Bai Ling
This is silly in my opinion, but the attraction between Asian women in Asia (duh) and white guys living in the region has, for reasons unknown, long been a subject of endless fascination and conjecture for a certain segment of the population. This obsession seems most strong with newly arrived foreigners who get caught up in the mayhem, and a smaller percentage of local Chinese who find the subject fascinating for a variety of reasons, ranging from good ole racism to, uh, good ole racism.
Most Westerners, or tourists for that matter, who spend any time in Asia get over this silly preoccupation, unless their immaturity keeps them trapped in a time warp where senseless cultural comparisons take on greater social implications.
Some Asian women enjoy Western men. Some don't. And vice versa.
Who cares? But it always seems to be a popular subject, so we'll get into it here.
The following article is taken from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Hong Kong daily that refuses to join the modern world and open their posts to the non-subscriber world, thus forcing bloggers to steal their stories. Screw em.
Then a followup about the author of the controversial story on inter-racial dating, and his underlying motives and sense of sarcasm, proving that even SCMP journalists can fling barbs above the heads of the average reader.
Here's the unlinkable SCMP story:
Have HK girls stopped looking for Mr White?
Columnist Chip Tsao claims local women no longer date western men. Is there any evidence?
South China Morning Post
Oct 13, 2005
By NIKI LAW
Dating a westerner used to be frowned upon because it was controversial, but dating experts and commentators say locals are now avoiding cross-cultural relationships because they are no longer "fashionable".
Spurred by the media frenzy over actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi being seen with a westerner identified as Jeroen, a prominent media commentator recently devoted his column to the lack of appeal in dating westerners.
In a controversial and often scathing indictment of today's expatriates, the former BBC journalist and regular television pundit Chip Tsao said in his column: "In this day and age hanging out with a gweilo is `out'. Before 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony so showing up with a gweilo at a ball or in Lan Kwai Fong escalated your status 100 times. Gweilos were high society and they either lived at the Peak or on Tai Tam Road." Writing in Easyfinder magazine, Tsao said Hong Kong's pre-colonial population of rich westerners sailed off into the sunset with ex-governor Chris Patten and the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation after the handover.
"The ones who stayed behind were left to fend for themselves. They had no choice but to move to dorms on Lamma Island or to rent stone houses that people in Sai Kung use to house pigs," his column said.
"Clad in T-shirts, shorts and a pair of flip-flops, nowadays you see them buying beer from 7-Eleven so they can get the free gifts. They even try bargaining with the new mainland immigrant cashier to try to get a 10 per cent discount."
Tsao warned local girls not to hang out with westerners in Lan Kwai Fong unless they wanted to have a one-night stand in a small flat with "a guy who was muscular but did not last long in bed".
He concluded: "In this day and age you have to be careful when choosing a gweilo. They no longer have cars or property. You might end up stepping on a penniless landmine. It's too much to sacrifice for a passport."
Asked to reflect on his column, Tsao told the Sunday Morning Post it reflected his personal observations and those of his friends. "Hong Kong used to be an international city and English was important. But now we are just like the mainland. We talk about loving the motherland. In today's atmosphere dating a gweilo is like selling out your country."
However, Mak Hoi-wah, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Studies at City University, believes that the trend has to do less with racism than with the fact that westerners and locals are now much closer.
"The difference in social status has decreased and the lines of racial division have softened," he said.
"Also westerners today feel there is no need to put up a front. People just don't feel that westerners are anything special anymore."
Anne Chow, owner of dating service Diamond Single Club, said that members used to admire westerners but clients rarely requested to meet westerners now.
"We have 5,000 members but there is only one girl who always requests to meet westerners. It is not discrimination but people just don't think it's a talking point any more."
Mr Hon of Match Maker dating service said cultural differences were too much to handle for most people.
He said that since it was now so easy to emigrate, westerners were even less appealing because Hong Kong people were no longer willing to put up with differences in return for a passport.
"Most people find cross-cultural relationships difficult. Usually in the beginning they are happy. But once they start to understand each other they realise they cannot accept the differences. There's not much magic left when you watch him cut his toenails," he said.
"The clients who ask for westerners mostly want to emigrate to places like North America. But now it is very easy to do it on your own - through business connections or relatives. As a result only about 3 to 4 per cent of our clients now request to meet westerners."
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Then, commentary from the author of the above article with his insight into the above article. Cynical, but revealing.
HONG KONG: Outraged readers round on writer for 'racist dogma'
Columnist Chip Tsao responds to reader allegations of promoting discrimination and unfair stereotypes
South Morning China Post
October 16, 2005
By Niki Law
Prominent columnist Chip Tsao has hit back at allegations of racism, saying readers angered by his observations on western men losing cachet with local women did not understand his sarcasm.
The article "Have Hong Kong girls stopped looking for Mr White?" in last week's Sunday Morning Post, which cited Tsao's column, has inspired a flood of passionate responses from readers.
Tsao had commented that western men who stayed in Hong Kong after the handover lived in dorms on Lamma Island or stone houses in Sai Kung that people used to "keep pigs in".
He also said expatriate men "clad in T-shirts, thongs and flip-flops" bought beer from the 7-Eleven to get free gifts and were "muscular but did not last long" in bed.
A Sunday Morning Post reader from Vietnam, Karl John, said after reading Tsao's comments: "I cannot find one statement of truth, just racist dogma and general sweeping statements.
"It is nothing more than a racially motivated observation that has probably been brought about by Chip Tsao's inability to attract interest from Hong Kong ladies," he said, reflecting a typical response of letter writers.
For other readers, Tsao's comments reflected the frustrations they have had with local girls.
"When my expat, western-born Chinese or even mainland Chinese male friends get together, the topic of conversation is often about how uninteresting, charmless and graceless many local women are," said one.
Tsao hit back at the criticisms by saying: "I am deeply disappointed that western readers, especially those from the United States and the United Kingdom, could not read between the lines and find the sarcasm in my statements. I have always been provocative."
He said he was simply writing something "juicy" to reflect a common theme that already existed in the Chinese-language media.
"If these people saw what Apple Daily and the rest of the Chinese-language papers write, they would not have been so shocked by my column. Hong Kong papers nowadays are always talking about how these foreigners are old and penniless. I find their comments racist.
"If the readers are so worked up, they should channel their energy to fighting for racial discrimination laws instead."
Tsao said Hong Kong was and still is a colony. "Now it's a Chinese colony and no longer a western colony. When you go to Lan Kwai Fong, all the mainlanders act like they are the biggest thing.
"Before 1997, local girls were always holding on to a westerner. I am just stating what is in everyone's heart. I think most westerners agree with me, but right now they are just thinking in terms of human rights and equality."
Reader Brian Apthorp said he found it "refreshing" that Hong Kong was still allowed to address the question of race.
"In the United Kingdom, the newspeak virtually prohibits open discussion on race and gender. Luckily in Hong Kong we do not seem to have the same level of racial tension," he said.
Readers in cross-cultural relationships wrote in to support comments made by happy couple Zita Yu and John Peralta in an accompanying article.
Paul Mounsey wrote: "I have been happily in a mixed marriage since 1993. Most of our friends are like us, and what I have observed is that mixed-race relationships either work or don't work for the same reasons as any other, and success really depends on what you put in."
Another reader, Graham Warburton, wrote: "The personal reflections of Chip and his friends should not have been buried on Page 3, they should have been investigated in depth and given greater prominence."
Asia Media Link
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