An update on my earlier post about the South China Morning Post claim that Beijing secretly plans to ban blacks and Mongolians from bars during the Olympics. Unfortunately, duty called this afternoon, so I didn’t have much time for this issue, but here is where things stand:
- The owners of five bars in and around Sanlitun told me that the police did not ask them to undertake any such ban during the Olympics (these bars tend to be frequented by residents rather than tourists). Several other people, including in the restaurant and the wine business, also told me they were unaware of any such police action.
- Three reporters from the international media contacted me and said they had called numerous bars and, like me, found no one to confirm the SCMP claim.
- The bar owner I noted who said the police told him a few months ago to not serve blacks clarified that this did not seem to be part of any official policy.
- The only way I can see the SCMP story as plausible is if the newspaper is talking about an isolated bar area, such as that neon-lit strip on Sanlitun North or the clubs on Workers Stadium West. Even then, this is yet to be confirmed by anyone I have talked to.
If I hear any more information, I will pass it on.
“If I hear any more information, I will pass it on.”
Boyce, another alternative is to treat this article with the disdain it derserves. This reporter quotes only the vaguest of sources, and it seems to me without any supporting evidence, he is on very thin ice.
It’s guys like him who should be banned from the bars, no wait – from Beijing and China.
@ 8 Songs,
Yeah, perhaps I would be better spending time on my “scorpions on a stick” media monitoring project!
Cheers, Boyce
Tom Miller’s article states: “Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians,” said the co- owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.
I have been told by several non-sanlitun bar managers that they have been told by local police not to serve Mongolians, and I have seen Mongolian girls turned away at the door of many bars. Sure, they were entering the establishment to apply their trade, but this does lend credence to Mr. Miller’s story.
I know of at least one bar in the Sanlitun area which has been told not to serve black people. Sounds ridiculous, but is apparently true. It’s part of a drug sweep before and during the Games. Anyone hear about Pavilion being shut down?
I applaud your efforts to get to the bottom of this, but I think you are too quick to dismiss this story.
1. We know from past events there have been crackdowns on blacks, with mass arrests and beatings. This is a FACT. Given the past actions, it does not surprise me that the police are at it again.
2. Talking to bar owners by phone is not the same as talking to them in person. Use some shoe leather. Also, do they know you? Are you someone they can trust with that type of information?
3. Three other reporters tried to get the story but failed. Yeah, they made calls. But did they hit the ground and start talking to people?
4. The bar owner you talked to said the discrimination is not “part of any official policy.” Of course it’s not.
Like I said, given what we know about the Uniformed Public Security Bureau and past actions, I am inclined to believe this story is true.
If it’s not true, then the reporter is making it up (are you accusing him of fabricating a story??), or he talked to bar owners who misled him (their motivations being??). I think it’s more plausible that the story is in fact true than either of these scenarios.
I am inclined to think that someone has the wrong end of the facts.
Most of the drug pushers in Sanlitun were blacks. Most of the hookers in places like Maggies were Mongolians. Maggies has been closed and the pushers pushed off the street. I am inclined to think that bar owners were told not to allow these workers to migrate their trade into the bars of the area. But how does a simple bar worker know the difference between a Mongolian tourist and a Mongolian hooker, or a Ugandan tourist from a pusher. the answer is, he doesn’t. So, according to my theory, someone in the chain of authority – be it PSB, local police, bar owners or whoever, has decided the safe way is to ban everyone. In true Chinese Whispers form, this gets transmuted into FACT. Methinks there’s a gulf between the original edict and the SCMP story.
PS – One day after the SCMP story appeared, the same story made it into The Melbourne Age. But they failed to acknowledge their source. The story was pulled the next day. Plagiarism is bad enough – plagiarising stories that are not properly researched is a double strike.
Have you (or anyone you know of) heard anything back from Mr. Miller on this one, Boyce?