A series of high-profile recent incidents including the use of blackface on Chinese TV, discrimination against Black residents in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and widespread racial insensitivity on Chinese social media sites like Weibo have sparked a vibrant discussion about anti-Black racism in China.

While these conversations have done a lot to advance our collective understanding of the complexities of this issue, too often, though, Chinese voices are under-represented in the conversation.

A group of young Chinese scholars is hoping to change that by engaging both domestic and international stakeholders in a far more nuanced discourse on race and identity in China. Last August, they published a controversial analysis on the prevalence of anti-Black racism on Weibo. Later, they translated some of their findings into English and published it on The China Africa Project.

The scholars have chosen to remain anonymous out of concern that the sensitive nature of the topic will provoke a dangerous backlash from online trolls. Two of those researchers join Eric & Cobus to explain what they feel is missing from the debate about Chinese-Black race relations in China. They also invited five of their academic colleagues to share their perspectives on the issue as well.

Show Notes:

• The China Africa Project: Anti-Black Racism on the Chinese Social Media Network Weibo by Anonymous
• Weibo: 我们分析了五万条种族歧视账号微博，发现了这些 by 黑云1619 (Black Cloud 1619)