When Chinese student Xuan took to Weibo to tell of a horrid mob attack that left him with a broken nose and cigarette burns, little did he know his ordeal would be met with an overwhelmingly sympathetic response from the social network, including its newcomer, the former Australian premier Kevin Rudd. more ›

From Journeyman Pictures comes this thoroughly thoughtful documentary treatise on the recent debate on the right of abode of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, one that puts a human face on the 300,000 mostly Filipina and Indonesian women working in the territory as maids. more ›

Are Chinese bars still denying entry for black people in 2012? Four whole years after bars in Beijing's Sanlitun were allegedly told to ban black people from their establishments, it seems the situation has still yet to improve. A tipster has informed us that Shanghai's after-party destination The Room recently barred them from entry, simply based on the color of their skin. more ›

Makoto Sakurai, leader of the Japanese fascist group Zaitokukai, taunts visitors to the campus of the Korea University in Kodaira, Tokyo in a protest held on the 50th anniversary of the university earlier this winter. "I will kill you! I'm not joking!" he says, "We came here to kill North Koreans!" Established in 1956 by the de-facto North Korean embassy in Japan, Chongryon, the university receives funding directly from the DPRK government, and its graduates are often sent to teach at North Korean schools across Japan. While the full name of Zaitokukai means "Citizens against Special Privilege of Zainichi (Koreans)," the group has also been known to protest against Filipinos, Chinese and even Halloween. more ›

The following text, found in the 1,500 manifesto of Anders Breivik Behring, the 32-year-old right-wing extremist who masterminded the twin terrorist attacks in Norway recently, has been circulating on the Chinese interwebs lately. In it, Breivik talks about his time in China which led him to the conclusion that unlike the people in Islamic countries who are "directly hostile to Europeans", the Chinese are "usually just after your money". He also mentions his stepmother, who he claims was the Norwegian Vice Consul in Shanghai:

Africa, China and the Islamic world more ›

Alexandra Wallace, the girl behind last week's racist Youtube tirade against the Asian population at UCLA, has decided to drop out after mounting harassment and ostracism in the fallout from the video. While UCLA itself decided not to discipline her (the video is an exercise, however appalling, in free speech), Wallace has received death threats and has since "decided to stop attending classes." She released this apology in a statement to the campus newspaper: “Especially in the wake of the ongoing disaster in Japan, I would do anything to take back my insensitive words. I could write apology letters all day and night, but I know they wouldn’t erase the video from your memory, nor would they act to reverse my inappropriate action.” (For some entertaining parodies of the video, check out our post from last week.) more ›

Our Douchebag of the Day comes in the form of UCLA student Alexandra Wallace who in her 3-minute video rant complains about the "hordes of Asian people that UCLA accepts into our school every single year.” Wallace describes her frustration at the library saying Asian students just can't stop talking on the phone and disturbing her: "all of a sudden when I'm, like, about to reach an epiphany, over here from somewhere I hear, Ohhhhhhhh! Ching chong ling long ting tong! Ohhhhhhh!" She adds, "I swear, they're going through their whole families just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing." The video has since gone viral and received several million hits, eliciting a quick apology from Wallace who says she has received numerous death threats. For more, check out LAist's reports here and here.
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Shanghaiist's favourite news agency has done it again. Just half a year ago, they were caught red-handed running a gallery of pictures of blackface on Hollywood celebrities, which they were forced to remove after the pictures made international news. Well, apparently they haven't learnt much from that episode. This time they've published a picture of a Chinese student in blackface, standing rather awkwardly behind a flag of South Africa. This was snuck in as the last of a series of pictures taken during the Guizhou-Ireland Youth Culture Week. Maybe they were just hoping nobody would see the picture? Sneaky, Xinhua! Sneaky! more ›

"If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade - animals skinned alive - then they could not possibly argue in favour of China as a caring nation. There are no animal protection laws in China and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible." more ›

