Being Black And Mixed-Race in China | Gen 跟 China 

as a fellow asian this kind of racism towards people with darker skins are sadly all too familiar. here in Indonesia, there are still a large portion of the population who thinks darker skin tones are inferior in terms of appearance, and discrimination towards people who are of eastern indonesian ethnic groups are still way too common and normalized which is crazy.

I knew two sisters in China who are mixed race, Russian mother and Chinese father, they were treated sooo differently, the older sister being more pale and the younger one having a darker skin tone, Chinese people would praise the older sister and call her beautiful all the time, yet they will always question the parents of why their second daughter has dark complexion, it was so bad that the younger sister would cry herself to sleep and spend tons of money on whitening products, she would lock herself indoors because she was afraid of sun, of getting darker, it is sad, extremely sad. Edited: when I say dark I do not mean black, or that she looks like other ethnicity, she had a darker complexion, meaning that she wasn’t as pale as her sister. He skin tone was more brownish! Which is completely normal healthy, and beautiful, Just like any other skin tone!!!!! I’m surprised how people in the reply section can take things so literally!!

as a blasian girl who lived in Japan in my younger years, I can identify with all this girl experienced. I had English classes with an American (Caucasian) teacher, and the difference between his daughter's society treatment (child of a white man and a Japanese woman) and my own was quite obvious.

I've been spat on, pushed in the street and called a prostitute for 'being a pretty white asian' and people just stand in utter shock when I speak Mandarin. They can't fathom that I speak it, even though my grandparents are Chinese! I've had people follow me like paparazzi, buy me dinner, drinks and snacks like I am a celebrity or did something brilliant like cure cancer but at the end of the day I'm an average person who got tired of being stared at and being asking the same questions. I feel for anyone who has experienced any prejudice. It doesn't matter where you are from it's how you feel and the culture you were raised in, we are all human. Actions speak louder than words. Be happy make good choices and live life to the fullest and let people just.. Be.

Ive been living in China since 2013 as a teacher. My student told me just the other day "you are black" I said "thank you" she said "No black is not beautiful". These type of comments are so annoying. It never really gets easy. In the US I would be considered "light skinned", so I can't imagine how much harder it is for others with darker skin tones than me. EDIT: I am still living in China, my life here with my husband is great. I was simply sharing an experience I had with a student at school. Kids everywhere say ridiculous and ignorant things, if you are a teacher, you know that.

I remember this Chinese mother wouldn’t allow her daughter to be friends with my little sister and her friends because they were black. Sad thing is, her daughter wanted to be friends with my little sister and her friends because they saw her as a friend but her mother wanted her to be friends with these white students that bullied her and made fun of your culture/facial features/skin colour and “how she smelled”… It blew my mind how delusional and racist this mother was. Mind you, my sister and her friends were straight A students but because of skin tone, her mother made a judgment that those white students that won’t straight A students and had trouble in school were some how better!

My nieces are full sisters but their coloring is very different. It was so clear that people treated my younger niece better because she is "light" while her older sister is mostly ignored or called "a waste" of beauty because she was dark. It's ridiculous how many times I called people out for this, I would call them assholes to their face just to shame them for trying to shame children into insecurity for something they can't control. Asians in general are not phased with voicing out prejudiced beauty standards, but are really shocked when you call them out on it.

I'm a millenial Black African male, I went to Guangzhou back in 2012. I was shocked to see the number of Black People there. I personally didn't experience much racism. I thought the locals were welcoming and helpful. I saw a lot of Blasian babies which I thought were absolutely adorable!!! I even had one of the best nights of my life exploring the nightlife of the city. I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's lived experience, my experience should be viewed through the lens of having grown up in Apartheid South Africa where racism was in your face and unapologetic.

Thank you for bringing this issue to light. As a brown girl living in Beijing, I’ve experienced my fair share of discrimination. To the point where locals aren’t even willing to sit next to you on the subway.

It's really messed up that not even a fashion model paid for her looks, can feel good about herself because outside the studio people call her ugly. It must create such an intensely chaotic and hurtful dichotomy inside her :(

Im a mixed blasian girl living in China and im glad more people are taking about the this.I have been bullied as a child.A lot of Chinese people have said “your not that black” to me as a compliment,even my Chinese grandmother.Once a old Chinese neighbor said to me”your getting whiter,good!”.It makes me really uncomfortable.Why do we have to be treated like this 😢

As a Black and Filipino American, there is no demographic more racist to "Blasians" than other Asians or "Wasians". However, exposure helps. I joined a predominately Chinese research lab during graduate school, and there were many tough moments. I experienced microaggressions, outright aggression, the promotion of stereotypes, or racist tropes. I had to persist and counteract every seed of doubt or discrimination. After years of work, we all graduated and published great work. but it was an emotional roller coaster for my self. I still have decent relationships with them, but I'm obviously the "good kind" of Blasian in their eyes. Chinese folks in America likely are much more progressive than their homeland rural China people, but the attitudes of anti-blackness is nothing original, and they learned it from racist white people in the USA and Europe.

