How about being told in public to “Go back to Japan!” by complete strangers at the top of their lungs?
How about being refused service at a restaurant?
Both happened to yours truly.[/quote]
Yeah, I could match racist stories all day with you. How about being imprisoned and deported from Vietnam because they thought I was a spy (ridiculous and true) or the million times I was ripped off in Asia because of the color of my skin, parents of my girlfriend threatening to throw her out of the family for going out with me, a whole village of Phillipines threatening to kill me because I apprehended a thief who had stolen my wallet. Refused service private buses, in bars, overcharged 200% for train tickets…not enough space here buddy. Anedotal sure, but real.
No need for a pissing contest. Asia is worse. However, you asked a question regarding shopping malls in the USA, inferring such things do not happen in America. I answered your question.
Someone screaming “HELLO AMERICAN!” then laughing at me, may be fun for them, but it can also be intensely irritating after 10 years in Asia. I can’t begin to calculate how many times I have had the exact same ‘conversation’.
It may also be crashingly inappropriate and non-native speakers showing off to their friends do not or are not willing to pick up on these signals, perhaps because in this social exchange, your feelings are less important. And if you explain; ‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk to you, my xxxx died yesterday and I’m trying not to start screaming.’ then it’s you who is at fault for making them lose face.
I guess I am a private person and I hate having my personal space taken from me. I can generally just shrug it off unless the other person touches me.
Not a utopia, but racism is now taboo in all parts of the US. I lived in a mid-sized town in Alabama that is 1/3 black. I’ve been to most of the restaurants and shopping centers in town, and blacks and whites mix freely everywhere. It would be completely out of ordinary experience for someone to refuse service to a black or use racial slurs. 40 years ago the racial relations in Alabama were quite different. Times have changed.
Ouch Bubba, those must’ve hurt But on the other hand I don’t think Taiwan is as racist. Yes, the unsolicited English is not very pleasant, but think of it as a compliment. If anything, as caucasians you’ll be treated with extra respect; heck, people even try to speak English to you. In some cases they even feel at fault when they can’t communicate with you! Don’t think that happens in most places
Taiwanese friends tell me they have been racially abused and told to ‘go home’ in the West. One friend studying English in the UK had a drink can thrown at her from the window of a passing car. Racially-motivated crime runs at high levels throughout Europe and North America. In some Western countries racist political parties have significant support.
On the other hand I have never heard abusive language directed towards me in Taiwan. Sure, many Taiwanese are not very culturally aware and the ‘hallo, where you come from’ is irksome at times but the intent is not hostile.
I would agree that the vast majority of unfortunate comments made by Taiwanese are simply the product of ignorance rather than malice. My wife and I have lived here for nearly three years, and in all that time she’s never had anyone make a comment on the colour of her skin (dark, African).
However, one thing which really does get to me is that no matter how long I’m here I’ll always be just a generic waiguoren. Not even an Australian. I don’t think I’ll ever become comfortable with that.
In Australia, if you’re living there then people treat you as an Australian. You’re one of ‘us’. That’s it. No one calls you a ‘foreigner’. But over here I will always be ‘one of them’, an outsider, a waiguoren. Even my Taiwanese friends will always refer to me as ‘the foreigner’ (with the exception of my very close friends).
It seems the only people allowed to cross that divide are those who marry a local and renounce their previous citizenship, and even then they probably have to spend at least 10 years here.
I’m actually more upset that asians and other minorities have to deal with racism in the US but hey- that’s life in the melting pot and that goddam melting pot has teeth. Racism doesn’t have a color boundry. I’ve seen it in many places. In Taiwan its annoying but hardly life threatening. I can also tell the difference between common everyday stupidity and racism.
Maybe when I go home this summer I’ll stand in the mall, point and sing “Foreigner! Foreigner!” and see how long it takes me before I a) Have my ass kicked b) Am arrested c) Shouted at by other white people for being racist d) Put on the evening news for being an asshole in public.
Taiwan is a way better place to live in than most Asian countries when it comes to being a foreigner. The main reason I live here is because the Taiwanese rarely rip you off on day to day stuff.
