Comments on: Sanlitun Saturday night: Blacks enjoy drinks, play pool, apparently await ban

By: Lazy

Lazy — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:30:03 +0000

So ridiculous… ban the Black & Mongolians??? Only the Americans can think of such a thing! Never ever heard and experienced anything like that in BJ at all. It’s interesting to see how western people react to the Olympic Games in BJ. They just try to find any opportunities to criticize China, and even desperately making things up… Very pathetic!

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:17:28 +0000

“The black people hanging outside of Salsa” last weekend were with my crew! Cheers!

By: Hugh Browne

Hugh Browne — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:51:11 +0000

Being an African American living in America and bound for the Beijing games in a few days and the founder of http://www.olympiconenessdream.com a social site for international Olympic attendees, I have a keen interest in this story.
Join with me and take a stand with the Chinese motto for the Olympic Games in Beijing “One World One Dream”.
How do you say “I have a Dream” in Chinese?

Hugh Browne

By: Les Noirs et les Mongols interdits de bar à Pékin | Netlex FOCUS

Les Noirs et les Mongols interdits de bar à Pékin | Netlex FOCUS — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:29:50 +0000

[...] is policy, then it is a very bad policy – more so for a country holding an Olympics,” he said. Sanlitun Saturday night: Blacks enjoy drinks, play pool, apparently await ban July 20th, 2008 Sanlitun Saturday night: Blacks enjoy drinks, play pool, apparently [...]

By: Africans in Beijing harassed as Olympics approach - Page 2 - World Affairs Board

Africans in Beijing harassed as Olympics approach - Page 2 - World Affairs Board — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:43:42 +0000

[...] Beijing Boyce � Sanlitun Saturday night: Blacks enjoy drinks, play pool, apparently await ban Beijing expat trolls the Beijing nightlife scene for blacks. Finds many Africans. [...]

By: ANON

ANON — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:15:06 +0000

Mr Boyce,

It is a bit presumptuous of you to assume that because us bar owners don’t want to risk losing our business because of a quote from you on your blog that this pledge does not exist.

It is also ridiculous to assume that because black people are still in bars that the SCMP article is fiction.

I suggest you look a little harder and if you want to know the truth, the pledge is real and the people denying it are terrified of being shut down.

By: blondbjexpat

blondbjexpat — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:51:15 +0000

Boyce,

Two bar managers, ones that I’m certain you spoke with, told me that they did indeed sign a pledge saying that they wouldn’t serve blacks. They also admitted that they signed it under coercion and realized that they couldn’t actually enforce it without drawing negative attention from the foreign community. They said the police have yet to be back and speak with them about not following the pledge they signed.

I wonder if maybe these people didn’t confide in you because they knew they’d end up on your blog 24 hours later. I can’t think of any other explanation for why they’d tell me one thing and you another. Can you?

By: top deck tiger

top deck tiger — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:50:49 +0000

Very thorough investigation but did the stories in the SCMP not say ‘during’ the Games, rather than ‘right now’, today, this very hour during which you sup and think up sanctimonious comments? The SCMP’s first story was sloppy indeed, and the second much better; one has to wonder at the quality of the editors who allowed this story to appear on Friday, and failing to bollock the reporter for crappy journalism. That it appeared on a feature page deep inside the paper is strange. Surely such a story, if supported by two sources (and we have to believe that these sources are known to the editors given the shock value of the quotes), with a denial and investigation to strike a balance, it would merit page 1 or in the news at least … There is no smoke without fire and that naked racism exists towards a number of ethnic communities is not news, nor is it up for debate. I do hope the SCMP severely ticks off its reporter, Mr Miller, who exposed a degree of laziness or inexperience or naivety, or perhaps a mix of the three. But it is the editors, who we must presume are in Hong Kong, who must stand up and be counted for allowing this first story to go through half baked and cause the paper’s reputation to be questioned and give those in power in Beijing a break in their obvious racist ways. But it is during the Games that we must observe if such a ban, limited or selective or otherwise, is enforced. I can’t believe the SCMP reporter made this story up. He did however fail to investigate it properly. That said, the story is out there, and those in the PSB with crass racial views now know they are like the rest of us, being watched very closely.

By: Wu Di

Wu Di — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:28:46 +0000

The Olympics haven’t started yet… and simply denying the ongoing discrimination against black people in all over China won’t help to stop it any more than it has in the U.S.

Must have been quite a pub crawl. I agree that SCMP was actually quite careful with its allegations. Be that as it may, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’ll be clearer evidence in August.

Maybe it would be good to interview some of the black people living in Beijing to get a picture of the extent of the ongoing racial discrimination? Or how about asking your Chinese friends what they think about black people?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:47:18 +0000

This is a trip. I live in Atlanta GA and I just left Beijing this past Friday. To think, I had been talking about how well received we were when we were there. It makes me wonder what the natives were say after they asked to take pictures with us everywhere we went. I always heard that we were not favored in China but, to see it in writing is interesting.

This falls in line with Sunday 7/13 paper that bans restaurants from serving Dog Meat while the Olympics where in town. That is the sole reason why this story shows its validity.