When I visited my motherland, people asked me why I looked so dark, I told them because I didn’t stay inside the house to avoid the sun like a vampire, I didn’t cover my body like an assassin during the day, I didn’t bleach my skin, I am South East Asian so it’s very normal for my skin to be tanned, I’m active and happy in my own skin. I once thought like them, whiter skin is better, I did my best to keep my skin lighter, it worked but I was so drawn from it. Now I’m more grown up and living in different country with diverse beauty standards, my eyes has been opened and I don’t see only white skin beautiful, sometimes even opposite. It’s more about having healthy skin, dark white panda, doesn’t matter what colour skin you have, it’s beautiful when it’s healthy. For those who has narrow minded, it’s not their fault, they are influenced by media, their network and society, if they have a chance to go outside of their land, open their heart to live and learn, they will view everything differently.

I'm so glad this is being talked about, as a blasian girl myself I have faced lots of racism from my Asian community but have brushed off their racist remarks because I thought I was just being sensitive, Wasians have always been perceived as the "cute mix" whilst Blasians are seen as the n word, Blasian's are always slept on with little to no media coverage in Asia and in America, it makes me sick to see that people specifically want a mixed child because it's a trend and a statues without thinking about the actual identity issues and racism that the child has to face because it's cute to be mixed, being mixed always comes with the baggage of feeling like a foreigner and both of your racial heritage not accepting you

I think the fact that they labelled a person black and dirty are pure IGNORANCE. I can understand these kind of mindset by the older generation but not the younger generation. My heart goes out to this girl. I wished i can speak mandarin like her! her mandarin is awesome!. Gurl, you are an asset and a treasure and don't let anyone tell you different!

My Chinese colleague or workmate who I was her supervisor used to underestimate blacks saying or nasty things about us. But appreciated learnt more from me and skill in many ways as compared to when she was in china in-terms of business acumen. Secondary she was surprised when her mother came to visit in our country definitely due to age she was ill , but was surprised that her illness was well managed in our country as compared to when she was in china. At one time she required blood transfusions but The daughter had denied her the chance that her mother cannot receive black blood. But on the verge of her last breath she accepted and her mother’s situation stabilized and got better again. Still living until today. It’s a shame🤦🏾 how racism and discrimination exposes ignorance in our brothers and sisters of any race. Yet at the end of the day we are all visitors in this world like my husband says . For life is like booking a hotel room you will definitely check in and check out irrespective of who you are 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍🏾

I'm mixed and I feel like in general, mixed people with light skin are praised for their beauty while mixed people who are darker are not. I'm black and latina but have light skin while my sisters have dark skin, and I've definitely seen the difference in how we are treated. Breaks my heart so much. I am lucky to live in America where there is a lot of diversity. I feel bad for mixed people who live in these extremely colorist countries. Hopefully though, younger generations are able to change that and the world becomes more accepting of ALL beauty Edit: wtf is happening?

Eden is actually really pretty. I sometimes wonder what's wrong with people's so-called "beauty standards", honestly...

I lived and worked in Hong Kong for 6 years and the negativity towards darker skin tones was pretty much the default outlook. I'm Scottish and have an American son (British passport pending) who is half Asian. He identifies as a white American boy, as far as I'm aware. Put him next to a white kid, he looks Asian, put him next to a fully Asian kid and he certainly looks more white. When I lived and worked in Hong Kong, I have to say the Eurasian women I met and observed were normally very attractive! I did meet a girl on the train from Hong Kong to Beijing, who was a mixture of White/Chinese/Black and she was absolutely stunning. She got the best DNA, from each ethnicity, as far as my outlook was concerned.

Eden actually looks so much prettier than the average Chinese woman (no offense to Chinese women…as I am one myself lol). When I was studying in university in Beijing, I was so impressed by how beautiful a lot of the African students were. They are much taller than us, have a much more athletic build, have nicer bone structure, and much larger eyes. Their skin color was deep and reflected light a lot more than our pale skin. They looked like royalty compared to us. It left such a big impression on me, and that was over 10 years ago. Plus I’ve also noticed that black people age so much better than people of other races, even us Asians who are obsessed with paleness, sun protection, and skincare. Everybody is beautiful to somebody else. The people who call you ugly are just insecure about themselves and how they look. I hope China (and the rest of Asia as well) can let go of these toxic “beauty” standards.

Jay Chou, the singer mentioned in the video, has long had a fetish half-white girls, even married one nearly half his age. I have several friends who danced for him and some complained that he put the Euro-looking girls out front even though they couldn't dance as well as their Taiwanese counterparts. His music is most heavily influenced by Black American R&B and Hip Hop, but he never admits this in videos, insisting that it's "Chinese style." 😄 Jay Chou, the Chinese -style-loving artist who loves his women white and his music black. 人白樂黑！😄 The world is indeed a strange place.

Very odd, considering the huge Chinese population in African nations. In my country, there are a lot of Chinese there, and they prefer to distance themselves from locals and look down on us, whilst benefitting from our resources & people. Black ppl are not wanted anywhere, so best thing to do is to focus even harder in building our own countries instead.

