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All of your posts lamenting these sort of things show that if anyone has an inferiority complex, it's you...
Asians are treated pretty well in white-dominated countries, and so I guess that it should follow that they are treated pretty well in Asian nations.
As far as the OP goes... I generally find that I'm treated well in China, though I am and will always be a "foreigner," which is true, but the big difference between immigrant nations like the New World nations and Australia, or immigrant-heavy EU nations, is that the very vast bulk of people in these nations are well aware that an Asian person can immigrate there and become a citizen to obtain full rights, or that a person of Asian descent who was born and raised there will be an American, Canadian, Australian, Brazilian, etc. It's very difficult to gain full citizenship in most Asian nations unless you have family lineage from that nation, and even then, the citizenship process usually stops at Permanent Residency, meaning that you have no rights to vote, run for office (in nations where you are allowed to do so), or gain social benefits.
The worst treatment that I get is generally stuff like cabbies trying to take me to the other side of town to bilk me out of money - it's especially bad during Canton Fair, which is going on now, because the city is filled with people from all over the globe who are here for trade purposes. A few days ago, I got in a taxi cab to go to work, and told him to take me to "taojin jia yuan." He repeated it back to me and then got on the freeway; I thought maybe he was taking me on a shortcut because traffic was bad, but no, he overshot the exit, and the meter ran higher than usual. I told him again I wanted to go to taojin jia yuan, and he said, "Oh, I thought you said 'taoyan!'" "Taoyan" is Chinese for "hate;" you'd say "wo taoyan yu" to say "I hate fish." Needless to say, there's nowhere in Guangzhou called Taoyan. I said, "I don't hate you, do you hate me?" and he laughed, apologized, said he was very sorry, and turned around. Cabbies in NYC have a reputation for taking tourists on insane, roundabout ways into the city to make as much money as possible, so it's not really much different from the West in this sense.
The thing that is different, is that I can almost guarantee that no Asian person in a major, Western, urban metropolis has ever had a kid point to them and say, "look, mom! A foreigner!" which is something that happens to me every couple days or so. They've probably never had a group of people pull out their phones and start snapping pictures of them, another frequent happening. There are vastly different interpretations between discrimination between the cultures, and what is considered to be "racist," "impolite," "bigoted," etc in the West is often thought of as "sensible," "reasonable," and "true" here.
Overall though, I'm treated well and don't have many complaints.
That is a very balanced and objective view. I think every country has its bad and good applies.
Having lived in Australia before, i met some really nasty stuff and people whom threatened to kill me just because of my skin color but also great people whom showed nothing but great kindness. Everytime someone from a different country comes to my home country, I always try to show them every courtesy and kindness, regardless of which part of the world they come from or their social status.
Don't be silly. Asian people usually give the white privileged treatment (much to my chagrin as this sort of inferiority complex annoys me).
IMO, Asians should treat the white people exactly the same way how Asians are treated in a white dominated country.
In my experience, Chinese people generally do treat whites the same as Chinese - complete oblivious to them, pushing, shoving, yelling, screaming.
I don't see any special treatment from Chinese, when I see a white people around. It's the exact same behavior. Having traveled around in China, the biggest difference I notice is that some Chinese will completely ignore a white person, as they can't communicate with them. For example, when a white person tries to check into hotels.
I wouldn't consider it racism however. They are the same way with everyone. The hotels is because they don't know what to do with the language barrier, so they will just ignore altogether. That being said, people are people, and if you really needed something, someone would come along and help you, which is just common throughout the world.
I've heard it happens a lot in South Korea. Koreans are known for a somewhat nationalistic disposition and for having a strong racial identity.
Yeah, Korea has that element, for sure.
That being said, some whites deal with it way better than others. I lived there for 8 years, and I definitely heard and saw anti-american sentiment, nationalistic raving, and on and on.
On the other hand, I still lived there for 8 years, so despite a country having those elements, it doesn't mean that one might not actually enjoy living there on some other level.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 05-01-2015 at 11:20 PM..
