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I recently took a trip to China with several friends. All of us are US citizens with US passports, and three of the people on this trip are black. (I am not)

Throughout China, including in the most "cosmopolitan" parts of Shanghai, my black traveling companions faced continued harassment from the locals, including but not limited to:

  • Having their hair (and, on a few occasions, other parts of their body) touched and fondled without permission,
  • People not-so surreptitiously taking pictures with them, without permission
  • People pointing, giggling, and calling over friends to gawk at them
  • Locals aggressively trying to make "conversation", including blocking the sidewalk, with "conversation", consisting of more gawking

This was very disturbing and difficult for me to watch, and (obviously), even harder on my traveling companions, who understandably became quite angry the longer this persisted.

How should black travelers deal with this behavior in China?

reirab
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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Mark Mayo Aug 01 '17 at 22:50
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    My family (white) lived in China for four months several years back. We experienced exactly this same kind of thing. My brother, who has bright blonde hair, wore a hood everywhere he went, because if he didn't, every person we passed would touch his hair. – Stephen S Aug 02 '17 at 14:04
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    I experience precisely this behavior in China (I'm as pasty white as they come!). – Fattie Aug 02 '17 at 17:45
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    I have a friend who spends a lot of time in Asia and is tall, pale, with red hair and beard. People are always asking to take pictures with him, so his only requirement is that he can take a picture with them as well. This is how he ended up with a photo album titled "Selfies with Strangers". – David K Aug 02 '17 at 17:57
  • @DavidK: I wish I'd thought of that while travelling in China. – Chris Aug 03 '17 at 11:23
  • as Aganju, said they are not rude just never seen a black person before. Try to make some money out of it, or free food in restaurant. I would use the blackness as an advantage ! Embrace it, since there is no much to do. – narancs Aug 03 '17 at 13:26
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    @Fattie I have actually been to France and I must say, Paris was not kind to me as a white American. Laughed at, stared at, pointed at and most people refused to talk to me. Luckily I was with a French friend who did the bulk of the talking for me but I virtually sat in silence for the month I was there. It doesn't make you feel too good but know that being American alone paints a big target on you, color is just frosting on the cake. I would still go back to France too because my overall experience of the culture was great. – ggiaquin16 Aug 03 '17 at 16:55
  • All comments that are even slightly controversial here are being deleted: all these comments will now be deleted, @ggiaquin. (Unless there is some bizarre stuff going on.) So, since every other comment was deleted, the moderators will now delete all these comments - as is their duty. – Fattie Aug 04 '17 at 01:51
  • Sounds like your dark skinned co-travellers might have distracted the locals from giving you the same treatment. Attracting unwanted attention when you are a novelty in any society is difficult. The only way to resolve this would be for more dark skinned travels to visit so that the novelty wears off. – TafT Aug 04 '17 at 08:19
  • @Fattie There's a problem with the Stack Exchange software, which is that comments can only be moved to chat once. Comments have already been moved to chat once and any additional comments that aren't actually suggesting improvements to the question or requesting clarifications of it should be in the chat thread, not here. – David Richerby Aug 04 '17 at 18:42
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    @ggiaquin: I am an American. I've been to Paris many times, and traveled in France other places as well. I have NEVER experienced the problems that you and others tell of having. It isn't like I'm hiding, either. I don't speak French, and I dress like what I am (including cowboy boots at times.) The people have always been friendly and helpful. Damned if I know why some people seem to have a really hard time in France, but I can't confirm it from my own experiences. – JRE Aug 05 '17 at 16:15
  • @JRE that's awesome you had good experiences. I would love to go back to france. Love the food and culture. Was just put off by my treatment. I'm not trying to slander france so i hope people don't take it that way and why i also compliment. But my experience socially was also something i wanted to note – ggiaquin16 Aug 05 '17 at 16:20

5 Answers5

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There is not much you can do - those people have probably never before seen anyone black, and that is the typical reaction in that cultural environment.