As a black man, I have been to China several times and in general I found Chinese people warm and welcoming. Many times I have stayed in business districts where there are no black people and end up being a tourist attraction where people ask to take photos with me or some taking my photos secretly. I have experienced racism at only 2 incidents; one during entry at the airport in Guangzhou where I was scanned for drugs because I was black. The second time I was racially profiled is when I was entering Hong-Kong from China at immigration, this was the most disgusting moment in my opinion where immigration officers interrogated me for hours because I was black to an extent, I lost my hotel booking as I arrived late. In conclusion, to all our mixed race and African sisters and brothers, come home to Africa; we love you and let's build our continent together! Love from Uganda 🇺🇬

This video will always break my heart as half black and half Chinese

As a black person, ive never felt comfortable with the obsession to mix race. my parents are mixed but we dont obsess over it. i think its unhealthy and vain.

I'm glad Vice and other forms of media are talking about this issue. As a long time resident of South Korea, I can tell you this kind of colorism and racism is present in Korean society too. Many Koreans try and deflect to how "racism happens everywhere". Of course that's true, but when they say this it's not to try and broaden the conversation but to deflect so they do not have talk about in what ways their society is racist or ethnocentric. We need to be able to tackle these issues in all the different countries and contexts it appears.

The root causes are the "values" instilled by the media and older generations. Growing up outside of Asia in a cold climate, I had the fairest skin. My relatives would always comment about it whenever I travelled back. I hated it and would literally choose the sunniest day to go for a run, paint the gate, do as much as I could to get tanned, to look more like my friends who were either tanned or naturally dark. I don't these days because where I'm living the skin cancer rates are extremely high. I think the people who can't look past appearances also haven't met enough different people. For me growing up with a mixed bunch of friends during my childhood, and then meeting people from all over the world as an adult traveller, has made me appreciate that everyone is beautiful.

As a mixed girl myself, I kinda get why the Chinese government doesn’t like it when foreign men come into their country, making Chinese women pregnant, and leave. Because this, although not in China, happened to me. My dad, left my mother pregnant in the Netherlands and left for the US even before he knew of her pregnancy. She had let him know she had me but there was never any contact. I grew up in a small town and growing up it really bothered me to often be the only colored one in a group. Even starting to hate my own color because I couldn’t understand how you can make a baby and be so careless about it? I grew up not being proud of my other half and it definitely caused some mental and emotional issues. When you’re born in a country and raised with it’s standards and feel a 100% that, but 9/10 around you sees you as foreigner and not their own, it’s really not right. I survived it but I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. If you go somewhere and make a girl pregnant, stay ffs

It is not just China but East Asia. When I lived in Korea I felt so unwelcome. If I had a question I would be ignored. Same thing happened at markets. You could see that they wanted me to leave. Also a lot of discos only let in Koreans or foreigners they deemed passing. My white friend on the other side was always praised for her beauty because she is white. My first week in Korea just made me want to get home because I have never been treated like that in my whole life although I grew up in Europe. That was really the first time for me to experience racism

The total irony of them saying African men are abandoning their children is that there’s a growing number of Chinese men in Africa doing THE EXACT THING to African women and this has been happening for years.

For some reason some Asians specifically Chinese, Koreans and some Japanese love seeing mixed white and Asian….but let them be half black it’s looked down upon in the older crowd so so sad! And those children are so beautiful and gifted. Breaks my ❤

I’m married to a chinese guy we both born in South Africa and I’m mixed raced Muslim we refered to as malay because most of us come from Malaysian genetics how ever once me and my husband have kids I will not be visiting china because I would never want my kids to feel like they are not enough my husband loves me regardless of my skin colour and it’s not always been easy with the elders in his family because not only am I not Chinese but I’m also Muslim and his now Muslim aswell and it’s messed up because I’m not even dark at all im not even much darker then my husband and he is very light in complexion I also remember we once had lunch with his family that visited from out of town and his one cousin was married to a white guy and they have a son so my mother inlaw said that child is not Chinese so it’s not only black people chinese people are just racist in general and I’ve managed to learn some Cantonese and I always hear my mother inlaw calling black people racist stuff in Cantonese it’s just really sad tho see how small minded they are especially when living in a country like South Africa where we have so many different races for decades and interracial marriages and relationships are very accepted and normal here it’s not uncommon to see white and black people and Chinese and Malay etc it’s just a norm we see it everyday just going to do grocery shopping or taking a walk it’s normal to see this

