There are two basic ethnic groups in Beijing: Chinese people and everybody else.
Call them foreigners, 老外 (Lao Wai: a kind of slang expression that literally translates to “old outsider.” Perhaps a more updated and gentle way of saying “Foreign Devil.”), but when it comes down to it, you’re either A or B. Chinese or…not.
There are some gray areas (such as my friend who was born in Beijing to Chinese parents, but grew up in Canada, so is considered local by Beijingers, but not by the state), but mostly Beijingers are divided on their status of being homegrown or exported. There are some who would consider this lumping-together of non-Chinese people to be a.) wildly reductive b.) kind of racist and c.) totally bizarre, but I can’t imagine who those people would be. Maybe it’s a preserve the purity of the race (yikes) thing, but even children born of non-Chinese parents in China are not considered Chinese citizens. It’s notoriously difficult for foreigners, even those married to Chinese people, to gain citizenship or even obtain visas with really secure longevity. Considering China is increasingly becoming a major destination for West African and South East Asian immigrants, it seems that China may one day have to tackle the great rainbow-colored beasts of multi-culturealism, assimilation, and immigration policy! For now, though, in China (as in the world of reality TV fashion shows), you’re either in or you’re out.
The tide seem to be changing, though, and the idea of what is “Chinese” with it. Though Beijing is still a city notorious for brief stints by job-hopping foreigners, more and more so-called 老外 are making Beijing their permanent homes. These people are taking root, changing the cultural climate, and producing a new generation of Chinese children who don’t necessarily look or act like the Chinese of yesteryear. I’ve seen people–especially kids and teenagers–off all ethnicities chattering away in fluent Beijing-hua. This city is their home; they are, effectively, Chinese.
When people ask me what the big differences are between Beijing and New York, my obvious go-to answer is that what Beijing lacks in cultural diversity it makes up for in motorbikes. This may not be true for long, though, as a new generation of multi-cultural Beijingers take the reins. Maybe someday “foreigners” may not just be mere foreigners, but part of a real global city where the 老外is allowed inside.
This entry was written by , posted on October 5, 2009 at 11:13 pm, filed under Uncategorized, beijing, chinese, language, news and tagged beijing, foreigners, immigration. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.