“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”- Desmond Tutu

 

I wonder how Desmond Tutu will characterise the increasing number of African-Chinese relationships across Africa and in China? The Chinese continue to be criticised, most recently by Hilary Clinton for their growing penchant for all things African – admittedly the penchant Hilary was referring to revolved around Africa’s natural resources. That interest is perhaps a bit more complicated and extends to other spheres than we care to admit.

It is evident from a report on the website China Smack that the sheer number of Chinese men marrying African women is apparently creating a few stirs and generating some strong commentary in China. Not all the commentary is “politically correct” but then again East Asians judging by this photo (click) don’t seem to have developed the sort of “politically correct” racial language we are used to in Africa, Europe and North America.

Here is an excerpt of how a writer in China’s ChinaSmack.com described this new phenomenon:

Chinese women marrying blacks is no longer something rare, whereas in comparison men very rarely dare to bring black girls back home to China. I won’t say anything and go ahead and post the photos.

In my neighborhood is a Chinese engineer who returned from Angola, and his wife is a black girl. However, she’s one of those very pretty high-end black girls. She’s very slender and not one of those fat auntie types. Her skin also isn’t the kind of oily/greasy black but rather black-brownish and more brown. They have two children, about five or six years old, twin boys.

As for their appearance, unfortunately, the father’s genes were really too strong. Aside from their skin being slightly darker, their faces look very much like their daddy.

Some of the comments on this article, however, go beyond ignorance and veer into the sort of thinking more in keeping with a pre-civil rights American South or those you’d expect to be spewed out by colonialists.

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• “It’s okay if you want to marry, just don’t leave your children/descendents in China. I don’t want future Chinese people to be like those half-black half-yellow people in Latin American countries, with lowered intelligence, having lost the purity of their blood, with only a name to claim.”

 

• “Black people always make me feel like they haven’t fully washed themselves, I can’t accept/handle someone who is dark all over their body.”

 

• “Those who are too dark I truly am unable to accept. Just looking at them I lose all sexual desire! Turn the lights off and its okay. Purely my personal prejudice, so don’t yell at me if you disagree!!”

 

Make of these comments what you will……..as I veer off to wonder what Desmond Tutu will say about this.

Perhaps it could be something along these lines:

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“When the Chinese came to Africa they had the ??? and we had the land. They said, ‘???.’  We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the ??? and they had our women (???).”

 

Feel free to fill in the blanks!

Nii Thompson

Photos: Courtesy ChinaSmack