I have seen comments here questioning whether she is really suffering from racism that much since she has managed to become a model and run a successful fashion business. I think her being a model does not necessarily mean that she is more accepted. I have observed that in a lot of countries that while they are often racist towards black people, conversely they are also drawn to many elements of culture associated with black people (such as the music and fashions) and find them very cool. For example, a lot of the songwriters in the Korean pop industry are black because there is this notion that black people write better music. But does this mean that black or mixed race people are one step closer to appearing in pop music or as the face of Korean pop music companies? No, not at all! And while there are also flourishing industries of Hip Hop and R&B music in many Asian countries which resemble the black music culture's that they came from in almost every respect, they don't involve actual black people. Sometimes this is simply because there are few black people around, but sometimes it is a case of liking and idealising the culture and aesthetics but not the skin tone (kind of like going, "This is awesome, but you know what would be even better? If we replaced your colour people with our colour people in your product (yeah, now everything is perfect)". So there is this real juxtaposition; sometimes someone can find another person cool and yet look down upon them at the same time. And I think that this is the juxtaposition that this mixed-race lady finds herself in; on the one hand, people think she has a cool style about her (and might even view her style/aesthetic as being cooler for the fact that she looks somewhat African) and they want to buy her clothing and yet, many people want to keep her at a personal distance from themselves. And if they do want to hang around her, it might be because it's less because they like her for who she is and more because of some sort of perceived token coolness or credibility that they think they'll gain from certain circles of being associated as having a friend who is black/mixed race. It's kind of like a case of going "I think you're really cool (and I'd be happy to have you as a friend), but I might not feel totally at ease about you being around ALL of my friends, I would feel less comfortable about you meeting my parents, I would feel even less comfortable about going out with you (even if I felt very attracted to you) and would certainly NEVER consider having children with you because of the colour babies we might produce together". Even her friend who was a totally platonic friend (so looks shouldn't have mattered!), still couldn't help himself from telling her that she would be "more ideal" if she was white-mixed race. Is this racism or is this improved acceptance? Of course it's still racism! If the "acceptance" of a black person is a superficial result of tokenism or is fueled by "positive stereotypes" of black people, then it's still racism as it still ultimately boils down to treating people in particular ways based on their skin colour (and that is wrong). People should not be valued or discriminated based on their skin tone, but instead be valued by their conduct as a person and how they contribute to society. A society which judges by skin tone is not a meritocracy because skin tone is a false merit (it says nothing about your actual intelligence, abilities, heart or kindness, etc). Even "positive" racial stereotypes are negative ones as they're often based on the same screwed up logic (eugenics) as the negative ones and ultimately miss the point, which is that the only thing your skin tone says about you is the amount of melalin you have (and nothing else). Everytime someone is promoted or praised for being pale (despite not actually being that smart or competent) and everytime someone is made to feel bad or held back for being dark (despite actually being very smart or hard working), is another incident in society where people might end up with a poor manager running a company or miss out on a great person succeeding and helping improve society and being rewarded fairly for being a good citizen. For as long as people judge others on skin tone and beauty, the worse or longer problems like corruption, wealth inequality, marital abuse, economic "brain drain" and other issues will persist for. For everyone's sake (including our own) it is vital for the good of society that we stop letting ourselves become so divided and manipulated over matters such as skin colour, start tackling discrimination and start treating and rewarding people for who they actually are.

This basically boils down to them hating their own Chinese features. They suffer from the same self hate as some darker skinned ethnicities do. Sad.

I grew up as a mixed race kid (half British, half Chinese) in Guangzhou and Beijing in the 80s, and then Hong Kong in the 90s. While people would come up to me and my mum (mum is white and blonde), and stare out of curiosity (especially in the 80s when it was even more rare to see non-Chinese people in China), we never face any kind of racism There was one time when a man on the street in Shanghai berated my mum and I, started accusing us of for the crimes of the historical crimes of the west against China, but that was about it. Fast forward years later as an adult, I married my wife who's Indian, and has dark skin, grew up in the US, and we go to Hong Kong every year to visit my family who still live there. She has faced way more racism in Hong Kong during out annual visit, than I ever have in my life that I lived there. One time at M&S (a British store), a Chinese security guard got all aggressive and told my wife that he was going to search her bag to see if she stole something. I saw this from a distance and went up to him and got in his face and asked if he's been checking all the other people leaving the store... He claimed he saw her put something in her bag, so I took her bag, opened in to show that nothing was stolen, and then asked him "where's the fucking stolen goods?" He started to back down realizing he got caught in his racist lie, and I told him to go get his manager, and reported him (not like it did any good)... I was about the fuck that guard up if the manager didn't come out. Another time my dad was showing his local Hong Kong friends a photo my my wife and I today, and one of his friends said "she've beautiful, but she's very dark". My wife, who grew up in the US, and acknowledges the problems with racism in the US, said that she's never felt more dehumanized as she has in Hong Kong, and I'm sure it would be even worse in China. The reality is, there's plenty of racism towards dark skinned people in China and Hong Kong... Not just black people, but Indians, Pakistani, Filipino, Indonesian etc. In Hong Kong, Indians are seen as second class citizens, because there's a history of the British colonialists that brought them to Hong Kong as their servants, to do manual labor, so a lot of Indians in Hong Kong work in blue collar jobs, run Indian restaurants or are tailors. There's the racist stereotype that they smell, so I've had Indian friends in Hong Kong I grew up with, where if that sat down on the MTR (subway train), locals would get up from next to them to not sit with them. Filipinos are also consider second class citizens, because the vast majority of them are domestic helpers (maids) there, and racism against them is deep rooted in the system. Hong Kong has a law that states, anyone who lives in Hong Kong as a resident for more that 7 years automatically received permanent resident status. The government tried to make Filipinos be the exception, saying the law didn't apply to them, because they didn't want all these Filipino maids getting permanent status and laying down roots in Hong Kong. The government was challenged on their racism, so rather than saying they're not legible for the status, they created a law saying that anyone coming to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong has to leave Hong Kong annually to renew their work visa, which means that Filipinos and Indonesians coming to work as maids would not have 7 consecutive years of living in Hong Kong, as their resident status is renewed after every year, so they're never legible for permanent resident status. The Hong Kong government managed to get away with it, because technically by law they are not discriminating against Filipinos, because technically Filipinos have the same rights as long as they're not entering as domestic helpers, but the reality is, since the vast majority of Filipinos enter as domestic helpers, they are the one's that get discriminated against. So, the racism is not just cultural, it's systemic. I love Hong Kong as a place, there are many great things about it, I've many many great people there and in China, and it will always be my home first and foremost, but the racism against dark skinned people is real and common, but cannot and should not be ignored and swept under the rug. It should be called out every time it happens.