NOT in the Philippines. Caucasians are given special treatment here by hotel staff, salesladies, and service personnel. I just roll my eyes whenever I see it happen.
That's true about the Philippines. Actually, it's also really annoying to be white and in the Philippines. You get called 'SIR' every 10 seconds.
Also, the biggest annoyance, is that it seems VERY CONNECTED to money. They treat you exceptionally nice, and they see you as this enormously large Walking ATM Machine, who might just start dispensing money at any moment.
That's the way I often feel about that treatment, whenever it's poured on a bit significantly much.
The worst treatment that I get is generally stuff like cabbies trying to take me to the other side of town to bilk me out of money - it's especially bad during Canton Fair, which is going on now, because the city is filled with people from all over the globe who are here for trade purposes. A few days ago, I got in a taxi cab to go to work, and told him to take me to "taojin jia yuan." He repeated it back to me and then got on the freeway; I thought maybe he was taking me on a shortcut because traffic was bad, but no, he overshot the exit, and the meter ran higher than usual. I told him again I wanted to go to taojin jia yuan, and he said, "Oh, I thought you said 'taoyan!'" "Taoyan" is Chinese for "hate;" you'd say "wo taoyan yu" to say "I hate fish." Needless to say, there's nowhere in Guangzhou called Taoyan. I said, "I don't hate you, do you hate me?" and he laughed, apologized, said he was very sorry, and turned around. Cabbies in NYC have a reputation for taking tourists on insane, roundabout ways into the city to make as much money as possible, so it's not really much different from the West in this sense.
The thing that is different, is that I can almost guarantee that no Asian person in a major, Western, urban metropolis has ever had a kid point to them and say, "look, mom! A foreigner!" which is something that happens to me every couple days or so. They've probably never had a group of people pull out their phones and start snapping pictures of them, another frequent happening. There are vastly different interpretations between discrimination between the cultures, and what is considered to be "racist," "impolite," "bigoted," etc in the West is often thought of as "sensible," "reasonable," and "true" here.
Although I am black, my white friends really only complained about racism experienced in Japan.
I always chuckle and say welcome to my world...
The behaviour of deference towards white people is mainly a legacy of colonialism. Some black populations in Africa do it too.
The Japanese certainly don't do it much because they were never colonized.
I lived in Japan for 6 years. I felt very little racism at all.
HOWEVER, that was a common theme, that annoyed me. Other whites who would complain about it, and hate being called a gaijin, and do rallying cries.
I just didn't see it all when I was there. I also notice that on the forum, people who have been to Japan, but claiming it is quite racist.
In my experience of living in Japan for 6 years, it was one of the Asian countries with the least racism, and one of the easier ones to be a white person living within their society. I realize others might strongly disagree with me, but I think the ones who would most strongly disagree with me, are people who have tried to live in any other Asian country.
I've had 3 fellow white friends go to Japan and they DID experience some tension there.... mostly the Japanese men didn't like white men around. Probably because white men have a reputation for lusting over Asian women. My female friend who went told me she got stares, no bad treatment.
I know a guy from Taiwan who treats white women like they're royalty too. Even the unattractive ones.... meh. It's almost gross how much he changes around us white women.... and when other women (even other Asian women) walk in, he treats them like dirt.
I lived in Japan, I didn't feel like that at all. It's POSSIBLE that the 3 white friends you had were complete horndogs who were doing very inappropriate behavior?
As a white male myself, I found Japanese guys to be some of the coolest guys to hangout, and never felt that kind of sentiment at all from Japanese males.
Westerners make the false assumption that curiosity = worshipping white people. Asians do not worship white people, they have respect for whites. Well, except the Philippines. If we go by the Filipino posters on here, Filipino society is the only one that comes close to white worship
Agreed. As a person who has spent a lot of years in Asia. That about sums it up.
I never experience 'white worship' anywhere, but The Philippines certainly DOES have an element of that. However, I consider it as a negative. It also comes with certain expectations - i.e. if I worship you, you will financially reward me, right?
I'm not saying most Filipinos are like that at all, as they aren't. But there is an element there that permeates the air.
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