Alessi Posted January 22, 2015 at 01:33 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 01:33 AM Hi people, I'm an Italian and i run business in Ningbo and Yiwu. I have been living here since 2013. I want to talk about Chinese stereotyping.This really annoys me. I like to grow beard, this is my style and i like it. Many Chinese call me "Arab" or "Muslim" or some say I look like Xinjiang people just because of I grow beard and i have long wavy hair.I'm hardly trying to ignore it.They don't ask " where are you from? ", they directly say " Arab, muslim or how many wife do you have 4 or 5 " Is there anyone get same stereotyping from Chinese? Btw, if there are some Middle eastern/Arab/Muslim friend please do not offend by what i said.I don't want to insult or discriminate race, religion or nationality. Anyway, i'm sorry about my broken english, i'm not a native english speaker. Alessi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny20270 Posted January 22, 2015 at 08:39 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 08:39 AM Thats life mate. Happens everywhere in the world unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:13 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:13 AM Sounds like 1) with a beard and long hair you look, to Chinese people, more like a Xinjiangnese/other muslim than like a white foreigner and 2) many Chinese have stereotypes about muslims. You can't really change 2), so you need to either lose the beard (and get a different set of stereotypes) or accept that you get asked these stupid questions. You can just laugh about it afterwards, or perhaps you can think up some good witty replies to shut them up. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stapler Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:52 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:52 AM I have dark brown hair, green eyes and a beard. If you don't have blonde hair and blue eyes I don't think you'll be able to grow a beard and not be considered a Muslim. Only in China do people suspect I'm not European. I just fully embrace my new identity as a Xinjiangren/Iranian when in China. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:52 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:52 AM It's not only you, there are thousands and thousands of Muslims in Yiwu. Probably, Chinese people living there have met many Muslims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:58 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 09:58 AM Best thing to do: All Taxi-Drivers: "Hey, you must be Arabic!" You: "No, I'm from Italy. All Italian men have beards." Two years later All Taxi-Drivers: "Hey, you must be Italian. How much does a Ferrari cost?" Anyone else have an easily stereotyped-appearance? I got mistaken for Uighur once in a Harbin cab, but apart from that I don't recall anything. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maomao2014 Posted January 22, 2015 at 12:57 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 12:57 PM Chinese people have a certain stereotype for people from different countries. However Asian people in other continents are always asked whether from Japan or China. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 22, 2015 at 01:58 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 01:58 PM The problem is that you can pass for an Arab and you live in cities where most foreigners are Arabs, so it's much worse than usual. It's like blonde people in Harbin. I am sure they have their stories about everyone asking them about life in Russia. I am starting to have identity issues Chinese people have mistaken me for an Italian, Turkish, Uighur, Indian, Arab, French, Korean, Spanish, Greek, Ukrainian, Iranian. Then I went out with some Brazilian people (while in China) and they all thought I am one of them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prateeksha Posted January 22, 2015 at 03:41 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 03:41 PM Angelina you do look like a super fair Indian though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 22, 2015 at 04:01 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 at 04:01 PM I met a Tibetan girl who used to live in 'India', she said the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Demonic_Duck Posted January 23, 2015 at 04:06 AM Popular Post Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 at 04:06 AM I have a classmate from Denmark who's half Han Chinese by birth. People joke that he looks like a 新疆人, although his skin colour is as white as most western Europeans. It's all good. Own it, maybe make a joke or two about it, because unfortunately, there's not much else you can do about it. People will stereotype based on appearance. Back when I didn't wear glasses and the Big Bang Theory was at its most popular, Chinese people used to say I looked like Sheldon, because I'm a skinny, tallish white guy. In return I just said they looked like Jackie Chan (whether male or female). 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessi Posted January 23, 2015 at 04:27 AM Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 at 04:27 AM Actually, i always have a special answer for who stereotypes me. Me: Ni Hao Taxi driver: Alaboooo, alaboooooo Me: Ting bu dong Taxi driver: Ni shi Alabo Me: Ni shi Re ben ren Taxi driver: !!!!!!!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaHanna Posted January 23, 2015 at 11:06 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 at 11:06 AM The horror! I get the "are you American?" in a taxi on my way to a bar (near the American consulate). Horror, I tell you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maomao2014 Posted January 23, 2015 at 11:08 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 at 11:08 AM I think people have certain level of face blindness to people from other race. Recently the picture of an English newspaper was circulated on the internet. The newspaper reported the the story that Jackie Chan's son was arrested, but put a TaiWan singer Leehom Wang's picture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted January 27, 2015 at 02:41 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 02:41 PM The horror! I get the "are you American?" in a taxi on my way to a bar (near the American consulate). Horror, I tell you!I get that *all* *the* *time* in Taiwan. Sometimes they don't even ask but just continue with further questions: do you often go back to the US? (Me, confused look [while knowing exactly what he meant]: the US? No, I've been once, but no plans to go now. Taxi driver: [confused look] Me: I'm not American.) Many Taiwanese only have three, sometimes four, countries in their worldview: Taiwan, China, the US = the West, and possibly Japan. Maomao: a Dutch newspaper once printed a picture of Liu Xiaobo, with underneath that this was Nobel Peace Prize winner Hu Jintao. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:23 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:23 PM Maomao: a Dutch newspaper once printed a picture of Liu Xiaobo, with underneath that this was Nobel Peace Prize winner Hu Jintao. Was this a respectable newspaper Lu? Did you contact them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest realmayo Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:30 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:30 PM (Even respectable newspapers make mistakes.) (Especially for captions.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:37 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:37 PM On topic, this week two Chinese people tried to guess my ethnicity. One was shouting: 韩国人,韩国人!The other one politely asked me if I was Russian. Russian, Korean, 差不多了。 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:54 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 03:54 PM Was this a respectable newspaper Lu? Did you contact them?De Volkskrant, one of the better Dutch newspapers. I didn't contact them. Another, even more respectable, newspaper (NRC) makes similarly stupid mistakes, and for a while I emailed them every time I saw one. If the subject was still in the news, they'd make the same mistake the next day. I stopped trying. (But yes, even respectable newspapers make mistakes.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 27, 2015 at 04:58 PM Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 at 04:58 PM Don't give up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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