Unfortunately, it's going to be nearly impossible to change this point of view in China or the rest of East/Southeast Asia. For thousands of years, people there fell into one of two classes: those who worked in the fields (and got really tan) and those who didn't have to (who stayed pale). Most of us have skin tones that can change drastically depending on how much sun we get. So the discrimination against darker-skinned people is primarily rooted in classism and that's going to be very hard to break as a habit. I can't tell you the number of times my own friends/family/relatives in Asia have told me that I'm too tan and it's ruining how I look compared to when I was younger and paler. When I try to explain to them that in the U.S. tans are actually desired by white people it just blows their minds. Now I'm not saying there isn't some ethnicity-driven component to it--the influence of the West has certainly guaranteed that there is--but it's by no means the primary reason for these unfortunate Asian beauty ideals, which very likely predate the discovery of the New World.

I don’t know how some Chinese people can have the audacity of being so against foreigners when Chinese people have immigrated to every single country in the world.

I love how they do not realize that they are saying they themselves are inferior to the Caucasians they aspire to be. Be proud of who you are no matter what your skin color is

Thank you for this insightful and very informative work. It really raises awareness towards race bias and unconscious racism. Specially against black people and descendants. I do believe that my grandfather faced a lot of racism is mid 50s by being half Chinese, half mozambican in china, even though he was very well educated and extremely intelligent. I guess when we people recognise the oneness of mankind and how we are connected in all levels (social, economic, environmentally) we will come united because we see everyone as equal. All these "races", looks, status, professions, are just on the surface of our own identity. "The world is but one country and mankind its citizens"

My fellow black people, there is no where you will be loved than being love in the African continent. lets fix our home so that we don't get treated like this in the world

Thank you for bringing attention to this matter. When working in the Mainland and Hong Kong six years ago, I could tell there was a sense that some mixes were better than others. While mixed white/Chinese individuals have their issues with identity and discrimination, I think its safe to say that those who are mixed Black/Chinese have a worse experience. Eden's experience was very sobering. Here is someone who grew up in Beijing and speaks Mandarin (with traces of the Beijing accent) and she's met with casual, outright discrimination. It reminded me of my half Chinese/half Filipino identity. Let me be clear, my experiences were probably nowhere as bad as Eden's, but I definitely felt discrimination in Hong Kong, when I had to lie about my Filipino side at my job. China (and the rest of the world for that matter) still has much to go in terms of dealing with Blackness/brown/dark-skin prejudice and discrimination.

Eden is stunningly beautiful! It’s so sad that mixed race people always face unique challenges no matter where we go :(

As a girl who was born and living in China for more than twenty years I have to say this discrimination is so common. I remember that when I was a child I used to be exposed to sun so I looked kind of black of my skin, then many of my classmates thought that I was ugly and attack me for no reason. :( Now there are still many people judge others merely by their color of skin! What a shame. This girl in the video is soooooooooo cute and she has very beautiful eyes I hope you feel happy everyday.

My mom is half Korean , she never mentions her Korean side, she grew up in haïti and fully identifies as haïtian/afro-caribbean, she as never once eaten Korean food , her mom learned haïtian cuisine and never fed her anything Korean related, and I identifie as haïtian/afro-caribbean ethnicity wise and as Canadian-carribean national wise

Well if as a race, you think mixing with a lighter race makes you better, than you are probably harbouring deep feelings of inferiority. So the problem is really that you are looking for a perceived lower darker race to make you feel better about yourselves.

In China, 2010, co-worker sends me an ad for a company seeking to hire an American teacher. The ad said the school wanted a white female teacher only. I turned to my co worker who wanted me to post this to a U.S. jobs board, and she said “it’s not racist! They want a white teacher, not a black one.” It was not immediately apparent that she understood that what she was asking me to do was primary facia racist. The office I worked in employed black and white US foreigners. I did not have a chat with the other teacher (who was black about this) because my co worker became very embarrassed after I explained this to her. I had arguments with lovely people about wether Chinese society was racist. As a good guest, I offered an explanation but then was polite in agreeing that “of course, there is no racism whatsoever within Chinese society, at all, of any kind”. Right!

