A skit on China's biggest Lunar New Year TV show has sparked widespread criticism and accusations of racism.
In a comedy routine celebrating Chinese-African ties, an Asian actress appeared in blackface and with exaggerated buttocks. The annual state media variety show is hugely popular, and has up to 800 million viewers.
The controversial sketch was part of the four-hour CCTV New Year Gala -
also known as the Spring Festival Gala. By some estimates, the annual show is
the most watched entertainment program on earth.
This is not the first time Chinese entertainment shows have caused controversy due to their racist overtones Last year, Chinese state media released a propaganda video that lambasted India over a border dispute. The clip, accusing India of committing "sins", featured a Chinese actor in a Sikh turban and cartoonish mustache, who spoke in a mockingly Indian accent..
In 2016, a TV advertisement for a laundry detergent featured a black man with paint stains on his face who gets put into a washing machine by a young Chinese woman and ate re-emerges as a fair-skinned Chinese man.
This is not the first time Chinese entertainment shows have caused controversy due to their racist overtones Last year, Chinese state media released a propaganda video that lambasted India over a border dispute. The clip, accusing India of committing "sins", featured a Chinese actor in a Sikh turban and cartoonish mustache, who spoke in a mockingly Indian accent..
In 2016, a TV advertisement for a laundry detergent featured a black man with paint stains on his face who gets put into a washing machine by a young Chinese woman and ate re-emerges as a fair-skinned Chinese man.
The skit on state media last night featured a young black woman who asks a Chinese man to pose as her husband when meeting her mother. While the young woman is played by a black actor, her mother was an Asian actor in blackface make-up, donning a traditional outfit complete with huge fake buttocks. She walked on stage carrying a fruit plate on her head and was accompanied by a black actor in a monkey suit, carrying a basket on his back.
Chinese users on the country's biggest social media website Weibo condemned the program. Comments included "it's full of racism," that "it makes me feel like I'm living in the last century," and that "we are going to lose face internationally".
One user asked "if an American white person painted yellow, says I love the USA and recites some Trump quotes while pulling his eyes, how would you feel?"
Unsurprisingly, Chinese articles criticizing the annual gala were blocked overnight, as have some critical comments on Chinese social media sites.
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