Being white in China

Foreigners in China sometimes experience the weirdest things. For some reason we are very special creatures to the Chinese. Especially are white people popular objects and we often get asked to do some really peculiar stuff. Before Christmas I was asked to fly to Macao and play a role as a representative for an American company. This company’s problem was that although it was actually American, no white people worked there. All employees were Chinese-American. Why is this a problem? Well, apparently if one wants to be taken seriously and get credibility, one needs “real” Westerners in the company. Real means white, not yellow. Anyway, this company flew me to Macao, paid everything for me there and gave me a decent pay. All I had to do was dress up in a suit, pretend to be American, give a short speech at a conference, and of course: Be white. 

I was greeted as a hero.

This story is in no way special. Similar incident take place all the time around China. Sometimes I wonder why. Why are white people so great? If somebody knows, please enlighten me.

All right, so the end of the story is that I quit working for the company. Under you can read the resignation letter. It is addressed to one of the top leaders in the company who accompanied me to Macao. I also travelled together with another white young man who had more or less the same assignment as me. But he was actually a real American. 

Dear xxxx.

Thank you for taking me to Macao. It was very interesting to see how you work. And before I continue, I have to say that I really liked you. You are a sweet lady. Please don’t take the following personally. 

The reason I am writing is because I cannot continue to work with you. Why? I am a very political minded young man and I have values, which go against the way xxxx runs its business. Please let me explain this briefly. 

First, I don’t know if you have heard of a movement called the “global justice movement” (sometimes referred to as the “anti globalisation movement”)? Well, I am an active supporter of this movement. We are not against globalisation in itself; it is the way globalisation is happening that we are critical to. One of our greatest hopes is that there could be more fair-trade, trade that is beneficial to all levels of society and to society as a whole. I believe network marketing is the opposite of this. Network marketing is a system created to exploit the weak and give large profits to the elite.

Second, when thinking back on the experience in Macao, I am not proud of having lied to those people for such a cause. And realizing that I could do it only because of my skin colour makes me feel pathetic. I cannot corrupt myself again.

Third, as you probably have understood, I am no big fan of the American financial (or whatever kind of) imperialism. And since xxxx is an American company I prefer not to support a further expansion of this imperialism. The US imperialism is after all, from my point of view, our times greatest threat to international peace. One of many sad examples: The Americans spend over 87$ billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half of that they could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person on the planet. And yet Americans don’t understand why terrorists attack them.  

Last but not least, as we all know, no empire lasts forever. The American empire will also see its end. And as for my American travelling companion goes: I am confident that it is the attitude of such ignorant, arrogant, greedy and uneducated men that will (and already has started to) make the empire collapse. I do not wish to spend more time with such persons. It simply makes me sad. 

There should be plenty of white boys in this city who are willing fill my shoes.

All the best and Happy New Year