Hi everyone, this is Klaus.
Education and propaganda in communist China
have led most Chinese people to be proud of their nationality
and to look down on other countries.
For example, the Chinese like to call Koreans “sticks”,
the Japanese “demons”,
the Russians “hairy brutes”,
the Taiwanese “yokels”,
the Indians “Number 3s”,
the Africans “niggers”,
and the Europeans and Americans “white pigs”.
But even so, the Chinese don’t think that’s racist.
They think racism only exists in other countries.
They think they can never be racist against foreigners.
In their mind, foreigners are always ready to “insult China”.
In 2018, D&G launched an ad featuring a woman eating pizza with chopsticks,
and was accused of insulting China and boycotted in the country.
This June, Karen Mok, for wearing D&G in her MV, was scolded by Chinese netizens, which trended on social media.
Karen Mok was forced to make an apology.
China is an unbelievable country, isn’t it?
You have to experience it to believe it.
Had they not been born there, many Chinese people wouldn’t believe it either.
Today, some Chinese netizens are sharing with us their stories
about discrimination in China, which will surely blow your mind.
I hope you enjoy this video.
China’s number one discrimination is regional discrimination.
It is the most widespread. Almost no one is immune.
First-tier cities look down on second-tier cities, who in turn think little of third-tier ones.
Third-tier cities look down on counties, who in turn discriminate against rural areas.
Netizen Better Dead Than Red said,
“I’m living in my wife's hometown, Wuhan.
I took my children to play outside. A middle-aged woman asked me,
‘You are not from Wuhan, are you?’ I said, ‘No, I’m from Gansu.’
The woman shook her head and sighed, ‘From Gansu, such a poor area.
It's a pity that your wife, a Wuhan girl, married you.’”
Netizen Jojo Blake said,
“If your partner is from Beijing, or Shanghai, or Guangzhou,
your partner’s parents will ask if you have a local HUKOU.
If you were born elsewhere, then you are an outlander, a hillbilly."
But even Beijingers can look down on Bejingers.
Recently, a Beijing auntie went viral.
She said that she was born under the red flag and grew up in Tiananmen Square,
with a sky pattern on her head, and that only those born in the 2nd ring are true Beijingers,
and everybody else is a "stinking hillbilly".
There are people like that in every city.
Netizen John Trump offered some insight into regional discrimination in Qingdao.
Regional discrimination in China is systemic. Even the government does it,
as shown by the HUKOU system.
Netizen Cherubie said,
“When I was in elementary school, my parents had to pay an extra fee.
This fee specifically targets children who aren’t locals,
who come from poor families, whose parents work in cities.
These families have low socio-economic status.”
Netizen meng yan said,
“I was born in a rural area.
My parents had to bribe people everywhere
so that I could go to an elementary school near my home.
Later, in order to change our HUKOU,
for years, my father was a household servant to the police officer in charge of HUKOU,
helping the officer move house, painting the walls, and carrying coal and Chinese cabbages in winter.
As a kid, I was mocked because of my rural origin.
Later I found out that my classmates had overheard the teachers mocking me in the office.
I was bullied a lot.
Only after I went abroad did I know that in a normal human country,
farmer is a profession rather than an identity,
no different than company white-collar workers, factory workers, and shop assistants.
Farmers can quit their job when they get bored."
Stories shared by netizens have opened age-old scars buried deep in my heart.
I was a victim of the One Child birth control policy. I was born without a HUKOU.
At school, my classmates called me "little black kid".
Can you imagine how traumatizing it was for a little kid?
Some childhood trauma takes a lifetime to heal.
Netizen Chester Lee said,
“I have also suffered regional discrimination.
Even my ‘dearest’ class teacher would not be on my side,
just because I am an outlander from a poor family.
Whenever I got into trouble,
even when it wasn’t my fault,
the locals would extort my family to the bone,
even if I was just a twelve-year-old kid.
I still remember the incident
and I will never forget that slap in my face!”
Urban VS rural, locals VS outlanders,
those are the two most important aspects of regional discrimination.
Netizen Leon Yu said,
“As a kid, I went to Beijing for a visa and to buy clothes,
my dad warned me not to tell anyone I wasn’t a Beijinger...
But they can always tell if you are a local by your accent.”
Netizen Osescucui said,
“I’ve been away from home for many years. Every time I went back for the Spring Festival,
I had to avoid speaking Mandarin to taxi drivers, in order to avoid being ripped off.”