Thank you for sharing this very important issue. And I have to say my experience: in some countries I'm considered as a woman with darker skin while in others I'm called "the fair skin foreigner" This is all about the cultural baggage and how open or narrow minded people are. I'm latina and I'm indigenous. And I'm proud of my origins. Having a conversation with a former Chinese friend, after hearing him 100 times saying how amazing is everything that comes from white people, I had to say: "Please, decolonize your mind. Not everyone who has white skin or comes from European countries is better. Wake up buddy" I believe this conversations are important to change minds.

I’m German-Chinese raised in America. This video describes being mixed-race in China perfectly. I look very white and in China, people seem to give me pretty privilege for this. However, compared to my Wasian friends who look more Asian or my other Chinese-American friends, my “Chinese-ness” is questioned much more. Like people will speak English to me and Mandarin to them. Plus, people think either me or my brother is adopted since we look totally different. The Wasian girl in the video spoke about how people in China tell her how smart she is, etc. I think it’s the opposite in America. In America there’s a stereotype that Asian people are really smart. It’s weird but I feel that if I do something wrong, Chinese people will blame my whiteness for it. Like I have to play an instrument well, etc. to fit the stereotype.

As an American that's mixed Asian and Black, I lived in China for half a year and dated a little bit. Chinese men were so obsessed with "trying/sampling" a Black woman, but it never would get serious. They objectify you and degrade you to only a sexual being most of the time. It's interesting that they think Black men would just have babies and leave when I think a lot more Chinese men (& women) have had kids and just outright abandoned the baby. I don't have darker skin, but I was even called the N word in Chinese so many times. I can only imagine what they really say online behind their little screens and fake profiles. This documentary probably censored the nasty comments to be more digestible ones. I can only imagine its way worse than what we're seeing here.

Imagine spreading out all over the globe in massive numbers and creating China towns in every major city in the world and then get mad when foreigners try to move to your country.

It's the same here in India. The fixation of western white mixed skin is revered over any dark or black skin mixture.

I have a mix of African and Chinese and don't have negative reactions in Jamaica as mix races are common here

I'm Asian but was born in the UK. I moved back to Asia in my 20s and stayed for 5 years. And I have to say, Asia's standard of beauty is completely backwards! The more you look like a damn cartoon character, the more good looking you are. The out right racism I experienced there was something I've never dealt with or seen in my entire life. Allot of this has to do with the elitist class and just how much of a social and political barrier there is. It's literally taught in schools and runs deep in culture. It's really sad and completely frustrating.

I'm learning Mandarin and Korean but sometimes racism makes me not want to learn at all.

The irony of migration and emigration must be lost on some Chinese people. I live in a specific neighbourhood in Toronto and if you looked around, you might think I lived in China itself.

Philippines have been obsessed with the whole beautiful mixed babies movement for decades.

I was called 'black pearl' (黑珍珠) quite a few times when I visited Beijing which my Chinese friend later told me was the name given to a pretty black girl. I only visited for 3 weeks though and I'm sure I would have experienced racism if I lived there. I know there's preferential treatment towards half-white mixed kids over other mixed races and my Asian friends have directly told me that themselves. Many of my Asian friends have said that their parents would let the bring any race home as long as they were not black. Or 'as long as they're white (or their ethnicity) then it's okay'. It's a serious issue

I’m Chinese so I have seen both sides. No offence but there’s an obsession with mixed race kids in Asia, usually the mom being Asian and the dad being white. When the white passing kid lives in Asia, they sometimes feel as though they can play the race card and pass as white and benefit off the privileges that are given by local Asians… if you live in Asia, you’ll understand what I mean

True! My fam is half n half my sis got Chinese dominant when me myself such a indian with brown skin tone.. and get bullied by our own community are painful

I’m Chinese/Cambodian. Chinese people don’t take me seriously because I’m Cambodian. In Cambodia I’m praised for having fair skin and being a half breed.

I find it interesting that in a way media generally takes mixed race as something semi-newish, while I'm sitting here in Latin America where over 90% of people are mixed race. It flies below the radar that these are mostly nations where the small minority is the one who is not mixed.

As I've discovered living in Asia now for several years, this is by far the most racist part of the world I've experienced. The blatant comments and discrimination towards foreign people would be virtually unheard of in other regions nowadays aside from some extreme views, but in Asia it's out in the open and commonly accepted - particularly against darker skinned people. Unfortunate, but also a symptom of the fact Asia is not so multicultural as the western world these days - less exposure means less acceptance in many cases (as seen in smaller towns of western countries)

This is mostly due to the dominance of western media and films in the past decades that depicts White people as heroes, handsome/beautiful and successful. Hence in most of the world there is still stereotype that being more fair skinned is more beautiful etc. Even in southeast asia where the main racial groups are malays, who are brown skinned in general, there are stereotypes that being fairer skinned is more beautiful. You can see half asian half fair skinned people more in modeling, films etc. There are a lot of skin whitening products that are so popular in southeast asia because of this stereotype. half spanish malay, half american malay, half chinese malays are considered exotic beauties especially if they inherit their fair skinned parent's skin tone more.

