Pride and Prejudice: Part 2 - Prejudice

Chinese people are quite prejudiced. They discriminate against different cultures, races, and even themselves.

There are a lot of history behind the prejudices:

50 Shades of Tan

http://legacy-cdn-assets.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v5/n4/melanin-hands.jpg

Let me start with the past:

In China's olden times, there was a pretty big wealth gap. People were either very rich or very poor, and you can tell who belonged in which group very easily. It wasn't just by the silk clothes adorned with jewels that the rich wore and the dusty wool clothes that the normal/poor people wore.

Ancient wealthy Chinese clothing
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Ancient poor Chinese clothing
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/11/03/world/03aging.600.1.jpg

You could tell the difference in their skin color.

The reasoning is actually quite logical: the poor people back in the day lived on the countryside and scraped a living by going out in the rice fields and picking rice. Because they're out in the sun so long, they get pretty tan. The rich people lived within the city. They were able to hire servants and maids to help them with everything they do. They didn't have to go out very much because they could just send one of their servants out. Since they're not in the sunlight as much, they have very pale skin. Usually, the paler skin they have, the richer they probably are.

Westernization

China used to think that they are the only country in the world and that everything revolved around them. When they realized there are European people, or whiter people, they wanted to be like them. The rich, who can afford it, started dressing more "westernly" and changing some habits to appear more "white" and "proper."

Since white people had such a positive image back then, their impressions still leave a mark to this day.

My Experience

When I was 16, I toured all over China with a group of American friends. Mind you, my friends were the typical look of an American--blond hair, blue eyes, and tall. I mean, I was pretty tall too for an Asian (I was 5'6" back then), but because I was Asian, I was treated poorly... that is until I spoke English. My friends would always draw the attention of all the Chinese people. They would race to them and take pictures with them, hand them babies for them to hold so they can get a picture of their baby with a white person, and even give them huge discounts when they bargain for stuff. I was invisible because I was Asian, more specifically, I was a tan Asian. I'm from California, so we get a lot of sun. But because I was a tan Asian, people didn't treat me very well. When I ask for things, I spoke in Mandarin so they can better understand me, but because Mandarin was not my first language, I sounded stupid and my complexion made me look like I was a poor Chinese.

I used to have a similar experience too in Hong Kong. It was expensive for people to get out of China and live in Hong Kong, so the people that did live in Hong Kong are usually the more wealthy (and paler than people from mainland China). I was looked down upon whenever I spoke Cantonese because people thought I was going to steal something from them. I then would switch to English because I speak English to my sister and then people's attitudes towards us completely change. English usually means you're either from England or from USA, which means you're rich.

My recommendation? If you're Asian and if you go to Hong Kong, speak in English. You get things done a lot more quickly and with a lot less sass from people.