The concepts of “rural”, “urban”, “locals”, and “outlanders” are completely absent in the US.
These words have no exact equivalents in English, and can only be translated literally.
As netizen Yamato Sasaki said,
“‘Discrimination’ has long been deeply rooted in Chinese society.
Everyone mocks others and gets mocked as if they should.
This shows even on a linguistic level.
For example, transgender people in Thailand are called ‘ladyboy’ in English.
‘Lady’ is such an elegant word.
But in Chinese, ‘ladyboy’ is ‘man-demon (shemale)’, which is a slur.
Another example is the special seats on public transportation,
which are ‘priority seats’ in English and Japanese, and ‘universal love seats’ in Taiwanese.
In China, they’re called ‘seats for the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled and the pregnant’.”
Netizen Andy S made a similar point,
“If you look at the 'swear words' of various countries,
you will find that China has a special feature, mocking the poor.
Although the gap between the rich and the poor is everywhere in the world,
belittling other people as ‘poor’ is an act so shallow
that perhaps only people in countries like China do it to get a sense of superiority…”
Family discrimination
Netizen Mai Shili said,
“Because my father is physically challenged,
the school classmates often laughed at me,
and even assaulted me, which the teacher thought was children’s play-fighting.
The school bullies warned me not to tell my family.
Had my injury not been discovered by my family,
I don’t know how much more I would have suffered."
In China, during your student years, your family background
determines how you get treated,
especially at school.
Netizen Nicholas Pooh said,
“I used to be a naughty kid. I fought a lot, and was put in a corner by the teacher.
I sat alone for three years until I finished junior high school."
In China, head teachers have the power to make seating plans.
Those whose parents are well connected and bribe teachers
get to sit in the front rows, while others get put in the corner.
A seat is a symbol of status.
Non-head teachers also take special care of students in the front rows.
Netizen killer scholar said,
“When I was in the third year of junior high school, my physics score was close to full marks,
ranking top two in the whole year level.
But the head teacher didn’t let me participate in the Olympic competition.
That honor was given to a classmate whose grades were not as good as mine,
because my parents were laid-off workers and they did not bribe the head teacher.”
Many Chinese people think there is no racial discrimination in China.
Netizen Keche Ye said, “I studied early years education in Canada.
But in China I can’t get paid as much as foreign teachers.
Now I’m in Canada, and my current employer doesn’t care about my race,
whether English is my mother tongue, or if I have a foreigner’s face.
My professional skills are all that matters."
Although the Chinese condemn racism in the West and white supremacy,
I think the Chinese are the biggest racists.
As long as you have a Chinese face, even if you were born in the United States,
you can’t get the same treatment as a white American in China.
As netizen Kellyse Martina told us,
“I am overseas Chinese. Once my parents took us on a trip back to China.
We couldn’t buy train tickets in Guangzhou because we forgot to bring our IDs.
When we asked the staff at the station for help,
the man rolled his eyes,
and said, ‘Why don't you have a Chinese passport? You don’t wanna be Chinese?’
He even gave us a loud lecture about national self-confidence that left me speechless."
I believe if you were real foreigners (white, for instance),
that man would have definitely put on a friendly face and gladly assisted you.
Occupational discrimination
Netizen Micky9885 said,
“About 15 years ago, I saw a car on the side of the road.
A drink bottle was thrown out of the window on the passenger side.
There was a cleaner right nearby,
who said angrily, ‘Why did you do that?’
The passenger answered, ‘You clean up litter for a living, don’t you?’”
I have a deep understanding of occupational discrimination myself.
Although Chinese officials say that the working class is the most glorious,
the working class doesn't get a lot of respect in reality,
such as migrant workers, restaurant waiters.
My former colleagues in China generally believed that
it was great to be a pilot, and they looked down on others.
In comparison, the US truly respects the working class.
Construction workers and restaurant waiters
get paid much more than an average college student who sits in an office.
The salary of an average pilot in the US is not as high as that of a Starbucks barista.
Once a Chinese friend asked me,
“Pilots are paid better in China, so why don’t you go back there?”
My reply was very simple, ‘Because it's China.’”
Appearance discrimination
Netizens Love the Communist Party said,
“When I was in high school, some girls on the school playground judged me,
saying that the way I walked was ugly."
Appearance discrimination is very common on campus.
There is all kinds of name calling,
"fat ass", "dwarf", "skeleton", "pimple-face", "limp", etc.