Imagine you are green or blue, and you go in a bar with hill billies in a very remote region of the US. I would expect them to act quite similar - if not even more 'rude'.

Those people don't consider it rude or harassment, and they are not intentionally rude to your friends - only in your view they are. In their view, the behavior is normal - they are just completely blown away by the strangeness of the looks. When you travel to exotic locations, you have to be prepared for exotic mind sets and cultural standards.

Aganju
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – JoErNanO Aug 03 '17 at 12:01
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    +1, though I'd expect being green or blue would draw quite a bit of attention anywhere. Unless there is somewhere I'm not familiar with where green or blue people are normal (Pandora? Dagobah?) – reirab Aug 04 '17 at 05:38
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    @reirab For the record, there is a place where blue people live. It is also possible to blue yourself. In either case, I'd expect people to have a difficult time ignoring your blueness. – 200_success Aug 04 '17 at 19:21
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    "Those people don't consider it rude or harassment". Yes they do; they just don't care. They absolutely wouldn't like being treated this way themselves, yet they don't pause to think about that. – Kaz Aug 06 '17 at 14:59
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In the old days all Westerners would get that treatment, especially outside of the areas with many foreigners. I got used to it, and found it a bit endearing (when sincere, which it often was) and much less annoying than persistent (and sometimes officially sanctioned) overcharging. Sometimes I would hear less polite terms being used, the equivalent of "hey, look there's a ******", but never with undeserved malice. In the late 1980s it was not unusual to have rustic folks from the countryside (eg. at the train station) literally mouth agape at the foreigner.

If they can't get used to it and insist on taking offense where none is intended it might be best to avoid travel to China specifically, and perhaps in general. They are more likely to think of a famous sports figure or Obama than to look down on the visitor.

Not sure if Chinese universities still host many African students, but that was one place you would see blacks in the PRC.

P.S. One thing I enjoyed in smaller cities was to go out after dusk when the lighting didn't make my foreign face all that obvious. This might not be all that useful in modern times with much brighter street lighting. Also I'm not that tall, wide or otherwise weird looking. I traveled to China with a white but very much gray-bearded colleague a few years back and he got lots of attention he found a bit much to begin with. Full beards are pretty uncommon there, as is gray hair on relatively young people.

Spehro Pefhany
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    One thing you might want to be warned of if you haven't already experienced it: If it sounds like someone is using "the N-word," they probably aren't. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTk2WkRMLzg – WGroleau Aug 01 '17 at 02:50
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    Pretty common 那个 meaning "that one" is perfectly innocent. Of course there are other terms that are actually slurs but the ones I know of don't sound like English words. – Spehro Pefhany Aug 01 '17 at 03:09
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    If you go to out of the way locations this still happens today if you're white. I went to China a couple months back and went to a few backwaters and I definitely had people touching me, trying to take pictures with me, grabbing me, etc. – Andrew Alexander Aug 01 '17 at 23:39
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    It even still happens in Taiwan, which has been more open to foreigners for longer than the mainland. It can still happen in Thailand which has been a major tourist destination for many years! – hippietrail Aug 02 '17 at 12:46
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I'm sorry to say this, but what you experience is quite typical attitude toward foreigners in mainland China, and is not specific to blacks. To be more specific:

Having their hair (and, on a few occasions, other parts of their body) touched and fondled without permission,

I'm unsure about fondling, but touching wise, there isn't a concern of "personal space" in China. If you're in queue, the person behind you would literally breathe into your ear, and if you're not staying as close to someone in front of you, someone can actually get in front of you. Bumping into someone (touching) doesn't seem to be considered rude, it is matter of life. This is common even among the locals themselves.

To avoid this you'd have to stay away from crowds and queues. Which is hard, but not impossible.

People not-so surreptitiously taking pictures with them, without permission

Happens to many tourists, who are good looking. There's no concept of asking permission to take a photo in China - people might not even speak English. And I'm sorry but as far as I know, even in US one can take photos of everyone in a public place without permission.

I don't think you can do anything to avoid this.