I don’t want to be treated with extra respect-I want to be treated fairly. Well wish in 1 hand and shit in the other as the saying goes…which is why posting about racism for me is a waste of time. It’s like doing a back stroke in a cess pool in your sunday suit thinking if you swim harder you’ll smell better when you get out.
I guess I’m racist because I have a higher expectation of people’s behavior in the west. I have very, very low expectations of people’s behavior in Asia.
I had some bizarre English thrown at me today. I went to book a doctor’s appointment. The woman at the registration desk, after processing my info and complimenting me on my Chinese and commenting on my “naturally curly hair” (I hate that - my hair is only curly in humid environments and I prefer having it straight), said to me in perfect Chinglish, as she pointed to her rather unattractive female colleague, “She I kiss.” Completely puzzled, I returned the interaction to the matter at hand, starting out by saying “hao”, and she immediately burst out laughing, saying “Really?”
I still have no idea what transpired. Maybe she meant “She wants to kiss you” or something. Who knows?
I always like the “you are not a Taiwanese (insert missing noun here) you have no right!” this is usually screamed at me when I reminded some jag off to stand in the line behind me.
However, my favorite ever was, “hey handsome boy fuck yew! ice hole” this was yelled at me randomly on the street by a passing group of teenage girls?
This remiinds me that on a recent diving trip to Orchid Island, the guys in my group went to a roadside pub and were accosted for hours on end by a loony local who said on a loop, “USSR! Very good. I fuck your sister!” Or some such nonsense. Found out later he was a policeman, and wasn’t drunk. Just crazy. He was picked up and driven off by another policeman, but returned triumphantly a whle later and picked up where he left off.
I thought I heard ‘Show us yer tits’ round the back of LongShan Temple, the other day… Um, ‘Gerremout!’ near the spicy crab stand outside CiYou Temple… I also got a very much unsolicited 'Cor blimey luv, you don’t get many ‘o them to the pound!’ while minding my own business in the Confucius temple…
Yes so many true words. When I lived in Brunei and Malaysia and Singapore nobody came running up to street to gawk and say stupid things to you in English.
However when I lived in St Pauls in Bristol in the UK the locals spotted me as a furriner straight away and made all sorts of nonsense comments. When I was in the USA in California people just wanted to know all about Australia and did we really have Kangaroos hopping on our golf fairways. I’d reply you betcha mate but jeeezus you’d better watch out for ya noggin as the Maggies are fierce and will take a piece of ya skull as theys really stroppy in the spring. New Yorkers just dont give a shit.
What’s funny is when the kids in my home town run into my house yelling the furriner tourists have invaded. I’m not a furriner to them lol.
But I always know that if I ever move back to Australia there’s always places in every city where I can go to feel at home.
Sydney’s Mandarin-speaking Chinatown is Hurstville, and perhaps Burwood and Campsie now. It’s a movable feast. Next year those places will be Polish or Azerbaijani.
I lived in Mt Waverley in Victoria, which (together with Glen Waverley), was the Chinatown of the Eastern Suburbs. But it certainly wasn’t all Chinese, and certainly wasn’t all Mandarin. The majority of Mandarin speakers were from Taiwan (from what I could gather), and there were a lot of Cantos. There were also Koreans, Malaysians, and Japanese. A trip down to the local mall always proved that this ‘Chinatown’ was less ‘China’ than ‘North East Asia’.
Today while at Shi Da language center I met some South American girls who thought I didn’t speak Spanish…
//Picture me standing at a vending machine fumbling for coins. Don’t really recognize them since I don’t live here…//
S.A girl 1: It had to be a Chino (Chinese)… Pfft I thought Chinos were supposed to be intelligent.
S.A girl 2: Eh, who knows where THIS one came from.
But on the other hand I don’t think Taiwan is as racist. Yes, the unsolicited English is not very pleasant, but think of it as a compliment. If anything, as caucasians you’ll be treated with extra respect; heck, people even try to speak English to you. In some cases they even feel at fault when they can’t communicate with you! Don’t think that happens in most places