Racist to Criticize China?

A South Korean blogger described what he saw on a recent trip to China:

"In the post, Cha described a scene in China that he had experienced while riding a train from Zhengzhou, the capital of Hebei province, to Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province. This is part of what he saw: a mom let her toddler urinate right on the carriage floor; people disposed of instant-noodle cups by throwing them out the window; men went shirtless when it got hot; people didn't flush after using restrooms; a young couple pulled off the seat cover to shine their shoes before they got off the train.

Cha continued: people hulled sunflower seeds (a favorite travel snack for Chinese) and spat them on the floor haphazardly; some spoke on their mobile telephones at the top of their lungs without any consideration for other people; men smoked everywhere without seeking consent from others.

Cha concluded: "While watching these people, I couldn't help but think that Chinese people solely pursue their own convenience and interest. They utterly lack public morals."

Source

I don't think that there is any doubt that he described accurately what he saw and nobody in fact seems to have disputed the accuracy of his report. But he was nonetheless roundly condemnned by other South Koreans as being "racist" for describing what he saw and describing his response to it.

That all seems nutty enough to be worthy of the American Left. What the blogger was describing was simply the behaviour of very poorly educated rural people and there is no doubt that Chinese customs do differ in some ways (greater toleration of spitting, for instance) but a true report of observations and reasonable generalizations about those observations can hardly be racist.

China is right next-door to Korea and what was happening, I think, is that China is to Korea a bit like Islam is to America -- perceived as dangerous and in need of pacification. If the blogger had filed the same report about a trip in Japan or the USA, he would no doubt have been praised rather than condemned. Hatred of both Japan and the USA is very common in South Korea but neither Japan or the USA is seen as threatening.

As Japan was once the colonial overlord of Korea, Korean hatred of Japan is rather understandable but all America has done is give the blood of its young men and the money of its taxpayers to preserve South Koreans from the Communist horror in the North -- but that is apparently unforgiveable. Rather like France.

For the record, I personally have had a fair bit to do with both Koreans and Chinese and I prefer the Chinese any day. But I guess I am not really allowed to have such preferences. If the Left keep getting their way I might one day not even be allowed to prefer attractive women. The feminist harpies already have a word for that "crime". It is called "Lookism".

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