People pointing, giggling, and calling over friends to gawk at them

That's typical attitude toward foreigners, although not in Beijing/Shanghai. Again, can't see what you can do here.

Locals aggressively trying to make "conversation", including blocking the sidewalk, with "conversation", consisting of more gawking

That's again more typical in mainland China, especially toward tourists.

Again, based on my own experience - and I been in many places around China - nothing you mentioned here is specific to black travelers. This is how things work there. I understand you might feel uncomfortable about it, but I don't think you can change how people behave in their own country. Probably the best way to deal with this is to avoid China altogether (and India too, as all those things would be very similar there, if not worse).

George Y.
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  • "And I'm sorry but as far as I know, even in US one can take photos of everyone in a public place without permission." There are several pending lawsuits about this, especially when it involves taking pictures of the Police in public places. I would advise anyone travelling to the US to ask permission before photographing someone/a specific group of people. If you're photographing a scene and people will unavoidably be in it (e.g. Times Square), you should be fine. – SGR Aug 01 '17 at 09:47
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    In english speaking countries the law is usually you can take photos for personal use in public places, no need to ask for permission. Commercial use and places where you expect privacy (changing rooms, your home, etc) are different. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Image_use_policy#Privacy_rights – Programmdude Aug 01 '17 at 10:13
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    @sgr as of February this year, the right to photograph or film the police in the US is settled law, in that it's perfectly acceptable to do so without permission. –  Aug 01 '17 at 12:43
  • @Moo As I understand it, it's only settled in some states with other states still arguing. Has there been a Supreme Court ruling? – SGR Aug 01 '17 at 12:44
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    @SGR It hasn't needed to go to the SC yet, but at federal court level it's currently 2-1 in favour of it being acceptable, with the latest decision being handed down in Feb 2017. This isn't a state matter, it's a constitutional matter, hence federal courts. –  Aug 01 '17 at 12:47
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    This answer contradicts the question. The asker highlighted this behaviour as being directed only at their black companions, not at them. – MJeffryes Aug 01 '17 at 16:49
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    @Moo - Related. – indigochild Aug 01 '17 at 17:04
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    @MJeffryes he was 1 against 3 - which presumably looked more "peculiar". If there were just whites in the company, I'd expect similar behaviour against them, perhaps in less extent. – ypercubeᵀᴹ Aug 01 '17 at 18:48
  • @ypercubeᵀᴹ I think I can trust the asker's ability to discern harassment targeted against them compared to harassment against their companions. – MJeffryes Aug 01 '17 at 18:49
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    @MJeffryes I don't see the OP being asked or answering on that. Perhaps I missed some comment? – ypercubeᵀᴹ Aug 01 '17 at 18:54
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    @MJeffryes: It could well be that black people get this more than white people. I'm white and get a lot of this exact same attention in China and some other countries to varying extents. I have on a few occasions hung out somewhere in Asia with black friends and noticed that with them around they will get all the attention from the locals rather than me. But on those occasions I didn't notice that any of the attention was more negative. – hippietrail Aug 02 '17 at 12:51
  • @Moo I don't know that you mean by "2-1 in favor" but if that was the vote of an appeals panel then it has no effect in other appeals circuits, and if it means that two circuits ruled one way and another the opposite way then the law is different in different places. When there's a split in the appeals courts then the law -- federal law -- is different in different states. This situation will persist until the circuits on one side of the issue reverse themselves (unlikely) or the supreme court rules on the matter. – phoog Aug 03 '17 at 00:10
  • +1 I'm a relatively tall white guy. This sort of stuff happens to me commonly when visiting places that don't get lots of foreigners, especially in Southeast Asia. Offense is almost never meant; people are just naturally curious about what they're not familiar with. – reirab Aug 04 '17 at 06:07
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I spend summers in a tier 3 city - population of about a million. I'm a white male, fairly large, a bit portly.

Everywhere I go, many people stare at me, mouth agape. Others avoid making eye contact.

