China and the "Black Man"

The Chinese term for a person of African descent is 黑人 (hēirén), literally meaning "black man". Similar to the way in which African-Americans are commonly called "black" in America, the term hēirén is innocuous and inoffensive to Chinese people. But, China doesn't always fair so well with pan-Africa racial relations.

The Chinese are an interesting bunch. On one hand, most of the country is very welcoming and open to most foreigners, including those from the African continent and also those of African descent. As China tries to modernize, there is a genuine want to be open to the world and to learn from other cultures. There are, for example, more Africans in the city of Changsha than any other group of foreigners. But on the other hand, China doesn't quite understand racial sensitivity.

Take, for instance, Darlie toothpaste. The Darlie logo is a grinning black man with pearly white teeth who is wearing a top hat. It looks unmistakably like an image from the era when racist and stereotyped images were commonly used to sell products in the Southern United States. Basically, it looks like a man in blackface.

It turns out the Darlie toothpaste was created by a Hong Kong company and was originally named "Darkie". Colgate-Palmolive bought the company in 1985 and quickly changed the name to avoid being branded racist or creating a media-relations fiasco. Still, the blackface-like image remains, and the name of the toothpaste in Chinese is still "Black Man Toothpaste".

Recently, a Canadian women was aghast to find a label on her newly bought dark brown couch identifying the color as "Nigger Brown". After making a complaint, the women learned that the label was made in China and was the result of old translating software that turned 深棕 (dark brown) into the offending word. The women has since filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer for not catching the word before the couch was put on a sales floor. The Chinese company says they can't be blamed because they had no idea what the word meant and they have now updated their translating software. You can read an article about it here.

In fact, the Chinese word for "that" is pronounced "niga", sounding almost identical to the racist English term. "Niga" is also used as a connective pause, the same way we use "ummm" in English. Most Chinese have no idea what the word means in English. When I first moved to China, it really threw me off balance to here "niga" uttered so often without knowing its meaning.

At the heart of the matter lies in the fact that China was isolated from the rest of the world for so long. To the best of my knowledge, China never had a hand in the African slave trade, nor do most Chinese people know about slavery in America and the racism that sprung from it. This ignorance is both a blessing and a curse. On the upside, it means that Chinese people don't have any longstanding, slavery-linked, racist attitudes toward blacks, as we do in America. But, it also means that they find don't understand (without explanation from a Westerner) why a toothpaste like Darlie is so offensive, or why sensitivity to racial differences is so important.

As China integrates further into the world, including preparing for the summer Olympics, these are issues and topics Chinese people will have to address.

*Update*
I've written a new post in which I discuss issues raised in this post in greater depth. You can read it here: China and the Black Man (Pt. 2)