There's not much I can add to these pictures except... Holy hell! So I guess turning any celebrity black means widening their nose and lips and giving them a spray on tan? Is this part of your strategy to get legitimized in the eyes of Western media, Xinhua? Stay classy. more ›

Continuing its love affair with our city, Dior has released "Shanghai Dreamers," a series of haute couture prints photographed by local talent, Quentin Shih. But the campaign has triggered accusations that it's images of cloned Chinese people behind - usually - a white model dressed to the nines are pretty racist. more ›

It's not surprising that films from the 1930s would have stereotypes we'd find offensive today, and lord knows Josef Von Sternberg’s famous 1932 film is full of them. But movie blog movie blog Mirror had an interesting observation about a poignant race issue the movie addresses that still rings true today. more ›

Yesterday, Chinasmack posted up another one of those Chinese people hating on foreign guys who get with Chinese chicks translations which was... well, you've seen one, you've seen them all. But it piqued the curiosity of C. Custer at china/divide, who felt that a lot of the assumptions (especially things like disrespecting Chinese women and being a Mainland version of FILTH) just didn't seem to be true. So he devised a little poll (for foreigners) to see if at least the readership at china/divide was like that. So if you are a laowai, wai not try it out? more ›

While the Chinese culture bureaus are more than happy to play the heroes of Hollywood movies, it seems like they're easily irked when the tables are turned. Apparently, two entire op-eds in the Global Times were devoted to how Red Dawn's creators were demonizing China. more ›

• Residents in Suining, Sichuan Province have discovered a previously unseen animal that has been named the 'Chinese Chupacabra' by the People's Daily. A cross between a hairless badger and a dog, the County Forestry Department is currently doing further investigations on this animal. [Go Chengdoo]
• Officials warn that the droughts affecting Southwest China are to become more severe. So far the drought has left 24.25 million people and 15.84 million farm animals short of water. Liu Ning, vice-minister of water resources, has noted that the drought looks to be spreading into areas of Northern China. [China.org]
• Hong Kong is jumping onto the green bandwagon as top financial leaders call for action to be taken against the unhealthily high levels of air pollution in the city. Comments came after pollution levels were calculated as being double that of the previous year. [New York Times]

As we take a look back at the last year of our reporting, Shanghaiist brings to you a list of the most important news events of 2009. Whether they be political, cultural, or social, these were the things that happened that changed our lives and perceptions of the world around us, for the better or worse. Without further ado, here's the top five news events from around Shanghai more ›

President Obama's itinerary has just been released, with a little under a week before his first visit to the mainland. And the best part? He's going to start his tour in Shanghai! more ›

Today's post by Andrew Sullivan on his blog over at the Atlantic discusses the specter of racism within China, and the implications it could have on both the social and economic future of the country. As the ratio of retirees to workers is set to double within the next fifteen years, questions surrounding the economic sustenance will begin to necessitate an influx of emigrants to keep the economy growing. more ›

China Hush has published its translation of a Netease interview with Lou Jing (娄婧), the half-black Oriental Angel contestant who was the subject of a lot of online netizen character attacks, most of them extremely bigoted. more ›

Yikes! Just when we thought we were past the hateful racism directed towards Lou Jing, another blatantly insensitive forum thread popped up on KDS. This time, a netizen caught a few pictures of a Black-Chinese couple on the metro, and posted them to the forum site for general amusement and jeering. ChinaSMACK has a translation of some of the posts, which range from mockable to just plain offensive. more ›

Perhaps because of China's status as a mostly monocultural giant that's only just opening up the world, the topic of racism in this country is always a landmine-infested warzone. Just asking the question of whether most Chinese people are racist can cause the web to go into conniptions - an example being the Internet fight between China Geek and Hecaitou earlier this year. more ›

- Betty Brown (R-TX), in response to testimony by Organization of Chinese Americans spokesperson Ramey Ko over how voter ID legislation may create problems for Asian immigrants because of name transliteration issues.