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Beijing (AFP) - The publisher of Chinese national carrier Air China's in-flight magazine apologised Thursday for allegedly "racist" travel advice offered to passengers visiting London, as mainland social media users rushed to defend the controversial tips.
The latest issue of "Wings of China" ran an article detailing safety tips for travellers based on the race and nationality of local residents.
"London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people," the article said in English translation below a Chinese text, according to a photograph published by CNBC.
"We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when travelling," it added.
The Chinese version was worded slightly differently, stating that such neighbourhoods were "comparatively more chaotic" -- an adjective often used to describe dangerous areas.
The English translation prompted London MP Virendra Sharma, who emigrated from India to Britain in the 1960s, to complain to the Chinese government.
"I am shocked and appalled that even today some people would see it as acceptable to write such blatantly untrue and racist statements," he said in an online statement.
"I have raised this issue with the Chinese ambassador, and requested that he ensures an apology is swiftly forthcoming from Air China, and the magazine is removed from circulation immediately," Sharma said.
In a Chinese-language statement Thursday, the publisher attributed the "inappropriate descriptions" to editorial errors, stating that they were at odds with the "original intention to actively promote the beautiful scenery of London".
https://www.yahoo.com/news/british-mp-hits-racist-air-china-london-tips-011816101.html
A number of other news sources are carrying the story, with varying degrees of indignation.
CNBC has coverage including an image of the offending text.
Additional Coverage:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/08/air-chinas-magazine-says-media-readers-misinterpreted-london-travel-advice.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/07/air-chinas-safety-tips-for-london-visitors-may-raise-eyebrows.html
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @04:35AM
Londoners (of most races) refer to those from Pakistan as fuckingpakis. Indians seem mostly integrated due to years of colonialism (and some would give the Anglos a run for their money for Britishness). I have no idea about blacks but after years of living there, are they really that far removed from Cockneys?
So exactly what is the problem here? Is it racist to advise Chinese tourist from visiting Compton in America? Or do you just indicate the bad parts of town by something other than race now?
A Japanese tour map had the address of an acquaintance of mine marked as "hippy". Was that racist?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:22AM
Could one include a map showing density of crime per population? That's still kind of blunt.
Sounds more like your friend is a tourist attraction. "Mommy, can we go see the hippy now, please please? I never touched a hippy before. Can we pet one?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:47AM
Sounds more like your friend is a tourist attraction.
Oh, he was. It took quite a few years of the odd Japanese person showing up asking to take his picture before he got wise to how this came about ("sure are a lot of Japanese people around").
But still, the stereotypical hippy is pretty much white. It's just another designation for the type of neighborhood he lived in. If you had a map labeled "gangsta" for Detroit ("take him to Detroit"), it wouldn't have the same cultural misunderstanding. It would be closer to Koreans saying "nega".
(Score: 5, Informative) by Unixnut on Sunday September 18 2016, @09:31AM
I live in London, and I live in one of those areas "Populated with Pakistanis/Muslims and Africans". Guess what, it is a dangerous place, every night you get massive brawls between the Africans and Pakistanis, or within their communities. Usually over drug turf, or a girl, or god knows what. The Indians I have to say, are generally pretty good. Both those who are integrated or not, they generally keep to themselves and work hard. At least the ones I have met.
Barely a week goes by without a stabbing, hell once I was woken up at 3am when a gunfight erupted between some drug dealers and the police who had corned their car down my road. They escaped, but caused a lot of damage to our cars in the process. That was fun trying to claim from the insurance.
It is not the kind of place you want to walk around after dark. Hell sometimes its not the kind of place you want to walk around during the day. On a workday, where all the normal people with jobs are at work, what is left behind is usually the same as you get at night, but admittedly more tame, you might just get mugged or assaulted or abuse hurled at you.
Naive tourists who haven't experienced such cultural enrichment in their hometown may well mistake the place as being just as safe, and go out at and get into trouble. Especially tourists that come from pretty much monoethnic/monocultural societies, could well not be used to the kind of things you have to deal with here.
Saying that, things have improved round my area in the last 10 years. 10 years ago not even the police would patrol here, due to the reception they could receive. On the plus side, you could park wherever you wanted for free, because no traffic warden would ever set foot in the area either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @04:51PM
Ghetto is violent, news at 11.
Its the same story everywhere in the world, it isn't the race, its the ghetto (and how rich the bordering neighborhoods are [theatlantic.com]).
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 19 2016, @03:33AM
A 2008 study found that in São Paulo, where crime rates are relatively high, people tend to put more money into savings (and thus spend less on luxury goods, which can be stolen) than in other cities. So, on some subconscious level, it seems that people have known about this finding all along.
In other words, a negative correlation between conspicuous displays of wealth and crime.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday September 18 2016, @02:12PM
To be pedantic, Compton actually ain't bad, it's just the image from MUH GANGSTA RAP.
I worked as a delivery driver in L.A. and took many trips all around there. The part to watch out for is Pacoima (the ancestral home of Ritchie Valens), a place so violent that 4 cops ride in every car and if you see an American car in good shape chances are that an undercover cop is driving it -- and at any given moment if you need meth or a stolen firearm you can simply go two doors down and get you some.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @04:21PM
I was in Manchester in the 1990s and Rusholme aka Curry Mile had plenty of "Pakis" and things seemed OK over there (most of them seemed to speak English too). It was Moss Side that was considered dangerous ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Side#History [wikipedia.org] ).
So is the guide accurate? Aren't there also dangerous areas in London which are populated mostly by "white" people? In which case using race would be inaccurate.
I'm not surprised with the inflight magazine though. The Chinese have a long history of being "in your face" racist - all breeds of humans are types of "ghosts" except the Chinese. But the stereotypical Chinese (and many follow type) will generally accept profit whatever race it comes from (look who is investing in Africa, heck look who often opens stores/restaurants in "not-so-safe" areas in some cities).