Shades of Gray

There is no racism in China because there are no black people. There is no homophobia in China, because there are no homosexuals.

These are the responses you get if you ask a Chinese person about racism, homophobia, or other types of social biases.

The communist party eradicated gender inequality. Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia are all happy to be part of China, but you have to watch yourself around them. The Tibetans are known to be scandalous and thieving. That Dalai Llama... you know he's just about to stab you in the back.

When the Chinese see a black person they refer to them as 黑人 (Black Person). They yell this in the street, it's on T.V., and they address them as such in restaurants and other public places. Every other non-Chinese is just 外国人 or foreigner. A busload of tourists stops in a public area and everyone turns and starts pointing and yelling 'foreigners! foreigners!" On a number of occasions cab drivers have failed to pick me up because I'm a foreigner. But there's no racism in China, so I'll just have to get over it.

I'm going to refer back to "Farewell My Concubine". I'm not sure if you've seen the movie, but a large part of the plot is the relationship the female character opera singer has with his male benefactor and admirer. This movie is one of the pride and joys of Chinese film. How such a large part of the movie can revolve around a homosexual relationship in a country with no homosexuals is pretty impressive.

A lot of Chinese like to tell me they're Christian. When I respond that I am not, they're shocked. "But you're American! What religion are you?" "I'm not." They don't understand, although officially nobody in China has a religion. Communism and all. Most Chinese claim to be Christian and Buddhist and any other religion you happen to mention.

There just aren't the defining lines here that exist elsewhere in the world. Nothing is black and white. Policy, beliefs, ideology are all gray. That's why Communism has 'existed' here successfully for so long. Because it's not really here at all. It never has been. "Communism" is just a term that Western culture uses to define China since definition is a necessary part of our upbringings. There is actually very little definitive about China.

Even in the language. "Yes" and "No" don't exist. There is no word for "Yes" or "No". Everything either is, or isn't. For example, a simple question like, "Have you seen this movie?" The answer is either "seen" or "haven't seen".

Even if you take something that looks as definitive as the yin and the yang, they really aren't at all. Because everything has a little yin and a little yang. Take the symbol and mix it together and all you have is more gray.