Chinese New Year TV Gala Criticised For 'blackface' Skit
Fakhir Rizvi Published February 16, 2018 | 09:32 PM
China's Lunar New Year television extravaganza, watched by hundreds of millions, was hit by online accusations of racism Friday over a sketch in which a Chinese actress appeared made up as an African woman, with large fake buttocks
Beijing, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Feb, 2018 ) :China's Lunar New Year television extravaganza, watched by hundreds of millions, was hit by online accusations of racism Friday over a sketch in which a Chinese actress appeared made up as an African woman, with large fake buttocks.
Against a savannah backdrop, actress Lou Naiming, wearing colourful clothes and carrying a tray of fruit on her head, was followed by an actor dressed as a monkey. With another actress made up as her daughter and drawing in the Chinese presenter on stage, the sketch of comic misunderstandings ends with Lou declaring to applause: "I love China!" Apparently intended to promote Sino-African friendship and Beijing's growing infrastructure investments on the continent, the skit on state television CCTV also featured a group of black dancers wearing grass skirts and feather headdresses alongside actors dressed up as zebras, giraffes and lions.
The act provoked strong reactions from foreign Twitter users, who criticised its "racist" prejudices and lambasted its use of the Western theatrical practice of "blackface" to stereotype black people, now widely regarded as offensive.
But the skit also stirred unease in China, where hundreds of Internet users expressed their dismay on the Weibo microblogging platform.
"This sketch offends both Africans and Chinese spectators, it was not comical," said one Weibo user.
Another said: "I do not see at all the expression of Sino-African friendship, but the racist attitude of an arrogant so-called great power." "Completely inappropriate," was another reaction. Another comment, censored but recorded by the Free Weibo site, quipped that a "new Orientalism" was emerging where "the Chinese engineer replaces the Western missionary" in Africa.
Other Chinese internet commenters, on the other hand, defended CCTV: "I do not really see anything racist, China does not attach much importance to all this," said one. The offending performance was part of the comedy sketches for the traditional Lunar New Year's Eve extravaganza broadcast by CCTV and watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese.
Discussion and public awareness of racism in China is notoriously low -- often resulting in viral scandals that spark global outrage beyond the Great Firewall but cause little concern within the mainland.
In 2016, a laundry product firm apologised after a tv advertisement for its detergent showed a black man being forced into a washing machine before emerging transformed into an Asian man. The company initially dismissed critics as overly sensitive.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results - 1st update
Swiatek's perfect 10 in Stuttgart as Vondrousova stuns Sabalenka
Arandu's roads closed due to flooding
Oil tanker catches fire in Islamabad’s Blue Area
Pakistan committed to ensure safety of foreign nationals: FO
Tennis: WTA Stuttgart results - 1st update
Four passengers injured as train hit an empty vehicle
Over- speeding bus crushed to death two bike riders
Turkey's Freedom Flotilla ready to set sail for Gaza
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school
Iranians appear unfazed by Isfahan blasts
UAF celebrates Int'l Chinese Language Day
More Stories From World
-
Togo lawmakers approve contested political reform
4 hours ago -
NATO must choose 'whether we indeed are allies': Zelensky
4 hours ago -
US House to vote on Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan aid package
4 hours ago -
Calls for calm after reported Israeli strike on Iran
4 hours ago -
IMF calls on EU to deepen single market integration to boost growth
4 hours ago -
Second Ecuadoran mayor killed ahead of anti-crime referendum: police
4 hours ago
-
Oil, gas drilling blocked in Alaska wilds as Biden seeks green cred
5 hours ago -
Man sets self on fire outside Trump trial
5 hours ago -
Turkey's Freedom Flotilla ready to set sail for Gaza
7 hours ago -
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school
7 hours ago -
Iranians appear unfazed by Isfahan blasts
7 hours ago -
Ecuador mayor killed ahead of anti-crime referendum: police
7 hours ago