Will we ever see black people the same way again?

I have been drumming my fingers waiting for a dozen or so Chinese friends to tell me what they thought of Obama winning. I told them I would weave their thoughts into a blog. They promised me they would. So far I have caught only two tadpoles on my email:
“Personally, I think for a black man to be the president in US is amazing and demonstrates American democracy. We will see how is he keeps the relationship between the US and China.” – Lee Yao

“I have little interest in political issues. I hope the new president can bring us something new.” – Wei Qian

No big juicy fish for me to sink my blogging teeth into.

The rest haven’t given me a reply. Perhaps they are busy composing their considered responses. I doubt it. The truths are as follows: firstly, they are not particularly interested. (Funnily enough, my plumber, who came to fix a water pipe today, did not even know Obama had won and seemed uncertain as to who Obama was.) Secondly, they find it difficult to express abstract thoughts in English, a very alien language to them even though they have all studied English for years at school and at university. Finally, and most importantly, Chinese people can be extremely racist and classist.*

I don’t think my Chinese colleagues and acquaintances really want to tell me what they really think. This is normal. I have been told in no uncertain terms by even Chinese university lecturers that they dislike black people. They do this in a friendly manner, not the AWB “die kaffir in sy plek” vicious manner. Obviously, I still don’t like it.

“One Chinese cultural trait that is not likely to go over outside of the Confucian sphere of Asia, … is the practice of not giving a direct response, of speaking in vague, fragmentary terms that leave the objective-minded Westerner confused and frustrated”**. Absolutely spot on. And it is extremely frustrating. Just give me your opinion. I may not like it but at least I know where I stand.

The Chinese word for indirect is jianjie, 间接. The first radical refers to “interval”, the second to “receive, connect or pick up”. Believe you me, that “interval” while you wait to “pick up” what the Chinese person actually means when he answers your question – if he ever does – can be a very long one. You have to guess.

I am learning Mandarin, and in the Chinese textbook I am studying there is a topic dealing with the differences in Western and Chinese work cultures, Zhongguoren zongshi jianjie de biaoda tamen de xiangfa, rang ni ziji qu cai, which translates as, “Chinese people always indirectly express their opinions, letting you guess on your own [what the hell they mean]”.

In China black people find it difficult to get jobs teaching English. You are usually asked by work agencies and schools to attach a recent photo to your resume. This is because they want to make sure you are not black. Parents do not buy the black face for private teaching. The white face is instantly bought even though I have seen some of the most atrocious spelling and grammar on whiteboards as those white teachers limp through lessons.

On the other hand, I have seen black ex-Zimbabweans – and their mother language is not English – do a really fine job with the students. One simple reason is that they have learned well the grammatical structures of English and can sympathise with Chinese students’ difficulties with the language. I further deeply empathise with those poor Zimbabweans – and please, I am not being patronising – he has been forced to leave his country to try and eke out a living elsewhere. And he has a tough time of it with the Chinese; blacks tend to get paid less.

I also have a Chinese American friend, known as an ABC, American Born Chinese. She was born and raised in the US and cannot speak Mandarin. She is a mother-tongue speaker of English and a qualified teacher. To her absolute shock she has battled to find work in Shanghai. This is because she has Chinese features. They want the European look. As she said to me, back home in the US she could sue those companies for not hiring her because of racial discrimination.

Of course the praise from China’s leadership on Obama’s success was sound and heart-warming. President Hu Jintao said, “China and the US share broad common interests and important responsibilities on a wide range of major issues concerning the well-being of humanity”. And “the well-being of humanity” is absolutely crucial as we wait for the incumbent American president to leave, leaving behind him an obscene trail of crimes against humanity. And I hate bullies! But there was a silver lining to the black, black cloud Bush made: he so seriously undermined beliefs in the Republican Party that anyone put forward by the Democratic Party was most likely to win. Which is not to undermine Obama: the world, I believe and hope, is going to become a better place with him as president.

I am thrilled that the next world leader is a black man, or a coloured man. Seeing a black man at the helm of the US has to impact the Chinese mindset of looking down on black people.

I used to run empowerment programmes for children when living in South Africa, even before the old, evil regime folded. Black people loved putting their children on my programme because it was going to boost their children’s self-esteem. Those black parents well knew their own self-esteem had been shattered in a variety of different ways under apartheid; they did not want their children to go through the same debasement. Rather, they wanted them to grow up feeling worthy and equal to any other person.

With Obama as president, all people, regardless of race or creed, and especially the Chinese and black Africans themselves, will have to see black people in a much healthier way. Though I don’t like using corporate training buzz-words, Obama’s victory – a victory for us all – could be the beginning of a much-needed global paradigm shift.

* I am aware that, for example, The China Daily ran a vote to see who was the most popular US presidential candidate in China. Obama got 80%. But the results do not reflect Chinese readers much. Mostly Western readers in China read the English newspapers. I very rarely see Chinese people reading any of the English papers. Chinese people in their twenties, and even younger, seem far less racist. Many of them are fans of black American basketball players.
** From The Chinese Have a Word for It, a book on Chinese culture and Mandarin, by Boye Lafayette De Mente, a renowned sinologist who has lived many years in China.