Racist comment or statement of fact?

[Spinxsta]

7 year old DS said that a TA at his school stated "the Chinese eat dogs". He said they were talking about what people in other countries eat.

I feel there should be some context behind a statement that stereotypes people. Maybe "in the past, some of the poorer people in china ate dogs as they were starving" or something.

Another school mum said the statement didn't sit right but she didn't see it as racist.

We spoke to DS about how people have made statements like that in the past to be racist towards Chinese people and make them seem like disgusting people. I want to say something to school but I'm not sure if this is even complaint worthy... it just doesn't sound like something I want my children growing up saying or thinking.

Am I right to feel cross about this or am I overreacting??

He said they were talking about what people in other countries eat.

That makes it a statement of fact.

WalkingOnTheCracks* that's genius ,🤣🤣🤣🤣

Post modern ideas are rotting your brains!

China is not lower in any cultural hierachies of oppression.

There are 1.5 Billion people in China. Their wealth median overtook that of the average european some time ago.

We barely register on their radar, there are so many west centric assumptions being made, its hard to know where to start.

Dogs aren't food! It's OK to be culturally grossed out by that, in the same way it's OK for Hindus to be culturally grossed out by eating cow and Muslims by eating pigs.

I am curious though. If the dogs are kept in inhumane conditions by some people in China it sounds as if those people keep all animals for meat consumption purposes and cook them in problematic ways. So why is it just dogs that are singled out? It sounds like a general animal cruelty problem. I suspect that they treat their cows, chickens and pigs just as badly as their dogs as animal cruelty usually does not discriminate.

I ate a whole Penguin with my coffee this morning.

Not racist. It's true that some people in china eat dog. Saying people in china eat dogs because they are [insert negative generalisation]... that probably would be

I would eat Barbara..no offence to anyone here with that name …..she rushes to point out. ……. Sound film plot

Reminds me of a student trip when we had to take a beaten out old Aeroflot plane. We all stared at this thing we were about to get on and everyone said if we crashed and were alive everyone would eat me as I’m was a vegetarian 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I pointed out….happy to be a cannibal

I think the issue isn’t so much about whether the statement is factual; I’d be more concerned that dog eating is the first thing that springs to the TA’s mind when trying to name a single fact about China.

Imagine you are a Chinese boy or girl in that class. Your classmates are going to forever associate you with dog eating. Whether they tease you about it or not, it will become part of the “othering”, of making you feel like you don’t belong, of people being mildly repulsed by what they think you do at home, and eventually it gets added to their unconscious bias.

It’s a very subtle process that takes a lot of undoing. And in the long run, it leads to mutual incomprehension and non integration. So while it may not be done with a racist intent, it contributes to keeping people apart, and to denying opportunities to minority people.

A much more informative statement would be “the Chinese eat lots of rice”. Or if you want to make it extra interesting for children, “many people in China eat rice porridge for breakfast”.

Anecdotally, I lived in China for years and not once did I see dog meat for sale, in wet markets or on a menu. OTOH we had loads of friends and neighbours who were devoted dog owners. Dogs as pets are extremely common.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👏

But it’s not ‘culturally appropriate’ in china because it’s against their law to commercially produce dogs and dog meat

There’s some pretty ridiculous assumptions being made here. The child just remembers the TA saying that Chinese people eat dogs. That is what stuck in the child’s mind. It may have just been an aside. Not a major point at all. We don’t know the context to anything about it and that’s it was a totally factual statement why on earth is anyone getting their knickers in a twist about it?

Think the thread has moved on a bit from the original post……

Have you actually read any of the thread? A good number of people in China, today, eat dog. The statement by the teacher was not misinformed, I don't see why it was lazy either, and we have no reason to think that it was judgemental. Sounds like good teaching to me - the child learned something, and enjoyed the lesson so much he/she wanted to pass what he'd learned onto his/her family. This should have been the chance for the parents to start an interesting and educational discussion on what people in different parts of the world eat, why they eat different things, etc, or to encourage the child to do some further research on the internet. But no - let's teach the child to take offence over nothing and to complain about nothing (and probably to make the teacher dislike them too).

If the majority thinks this as you say, have you considered that you are in fact the ones who are wrong?

@JustForThisOneTime
but you can be repulsed at the thought of eating dog meat but not other meats, for whatever reason. Just like a lot of the British population bork when watching people chow down on penis on I’m A Celeb. It’s not racist…maybe hypocritical when people eat pig, etc. but it’s not racist.

I don’t like the thought of eels, I’m not prejudice towards the east end

Considering that the vast majority of Chinese people say they’ve never eaten dog meat, an even greater majority support the dog meat ban, and the sale of dog meat has been made illegal - stating that “Chinese people eat dogs” is like saying “In Britain, teachers are pedophiles”. Sure, it’s illegal, and not all of them are. But a minority is, so the statement is true. Right?

Maybe change the statement from "chinese people eat dogs" to "dogs are eaten in china and some other countries".

How is that even similar? Weird comparison.

I visited Vietnam in 2018 (never been to China) and the markets had barbecued dogs for sale - people eat dog, it's a statement of fact. I don't fancy eating dog but if someone likes it what's wrong with eating it?

What is the figure, and where does it come from? Not sure which is correct, but apparently a survey has shown that 30 percent of Chinese people in China have eaten dog during their lives. so not exactly a small minority, is it?
A market near me sells squirrels - skinned and ready to cook. I probably wouldn't say that British people eat squirrel, though clearly some do. But if thirty percent of British people ate squirrel, then I think that's a very fair statement.

I've seen photos from China of skewered seahorses for sale in street markets. I'm sure that's a minority thing, so I'd say that some Chinese people eat seahorses. Dog-eating is relatively common though.

Seahorses - It’s considered a delicacy, used in Chinese medicine too.
They have seahorse farms
Its not illegal………..( I don’t agree with it just in case you think I do, )

Ilegal in china to sell dog and cat meat.
Ilegal in some, not all districts, to eat it too.

It is, 😳😳😳😳😳not illegal in China to mistreat, animals. So guessing torture is ok too! 😔

Saying British people eat chickens and fish has never been used in a derogatory way!

I'm sure people in other countries do say that if they don't eat them there . I wouldn't give a toss if they did , and I don't think many of us in Britain would .

Animal rights are pretty nonexistent in China 😢

@Fiddledediddledeedee It's good to hear that the seahorses are farmed, not taken from the sea.