But she’s more beautiful than an average Asian lady.. see those popping eyes, beautiful curls.. girl embrace yourself wholey

My ex girlfriend was half Chinese half English were from Australia. We went to China in 2004. The amount of attention she got was insane! She was offered modelling work at least 20 times on the street and even had people knocking on the door wanting her to work as a model for their fashion brands. There were lots of ads with Photoshopped models made to look exactly like her. I jokingly would point out oh look it's you on a poster for shampoo it's you on an tv ad for make up. The thing was no one in China actually looked like that at the time. In Bolivia the beauty ideal is a Barbie doll where also no-one looks like that.

As a Ugandan I'm so glad I got to hear Eden's story.

There is no denying that people do have biases. However, many times the comments about skin are not about race but just about skin tone. China and some parts of Asia have been promoting fair skin tone since ancient times. This has existed all along. In Chinese beauty stores, many products for lighter skin are sold. And one of the big differences between China and other countries is that people will simply comment on the skin color and weight of others. I've come back from vacation and been told by family, friends and colleagues that you are fatter and darker. Maybe this is very offensive in some countries, but in China (although I don't like being commented on either), it's really common.....I hope that more people will realize that this is very disrespectful to others. There are too many characteristics that can divide people, skin color, men and women, tall and short, and we really don't need these boundaries since we are all human.

Being half black in Italy is very similar experience to being half black in China.

As someone from Hong Kong, I feel like some kind of negative comments towards people with darker skin have been normalised. As in some people don't think twice about making these hurtful comments. I remember being told by a HK guy that I would be quite pretty if I wasn't so dark-skinned (I was a bit tanned at that time). Luckily I didn't give a shit about his comments...

She's so pretty and well spoken. I'm sad the world is so cruel.

China is still discovering cultural diversity - it's hoping that there are more of this vlog bringing out the beauty in mixed genes and the strength in a cultural evolution.

I teach Chinese language in a creative and funny way. Learning a completely different language is funnier and more thought-provoking. Learning Chinese can contribute to finding a good job. (China is the largest trading partner of more than120 countries.) Chinese characters still retain their pictographic origins. Knowing what the characters look like originally can help understand the meanings and remember them vividly. I’ve spent about 100,000 hours studying English humor and Western culture, and many years studying Chinese culture and jokes. My native language is Chinese.

My sister is dark skinned and was friend with a Korean-Chinese-Japanese girl. When her mother, a Chinese woman, saw my sister with her daughter, she thought my sister was selling drugs to her daughter.

I am in Asia and I also have this kind of problem . Racism is all around Asia . But I’m not sure we could call it racism because they also discriminate Asian that are tanned just because of the sun . After watching several videos about Asian countries but also about black countries like places in the Caribbean, you see that there is a problem with accepting themselves . I am black french born in the Caribbean and I met girls that were also black but super racist toward darker skin xD . All of this to say, China is a place where people don’t have manners . They don’t have civic education to respect others , they will tell you whatever come to their mind (for people who haven’t received good education) . They haven’t yet learned how to respect all races as they’re and to find beauty in what is beautiful no matter the skin tone . Asian beauty standard is too harsh even against themselves. I hope some day they could realize that their skin, their eyes , the way they are is what make them special and beautiful, not a brighter skin .

0:32 Sheesh, talk about cold hearted. Imagine hearing those comments as a child. China is one jacked up place.

Does anybody know who the academic woman in the interview is?

the discrimination towards darker skin is very systemic in Asian countries... they even discriminate against their own people if they are darker skinned. Can't forget the number of times my parents harped about not showering 'too hot' to not make my skin darker... sick and tired of it all....

Africa welcomes all sorts Buts it’s never reciprocated

She is radiating with beauty 😊

As a blackman Reminds me of how hard Chinese international students in my class tried to befriend white students who mostly did not want to be friends with or even be in working group with them,I felt so bad for them so I intentionally joined their groups and because of how I felt white students treated the Chinese,After the course I realised the Chinese students who I was always helping were only interested in using me to pass their course,been to China and other Asian countries and the ignorance level can be scary,ghey wouldn't think twice killingba black person or framing them up

I dont let anti black cultures around the world deter me from becoming successful. You just have to learn how to become self sufficient in this hostile world.

Wow this is disgusting. I’m an American Black Woman and I never experienced or seen any of this when I lived and worked there 😕. So strange that a child like her would be mistreated by the Chinese. She was born and raised there. Mind you there’s tons of Chinese in mainland who have darker skin than hers. These people need to be stopped, they should feel lucky to not be under Mao or starving in the world like they once were in the past.

The Hans may be the largest ethnicity in China, but they're definitely not the only ethnicity. There are dozens of different ethnicities in China itself, some of them with varying skin tones. The Eurocentric standard of beauty and intelligence in China is puzzling. You'd think they would have learned from all the discrimination and oppression from the British.

