Editor’s note: Eric Liu is the founder of Citizen University and the author of several books, including “The Gardens of Democracy” and “The Accidental Asian.” He served as a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. Follow him on Twitter @ericpliu The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) — Have you heard about China’s banana slip?
A few days ago in Beijing, as Gary Locke wrapped up his tenure as United States ambassador to China, he was lambasted in a Chinese state media editorial. The piece called Locke a “guide dog.” It said he had stirred an “evil wind.” Worst of all, it called him a “banana.”
As in yellow on the outside and white on the inside. It’s a slur, akin to “Oreo” for African-Americans or “coconut” for Hispanics, used by people of a given ethnic group to judge another member of that group for being insufficiently, well, ethnic. The point of saying a person of color is “white inside” is to accuse him of being a race traitor, ashamed or in denial of his true heritage.
Eric Liu
In this case, the idea was that Locke, though of Chinese descent, wasn’t Chinese enough. Why? He couldn’t speak the language. Oh, and he apparently didn’t do the bidding of China’s leaders, choosing instead to go to Tibet, work with dissident human rights activists, point out smog levels in Beijing and generally represent the interests and values of the United States.
That’s what the editorialist meant when he called Locke a banana. Many Chinese citizens disavowed the slur, calling it an embarrassment. But what it revealed was that despite modernization and burgeoning wealth — or perhaps because of them — China still has a fragile identity. (And America still has some advantages.)
Let’s start with the fact that the editorial was published in an organ of state media. It got attention because in a country where the government controls the press, editorials are assumed to express the views of top national leaders. They may not, in fact. It’s quite possible this particular opinion writer was just an individual. But in the absence of a free press, who can really tell?
This is the price of propaganda: No one believes what you say, but they believe you meant to say it.
A second notable aspect of the banana rant was that it completely conflated ethnicity and nationality, and in a particularly Chinese way. The Han Chinese are the overwhelmingly dominant ethnic group of China, and their ethnocentrism frames Chinese political culture. (Just ask Tibetans.) It also fuels the nationalism behind China’s territorial disputes with Japan and other Asian nations.
So the premise of the banana comment was that someone of Chinese ethnicity, wherever he may live, should be considered Chinese to the core and therefore in the end loyal to the Chinese nation.
Of course, that’s a notion white Americans have often used to justify mistreatment of “indelibly alien” Chinese immigrants, whether during the era of Chinese exclusion in the late 19th century or the persecution of Wen Ho Lee at the turn of this one.
But it’s as wrong now as then and as wrong here as there. Even if Locke could speak perfect Mandarin, even if he could read the Chinese classics and write calligraphy, this Eagle Scout, child of public housing, prosecutor, state legislator, governor, Cabinet secretary and diplomat was made in America.
via Opinion: China’s awkward banana slip – CNN.com.
See also – https://chindia-alert.org/social-cultural-diff/uncanny-similarities/
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