Kai recently responded to my post on non-whites being referred to as “brown.” Kai wanted to know why I objected to the term when many non-whites are indeed, “brown,” including Chinese farmers. The term “brown” just isn’t accurate. While Kai does mention southern Chinese farmers being dark, what about northern Chinese urbanites? Even southern urbanites aren’t that dark. Japanese? Koreans? They’re more of a cream colour to me. In any case, the “brown” term has class connotations. As with Europe, historically, most East Asian cultures have considered lighter skin as a beauty standard. Peasants = dark; aristocracy = light. Calling someone of East Asian descent “brown,” at especially for older people can be very insulting.
Kai also brought up solidarity. I don’t think there’ll ever be solidarity between different non-white groups. I don’t even think there’ll be solidarty within same cultural/racial/ethnic groups. There’ll always be generational differences, cultural differences and class differences. A second generation Chinese Canadian probably has more in common with a multigenerational rural Canadian than someone from rural China. There are differences between Chinese Canadian groups as well. The wants and needs of suburban-raised, upper middle class, second generation Chinese Canadians like myself are different from a second generation Chinese Canadian who grew up in the projects. Multigeneration Chinese Canadians (most live out west) also have different needs and wants.
