What does it mean to be Chinese? does, Chinese, What, mean

Lik

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1925589,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily?artId=1925589?contType=article?chn=world

In many ways, Lou Jing is a typical young woman from Shanghai. Pretty and confident, she speaks Mandarin heavily accented with the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect and browses the malls of this huge city for the latest fashions.

But there is one thing that distinguishes this 20-year-old from her peers, something that has made her the unwitting focus of an intense public debate about what exactly it means to be Chinese: the color of her skin. Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met, the theater student rocketed into the public consciousness last month when she took part in an American Idol–esque TV show, Go! Oriental Angel.

The marketing gurus for the series could hardly have dreamed of a better promotional gimmick when they started to investigate the backgrounds of the dozens of pop-star wannabes to root out the competitors' mushy stories of triumph over adversity that are a well-worn staple of the genre. Here was a tale guaranteed to attract eyeballs: a girl of mixed race, brought up by a single Chinese mother, struggling to gain acceptance in a deeply conservative, some would say racist, society.

The strategy worked — perhaps too well. In August, Lou's appearance on the show not only boosted viewer numbers but also sparked an intense nationwide debate about the essential meaning of being Chinese. Over the past month on Internet chat rooms, where modern China's sensitive issues are thrashed out by netizens long before they reach the heavily censored mainstream media, Lou's ethnicity has been the subject of a relentless barrage of criticism, some of it crudely racist. Many think she should not have been allowed to compete on a Chinese show, or at least not selected to represent Shanghai in the national competition. She doesn't have fair skin, which is one of the most important factors for Chinese beauty. What's more, her mother and her biological father were never married; morally, the argument goes, this kind of behavior shouldn't be publicized, so she shouldn't have been put on TV as a young "idol."

These kinds of posts on the most popular chat rooms have attracted thousands of comments. A few have been supportive of Lou, but the rest range from expressions of fear and ignorance to outright racism. One of the most popular posts about Lou Jing on the KDS Life forum asked in mock seriousness, "Is it possible that she is Obama's daughter?" Another poster said, "I can't believe she's so shameless that she would go on TV." Most of the critics are agreed on one point: that this black woman cannot be regarded as a "real" Chinese.

As recently as the 1970s, foreigners were largely barred from living in China, let alone marrying a local. China does not easily accept mixed-race children as true-blooded Chinese: as soon as a child is born, the parents are required to register with the authorities as to which of the 56 government-approved ethnic groups their child belongs; there are no mixed-race categories. Lou feels she is very much Chinese. "When I meet somebody for the first time, they'd often ask me how I can speak Chinese so well, and I tell them, 'Because I'm a Chinese — of course I can speak my mother tongue well,' " Lou says defiantly. "I don't like to be treated differently."

Complete article from the above link.

Lik

It is understandable because the western powers invaded and looted China and then the Japanese committed the Nanjing massacre, now they are rapidly improving their living standards. Foreigners not only mistreated the Chinese, but they killed millions of Chinese, during the Ching dynasty and the WWII.
peter236 發表於 2009-9-30 09:30

Hmm... I wonder who killed more Chinese -- these foreigners that you're talking about, or Murderous Mao during his reign of terror.

-Lik

Lik

Funny how our 50 cents Peter boy is once again spewing his nonsense as usual.

And for all the improvements that you keep insisting China has achieved, may I remind you that personal freedom and human rights have only consistently deteriorated in the past 20 years? Personal privacy and freedom of the press in particular has suffered the most, although the Internet and several newspapers are putting up some good fights.

And lemme remind you once again -- human rights means so much more than the simple right to live. 畜牲 have 生存權, and they deserve animal rights as well. Humans, on the other hand, deserve so much more than just 生存權, so don't give me your usual bs.

While Ah Bien's corruption scandal is certainly known worldwide, his downfall is equally well-known. More importantly, his downfall and his verdict are the testament of democracy at work.

What happen to corrupt officials in China? They only get shot down for their corruption as a result of losing in power struggles. Is Jia Bao's jewelry-loving wife not suspicious for her wealth? Is 胡海峰 (Old Hu's son) not suspicious in his company's international corruption scandal?

-Lik