Viewpoints Chinese communities in Europe | Chinese communities in Europe |
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28 August 2002 I am a French citizen, my wife Soen is Chinese (from Indonesia), we have been married since June 1975, we have a 7 years old son. My feeling about the place of the Chinese communities in Europe is that, taking into account the fact that Europeans are by nature fairly concervative, any "chinatown" or strong regrouping of any group of people from foreign background (meaning non caucasian origin) can be seen as a will not to assimilate. This may be wrong of course, but it is the way people feel in many cases. That being said, I see clearly that education as a whole can make the difference between Europeans with a negative attitude and the ones with positive thinking. French people resent the presence of Arabs in France as a danger, but are quite relax about Chinese people. They also question at times some unclear practices in Chinatowns, but generally speaking, I do not see that people are that prejudiced, except for the center region of France (where the Petain fans were numerous during the 2nd World war...). People in Chartres are, generally speaking, quite turned to the past and afraid of their own shadow. I have the impression that in the UK, one of the biggest problem is that the word "Asians" covers all origins, while Brits reject mainly Pakistanis and muslims. As Chinese people are, definitely, Asians too, there is, it seems, a drawback from your side in accepting the general term "Asians" for both Indians/Pakistanis and Chinese people. We do not call Indians and Pakistanis "Asians" in French, but more specifically Indians. That being said, I doubt that the problems that may exist between communities of any part of the world comes from colour or shapes, but rather from Values of the individuals. Islam is not well percieved, but Buddhism is, and generally speaking, human beings being afraid of the unknown, this leads to racism and all ugly attitudes. I was once the target of Chinese racism towards me in Melbourne, to my great surprise, which shows clearly that racism is not a one way ticket. Likewise, my frequent trips to China have shown me that the Chinese community is also quite prejudiced. Again, once people get to know each other, this attitude changes, provided both sides accept the inner values of the other party. As far as I am concerned, I concider I am lucky to have such a great family as my in-laws in Jakarta. They were all Dutch educated and then completed their education in the States, Australia and Europe. On my side, since my childhood (I was born in 1950), my parents were fascinated by the Chinese Culture and Chinese accomplishments in History, Philosophy, Arts, Food, you name it. I guess they passed on to me this interest in the Orient. Their message, in my childhood was: " Learn from other cultures !" According to my wife, the most open minded people in France are definitely the people from Brittany, where she feels at home. I am glad to say, that is where I also come from. Anyway, you have a friend in me in France, rest assured of that. All the best to all of you. HervŽ Le Gall |
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