From the readers
Foreign looks get favor in China
Updated: 2011-09-13 15:24
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Comment on “A hard lesson for migrant workers” (China Daily, September 8)
"How come foreigners receive teaching opportunities, while I'm shut out?"
In China, looks are very important; so if you look Chinese, you stand no chance of competing for a teaching job against others with white, black or brown skin. Students and their parents want to see a foreign-looking guy teaching English, even if they have weird pronunciation with a heavy foreign accent, which students can't understand.
It's not your teaching skill that matters, but your looks! As an American-Chinese, my English skills are comparable to, often even better than, that of some whites, blacks, or browns, but I got shut out too! So don't cry mate, you have lots of company!
Every Chinese swears by one of Deng Xiaoping's famous sayings, "It doesn't matter if it's a white cat or a black cat. As long as it catches mice, it's a good cat”. But they never follow it in practice! They always prefer a “white cat”!
Racial Prejudice, on China Daily website
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