Netizen Xavier Justin had such an experience,
“I was bullied by my classmates at school,
just because I had acne. They gave me all kinds of hurtful names."
Children’s values get shaped at school.
In an environment full of discrimination,
they easily develop a habit of discriminating against others.
Netizen Winnie the Poop said,
“Before I came to the civilized world and regained my humanity,
I had discriminated against and hurt others in various ways, which I very much regret.”
Sexism
Netizen Lan Wang said,
“Discrimination against women is severe in China.
When we graduated from university, those who stayed to teach were all women,
and they had to sign a document agreeing not to have children within five years.
Those who disobey would be fired, but there are no such restrictions on males.”
Vehicle discrimination
Netizen Mu Tongmeng said,
"There is vehicle discrimination in hotel carparks in China.
The security guard would treat luxury cars with respect,
and ban low-end cars from entering the parking lot."
Netizen Cailangxi said,
"If you ride motorcycles on urban roads,
some car drivers would honk their car horns, demanding that you make way.
Because in their eyes, motorcycles are not worthy of running on a motorway."
Motorcycles are also motor vehicles, for which there is a traffic lane by law.
But in China, motorbike riders are considered too poor to afford a car
and therefore unworthy to be on a motorway.
Various other types of discrimination
Netizens Supervision said,
"After the Wenchuan earthquake, I immediately bought supplies with all my savings and donated them.
But the officials said that the disaster area only lacked money, not supplies, and returned everything to me.
Then the community committee ordered residents to donate money,
but I had no money to give, so they reported me.
I was not happy, so I posted my story online. The police paid me a visit that night.
After that, even my relatives' children were banned from going to school."
Netizen Qin Nagato said,
"I'm Cantonese. I traveled to Shanghai alone last Mid-Autumn Festival.
In the evening I went to a Japanese restaurant and was surprised by all the drinks that I hadn’t seen before.
So I searched for them on Baidu using my mobile phone, and then ordered.
The waitress walked back to the meal outlet and began to complain about me,
'Where does that hillbilly come from?
He was using handwriting input.'
There were not many guests in the restaurant.
She said it out loud as if I could not hear it."
Netizen Li Jay said,
"I used to work with two colleagues in the Suzhou Chemical Factory.
We used to visit customers in the same car.
Later, colleague A left for a competitor’s company, and his salary rose by 50%.
Colleague B never left, and only his basic salary grew. As for myself, I returned to Taiwan.
One day I contacted A, and we started talking about B.
I asked, 'Do you still hang out since you work not far from each other?'
Colleague A casually joked,
'I get paid 10,000 yuan a month, and he only 7,000 or 8,000. Hanging out with him would be inappropriate.'"
Netizens Eggtart said,
"China has the most severe systemic discrimination in the world.
Since childhood, I have seen more examples than I can count.
Discrimination happens even among relatives and friends.
Most people don’t think it's a big deal.
If the bullied and discriminated feel unhappy, they would be called 'stingy'."
Why is there so much discrimination in China?
Is it really because the Chinese are too confident?
I think the opposite is true.
Netizen Li Ruoning said,
"Only people with low self-esteem need to discriminate against others.
The Chinese were suppressed to the point of zero self-confidence, so looking down on others is their way to blow off steam."
The inferiority complex of Chinese people is caused by the system.
As netizen Lei Yi said,
"Discrimination exists in every country.
But in a free democratic country,
the government tries to reduce discrimination.
In a communist country, the government creates discrimination."
Indeed, over two millennia ago, in China,
insult was one of the five proposed techniques of controlling the people in "Book of Shang Jun".
Only when the people at the bottom are discriminated against and insulted will they admire and worship power.
People who are often discriminated against are more likely to discriminate against others to satisfy themselves.
Thus, Little Pinks often discriminate and abuse others.
As Zacks S said,
"Women who have been discriminated against, after they have gained status,
in turn discriminate against other women.
Mother-in-laws discriminate against their daughter-in-laws, who in turn discriminate against their daughter-in-laws."
Such is the vicious cycle where people at the bottom rip each other apart.
They labor for their daily bread, clothing, housing and transportation,
and what remains of their energy gets consumed by the toxic society,
so how could they have the energy to care about the fate of their nation?
Thus, the toxicity goes on and on, fueled by bitter infighting among the people.
Alright, that's all for this video.
Please like, subscribe, comment and share.
This is Klaus. See you next time.