I don’t care what skin colour a person is at all. As long as they follow the rules of the society they are living in. However, I must admit there are a great number of people who will judge a person based on his or her skin colour. Sometimes, this kind of discrimination is largely ignored by the society which is certainly a very bad thing. Traditionally, most Chinese parents would say they wish their baby is going to be ‘white and fat’ as a way of blessing.

I've got few Chinese friends (I live in Europe) and I was shocked with the stories of racism towards black people they told me about. It's the same everywhere and unfortunately every race has some racists in it =(

As a mixed person I totally understand her when she said she always felt different esp in asia where there's not much diversity even if u were Chinese/Filipino or Chinese/Japanese you'd still feel different cause people can really catch even the smallest different feature so I can't imagine how hard it must've been to be Chinese/African lucky for me I'm on the lighter side I can't imagine how I would be treated if not but they still find other features to pick on 💀from teachers to small kids to relatives it's hell. Tho I love Asia n I'd rather not be anywhere else & there are great people here the racism that the "public " has sometimes is so frustrating esp when it comes to skin colour Asians r not white u may appear to be lighter but ur skin color will always be different depending on the lighting we'll never "white " & majority of the population is tan so it's so heartbreaking that there's so much colourism n there will be in the future too sadly this white obsession is not going anywhere at least not in this lifetime

Prejudice against dark complexion is not a particularly chinese trait. Historically, many races prefer fair complexion. Perhaps future generations will change this kind of prejudice.

2:33 this basically sums everything up.

This is why my empathy has boundaries when it comes to non-Black people. Anti-black racism and discrimination against dark skinned people is a conscious choice.

As a fellow Blasian I can relate - I feel ur pain girl . . . .

Lord, the damage colonialism has done & its effects centuries later are so widespread, one wonders if this backwards behaviour will ever have an end.

As a Chinese, I always saw such comment on social media espically for 'baidu tieba'. Actually, most of Chinese can give respect to the black, but only a few will.consider marry a black. Cuz, probably the Han race has lots of population, and we think the whiter the more.beautiful

This is going to sound quite ignorant and sorry if it offends anyone but I once met someone through a friend who was half African-American and half Chinese, but their African-American features were quite dominating. Anyway, they could fluently speak Chinese with my Chinese friends and I was absolutely mind blown. Made me realise how little I knew of the world but glad to see they are being spoken about in this video.

This is v prevalent in Asia. Not just towards dark skin race, but any person with darker than the "supposed" to be skin. I lean towards being brown and I tanned easily. I have had Asian men told me I'm outside their preference groups. It hurts but it also opens a whole new world for me. But still, this kind of racisms can affect your life. I had lost job opportunity as a fairer person was chosen over me. As an Asian myself, I can only imagine the kind of thing they do to dark skin races

Huang Kun summarized the discrimination darker skinned ppl in China face (be they 'native,' mixed-race or even full Han Chinese). Eden & Audrey speak Mandarin very well.

There was this Korean - Indian mixed who grew up in China and was schooled in international school. He said everyone around took photos with his mates who were half white but not with him cuz he had a light chocolate caramel brown skin ( my take on how his skin looks , he just called it light brown) and no one took pics with him or treated him better cuz he was half brown . Also he was really hot guy. He is in korean military service rn ( maybe done he went there in 2021 ig)

I'm mixed raced asian. I grew up with tonnes of african friends in australia. Perhaps in a predominantly white country, 'ethnic' people find each other. We also had a lot of Italian, Portuguese, Greek and Croatian friends from school. We all found that we're culturally we were all really similar. Why can't we all just get along

This was sucha rad deep dive! As a mixed race Azorean Portuguese and Taishan Chinese person growing up on Turtle Island… I vividly remember being in kindergarten and receiving the message “oh there’s so many other full Chinese kids around… but I’m half so I’m half of them.” And also the message that my country “didn’t like China… so it’s bad that I’m half Chinese”. It’s wild the similarity that mixed kids have enough when geographically far away. As an adult when I used to work in Hospitality, customers would ask me weekly “where are you from??” Because my non pale Chinese beauty standard failure means that my ethnically ambiguity is easily identified as “Othered”. People guess I’m Phillipina or Hawaiian because of my skin tone and completely disregard that China had a Southern Half. When I think of the Cantonese/Taishanese kiddos I grew up with, we all have sucha wide array of skin tones from light pale to quite brown. When I visited my ancestors hometown in Mainland China 10 years ago… I was struck by the similarity in skin tones I found… so many beautiful and deep shades of light and darker brown all beautifully kissed by the sun… and deeply confused and saddened by the amount of skin bleaching/whitening products littered in every pharmacy.

Oof the translations but whatever. Eden you are a QUEEN your mandarin is better than most of those haters 💕💕 But I do slightly disagree at the end since so many foreigners have left the last few years idk what’ll happen. Going back last year I def noticed the decrease in foreigners but Gu Eileen is going strong with her ads, saw her everywhere 🤣🤣

In China, liking white skin has been an aesthetic standard that has existed for thousands of years. Because in ancient times, the whiter skin usually came from the upper class, who did not have to farm in the sun, and farmers had to farm in the sun every day