This is in a neighborhood where I go every year. Most of the people know my name, and they know the family that I stay with. In fact, when I travel 3 or 4 neighborhoods away, even there people will know my name.

Even though they know me, the still stare at me, or avoid looking at me, or look when I'm not looking then quickly look away if I look back. The bold ones will show off to their friends, and take pictures with me.

I want to emphasize that this happened when I started to visit this city yearly 6 years ago, and still happens today. In fact, the extended family of my in-laws are very nervous when we are out to eat at large social gatherings.

I have tried everything to make myself more "fitting in" - ignoring it, anger, politeness. I have only found one thing that works: to joke around with those who are forward with me. But honestly, sometimes I just want to go to the grocery store and buy some yogurt without stopping every 10 feet(3 meters) to greet the multitudes of passers-by. It can be irritating.

In summary, If I'm out and about, in a small town nowadays, I'll take between 2 to 5 pictures per hour, more if my son is with me. And I am not particularly attractive.

The touching thing is a bit more difficult, because when I look around, I don't see other people touching each other. I think when a 5 year old comes over to pet my "unusually hairy arms" I find if rather endearing. I will squat down and engage them, and they will usually know a few phrases of English - "What's your name" and "How old are you". Maybe "Where are you from". Usually they will be accompanied by an overbearing grandparent. Very silly.

I have never had an adult touch me in an unusual fashion as described in your question; besides handshakes and pats on the back, I have no experience with this. I have heard of women having this problem though. I am curious if it is because I'm in North China, and South China is more touchy?

Astor Florida
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One of the more interesting parts of being in another country (or even a different part of the same country) is that the culture of that area is going to be different then what your used to.

People may have a "thing" for being touched, or not. Some areas of the world touching is taboo, others, it's normal and even polite.

The same is true for photos, talking, gathering, pointing, giggling, etc.

It can be annoying at times. But it's the way things work in the area you're in.

In the OP you mention that your traveling companions are black and that they get upset by the locals "singling" them out. Why? That's the real question. Why are they getting upset? Yes, if they were in the US and singled out like that they would have a legitimate gripe. But you're not in the US. In China, touching is more acceptable then it is here. As is taking "un-requested" photos. As to making conversation, again, very normal there. Not so sure about the hair thing, but that's probably a part of touching.

Ever walk up to a random girl, touch her hair, and tell her you like how smooth it is? Of course not. That's not acceptable behavior here in the US. In fact that's likely to get you arrested. But that's not true in all parts of the world.

Your friends are not being singled out due to racism or prejudice. They are drawing attention because they are different in a culture that celebrates conformity.

My suggestion to you, and your friends, is to leave early to get where you want. Embrace the local customs, even if it's outside your comfort zone. And be just as talkative and "touchy" back with them. If they feel your hair, feel theirs back.

Chinese people touch each other for different reasons then we do. Some don't like it, and some don't mind. But if they're touching your hair, then it's probably ok to touch theirs. And if not, I suppose they will stop.

The point is, you're in a different country, with a different culture. Trying to force the Chinese to conform to the US social customs and etiquette is far more insulting then what the people are doing to you and your friends.

reirab
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coteyr
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    Keep in mind touching in China is actually really complicated. Sometimes it's forbidden and some times encouraged. Some times it's polite to touch, other times it's an unthinkable insult. Just like in the US there are a lit of social "rules" that are really hard to explain. I don't want t come off like it's ok to touch every one in every way in China, because it's not. But their "rules" for touching are very different then ours. – coteyr Aug 02 '17 at 12:22
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    This is an excellent point. If you did not want to get outside your comfort zone and experience a set of norms vastly different from your own day-to-day grind, why even travel in the first place? Also, always remember that the advantage of being a tourist is that you get to go home at the end of the day and are not obligated to come back if you felt too uncomfortable. – Mad Physicist Aug 02 '17 at 16:40
  • Would it be safe to say that it's OK to touch them back if they touch you first? – Dan C Aug 03 '17 at 16:18