One example of this is the arrest of vlogger Lu Ke in 2022, after a BBC Africa Eye documentary exposed his videos featuring Malawian children being sold on Chinese social media. Lu was eventually convicted in Malawi on 14 charges, including child trafficking and procurement of children for use of entertainment, before being deported from the country. He had forced the children featured in his videos to repeat messages in Mandarin that they didn’t understand, including phrases like, “I am Black monster, my IQ is low”.
Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, released a statement regarding the situation. “The Chinese government likes to tout China-Africa anti-colonial solidarity and unity, but at the same time, ignores pervasive hate speech against Black people on the Chinese internet,” Wang said, according to Al Jazeera. He added, “Beijing should recognize that undertaking investments in Africa and embracing China-Africa friendship won’t undo harm caused by unaddressed racism”.
The report also points out that Chinese people in interracial relationships with Black people are major targets of online abuse, with women often being subjected to threats of rape, death, and doxing. Chinese descendants who condemn racism or support victims of racism are also targeted, and some posts even call on the Chinese government to ban Black people from becoming permanent residents of China or marrying Chinese people.
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