Blackface skit on TV gala a sign that rising China needs to combat racial and ethnic stereotyping

Audrey Jiajia Li says China’s growing influence in the world comes with a responsibility to respect other races and ethnic minorities, even in its cultural products

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While the show caused an international uproar, the majority of the domestic audience doesn’t seem to understand what all the fuss is about. This must change. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 5:00pm, 20 Feb 2018Updated: 3:36pm, 21 Feb 2018

For many Chinese, watching the state broadcaster China Central Television’s annual Spring Festival Gala, allegedly the most-viewed show on Earth, has been a Lunar New Year’s Eve ritual since the early 1980s. Enthusiastically promoted by the nation’s top leadership, this yearly event is considered a mirror reflecting the ever-changing modern Chinese society. While feedback on the show is a mixed bag every year and has mainly come from its domestic audience, a comic skit this year raised many eyebrows, mostly outside China.

To viewers familiar with the cultural norms of the modern postcolonial world, the skit is noticeably cringeworthy – a Chinese woman with blackface make-up, a fake large chest and exaggerated buttocks acting as an African mother shouts “I love China”; a black actor in a monkey costume follows her around; a young African girl eager to date a Chinese man recites the well-known quote of Chinese President Xi Jinping, “roll up our sleeves and work harder” and proclaims she’d do “just like the Chinese people do, and own the praise of people all over the world”.

It is quite common in China for the propaganda apparatus to promote the ruling party’s ideology and agenda in the form of entertainment. This sketch was apparently produced to celebrate China being an economic and cultural powerhouse overseas, especially to glorify the success of President Xi’s trademark “Belt and Road Initiative” in Africa, and South and Central Asia.

While the show caused an international uproar, the majority of the domestic audience doesn’t seem to understand what all the fuss is about. The indifference may be rooted in the rising nationalist sentiment over the past few years.

Blatant racial stereotypes or outright insults targeting other racial or ethnic groups from time to time find their way onto the strictly censored media platforms

On the one hand, Chinese people’s feelings have been rather fragile and many are constantly offended by issues ranging from territorial disputes to social media posts, from a film to a joke or a song. On the other hand, blatant racial stereotypes or outright insults targeting other racial or ethnic groups from time to time find their way onto the strictly censored media platforms, even the state-owned press.

During the Rio Olympics in 2016, Australian swimmer Mark Horton accused his Chinese competitor Sun Yang of being a “drug cheat”. He was subsequently targeted by a huge wave of online trolling. An Australian Olympics broadcaster had to apologise for taking a commercial break when Chinese athletes appeared at the opening ceremony after Chinese internet users were outraged. But at the same time, the well-known Chinese TV commentator Bai Yansong, who was covering the same ceremony, intentionally kept silent as the Filipino team marched by. Relationships between the two nations were at a low point due to island disputes at the time. And when it came to the Somali team, Bai joked: “The more athletes, the fewer pirates.” He was hailed as being witty and humorous.