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racism in Hong Kong (yes again)

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  1. #1

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    racism in Hong Kong (yes again)

    Yes, I know this comes up time and time again on board and it causes heated debate, which is fair.

    It's normally about a shop, or club, etc about not letting people of certain colour in.

    However this time, it seems to be about the police. Interesting column in today's SCMP about such an incident:

    Latest Hong Kong, China & World News | SCMP.com

    (sorry, subscription only)

    However here is the last paragraph:

    "Hong Kong doesn't have hate crimes. Our brand of racism is not blatant. But it exists. Ask the South Asian youth who can't get a job due to his ethnicity. Or the dark-skinned man who lives with racial taunts. And the domestic helpers who are treated as second class. Ask the minorities who are hauled aside by customs officials at the airport for no other reason than their racial background. The Chinese-language media turns a blind eye. They don't see it as a story. No majority will ever admit it is racist towards the minority. This allows the government to turn a blind eye, too. I have that straight from a senior official."

    Last edited by pin; 26-05-2009 at 09:58 AM.

  2. #2

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    I fear that the moral of that story is that every non-Chinese in Hong Kong should try to have in their phone memory the number of at least one serving or ex-RHKP gweilo who they can call in such a situation!

    And no I'm not making light of it, but unfortunately it's hardly news is it? Having said that, the (not very many) ethnic South Asians I know here have never mentioned any direct negative experience with the authorities.


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    I fear that the moral of that story is that every non-Chinese in Hong Kong should try to have in their phone memory the number of at least one serving or ex-RHKP gweilo who they can call in such a situation!

    And no I'm not making light of it, but unfortunately it's hardly news is it? Having said that, the (not very many) ethnic South Asians I know here have never mentioned any direct negative experience with the authorities.
    Heh, true, but I bet you every ethnic south asian will have experienced some sort of latent racism in HK (i.e. security guard, bouncer at club, someone serving them, etc).

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Ask the South Asian youth who can't get a job due to his ethnicity. Or the dark-skinned man who lives with racial taunts. And the domestic helpers who are treated as second class. Ask the minorities who are hauled aside by customs officials at the airport for no other reason than their racial background. The Chinese-language media turns a blind eye. They don't see it as a story. No majority will ever admit it is racist towards the minority. This allows the government to turn a blind eye, too. I have that straight from a senior official."
    Well first of all, many South Asians in HK don't speak/read Chinese, so of course many will have problem finding a job. But in spite of this, the HK Indian population probably earns a higher average salary than the local HK chinese! So where is the racism there?

    And here is some reverse racism: A minority with an employment visa can bring his wife over to HK. Yet a local HK Chinese cannot bring his mainland wife to HK.

  5. #5

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    >> So where is the racism there?

    They cant get into the dodgy bars, while the broke backpacker gwailo can.


  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by chimo:
    And here is some reverse racism: A minority with an employment visa can bring his wife over to HK.
    Not if she's from the mainland he can't (unless she has permanent residence elsewhere, but in that case a local could bring her in too). The discrimination here is solely against mainlanders - no difference between HK locals and expats.

  7. #7

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    And it is the same race .. the discrimination is political.


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    so what? i am tempted to ask...

    it is not only HK which has racism. there is racism and prejudice in every country in the world.

    "Ask the South Asian youth who can't get a job due to his ethnicity. Or the dark-skinned man who lives with racial taunts. And the domestic helpers who are treated as second class. Ask the minorities who are hauled aside by customs officials at the airport for no other reason than their racial background. "

    could you really say this is not the case in alot of other countries?

    racism is not right, starting from childhood (e.g. bullying the fat boy, the kid wearing glasses, etc.) humans pick on the weak and those who are different to us. unfortunately, the most visible differences are skin colour and the weakest are the minority groups.


  9. #9

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    To me there is more Financial / political discrimination in HK than "race" base discrimination.

    Basically as long as you have money (the single way people measure success here...not culture, knowledge....) you are OK.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    To me there is more Financial / political discrimination in HK than "race" base discrimination.

    Basically as long as you have money (the single way people measure success here...not culture, knowledge....) you are OK.
    Well that is not the case for the chap who was the subject of the article. He is a well known and successful (i.e. rich) business man, yet he gets taken in for questioning by the police.

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