Benutzer:Partynia/Xenophobia and racism related to the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

Map of the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak:

Region of origin (Mainland China)

Confirmed cases reported

Suspected cases reported

The Wuhan novel coronavirus, a new virus designated 2019-nCoV, was identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China in mid-December 2019 when a group of people developed a pneumonia without clear causes, and existing treatments were found to be ineffective. The novel coronavirus has similar characteristics to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). 2019-nCoC is contagious during the incubation period of up to 14 days when the infected may not show any symptoms, and has a fatality rate of about 2-3%. By the end of January 2020, the novel coronavirus had spread to 27 countries and regions globally, infecting almost 18,000 people and causing the death of more than 400. As the new coronavirus originated from China and more than 95% of those infected are Chinese, the epidemic caused a rise in xenophobic and anti-Chinese as well as anti-Asian incidents around the world.

Context

The Wuhan novel coronavirus epidemic revived fear and concerns caused by the 2003 SARS and 2012–2013 MERS in countries that were affected by the epidemics. Like SARS, the Wuhan novel coronavirus originates from China and has a suspected origin from viruses in bats. Though not as deadly as SARS, which has a fatality rate of about 9-10%, the novel coronavirus was more contagious. Within slightly more than a month of its discovery, the novel coronavirus has overtook the total number of people infected by SARS during the eight months epidemic. Coupled with the facts that vaccine for the new virus has yet to be developed, much about the new virus were yet to be known and more than 95% of the infected were Chinese, xenophobic and racist reactions to Asians and specifically Chinese began surfacing. A resident in Germany of Asian descent lamented, "With this recent coronavirus outbreak, it [racism against people of Asian descent] has just gotten worse.... we are basically stuck between getting ridiculed and being the recipient of disgust."

A common theme in the novel coronavirus related anti-Chinese sentiments is the stigma and stereotype of Chinese taste for bushmeat. One of the suspected starting points of the novel coronavirus is Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a wet market in the heart of Wuhan that purportedly sold bushmeat that caused the first transmission of the novel coronavirus from animal to human similar to SARS. This was despite that actual cause of the novel coronovirus remained under investigation, and the medical journal The Lancet pointed out that 13 of the initial 41 known cases of infection have no link to the market and the two-week incubation period meant the virus could have spread in Wuhan before the cluster in the market. Experts have said that it is not so much about which meat is eaten, but how thoroughly it is cooked and the hygiene in the preparation of the food. Infectious disease specialist Leong Hoe Nam, who was intimately involved in the fight agains SARS in Singapore, said "The chef is at greatest risk...it is a case of right person meeting the wrong virus at the wrong time."

The stigma and anti-Chinese sentiment arising from the novel coronavirus was exacerbated by a viral video on social media showing a Chinese influencer consuming a bowl of bat soup. The video was held up as evidence of "disgusting" Chinese eating habits, though it was produced more than three years before the novel coronavirus epidemic and in Palau, a Pacific island nation where bat soup is a delicacy. In an op-ed, CNN journalist Jeff Yang wrote, "Food and hygiene slander have long been the spear tip of attacks by contemptuous (or envious) Westerners seeking to make Chinese seem impossibly alien, and thus unassimilable and inadmissible to their "civilized" countries." He continued, "Back in the turn of the 19th century, Chinese were commonly regarded as "dirty, heathen rat-eaters"; vintage ads for pest poison Rough on Rats played on this perception... by suggesting that it was nearly as effective at controlling vermin as hungry Chinese people."

Global incidents

Australia

Two of Australia's papers with the biggest-circulation in the country also posted insensitive headlines on 26 January 2020. Melbourne's Herald Sun's headline read, "Chinese virus pandamonium," a mis-spelling of "pandemonium" to play on China's native pandas while Sydney's Daily Telegraph's headline on the same day read, "China kids stay home." The headlines have incited an online petition with more than 51,000 signatures demanding an apology.

At a Woolworths supermarket in Port Hedland, Western Australia, a staff member removed and refused entry to customers who appeared to be of east Asian descent, claiming it was to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. A witness who filed a complaint said, "I noticed a guy of Asian descent lining up to buy his groceries when one staff member got right in his face and started yelling 'out out .... I told you you've got to get out.' Later I was lining up at the checkout and the staff member was telling the story to another customer, saying he had 'kicked out those Chinese boat people, they were coughing on everything', like he was a hero."

A 22-year old Chinese-Australian has been collecting racially-discriminatory online comments after noticing a rise in prevalence after the novel coronavirus outbreak. She said while being the target of racial discrimination was not a new experience for her, it has worsened since the outbreak. Some of her collected comments read,

• "...UN needs to step in and quarantine the whole country of China and send all students and travelers back to China, then cull the whole population and burn the country. It's the only way [to] eradicate the problem."
• "...what a horrible race. I don't want them here as you know in the future China will run our beautiful Australia."
• "That's their plan to wipe us out so they can take full control of Australia."
• "What do you expect from a Third World Country, if we are not careful, China will cause the end of the human race."

United Kingdom

On 30 January 2020, a postgraduate student walking alone on West Street towards Sheffield University was verbally abused and nudged by three people. Some British Chinese have mentioned incidents where they were discriminated because of their Chinese origins while most of the restaurants in Chinatown are mostly empty due to rumors that someone can get the virus by eating Chinese food.

Canada

Toronto website BlogTO noted stigma attached to Chinese food similar to what happened during the 2003 SARS outbreak. Racist comments were posted on its Instagram about a new Chinese restaurant, which some posters urged diners to avoid because "it may have bat pieces in there or whatever else they eat." Instagram users also commented on a photo of a Chinese restaurant in Toronto, making comments like "No eating bats please! That's how coronavirus started in China!" and "I ain't trine catch no virus."

Frank Ye, a student at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto told CBC Radio his Asian Canadian friends have witnessed people moving away from them or holding their mouths. His mother, a nurse at a Toronto hospital, was asked by a man for a mask because there were "just so many Chinese people around here."

Peter Akman, a reporter who was with Canada's CTV tweeted an image of his Asian barber in mask and said, "Hopefully all I got today was a haircut." He was fired after the tweet was reported.

An online petition was set up, urging schools to ban Chinese students. A board that represents 208 schools in Toronto condemned the petition, saying that it is inciting racism and bias.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned racism against Chinese Canadians during a Lunar New Year festival in Toronto.

France

French newspaper Le Courrier Picard featured an Asian woman wearing a mask on its front page on Sunday 26 January 2020 with a headline "Yellow Alert". The paper also titled an editorial "A New Yellow Peril". The publication drew condemnation from French Asians who started the hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (transliterated to #IAmNotaVirus). One woman calling herself Forky wrote on Twitter, "Not all Asians are Chinese. Not all Chinese were born in China and not all have been there. An Asian with coughs doesn't have the #coronavirus."

Hong Kong

Tenno Ramen, a Japanese noodle restaurant in Hung Hom, refuses to serve mainland Chinese customers. The restaurant said on Facebook, "We want to live longer. We want to safeguard local customers. Please excuse us."

Indonesia

A demonstration was staged outside a hotel in Bukittinggi, rejecting the visit of tourists from Southern China who stayed there amid fear of coronavirus. The demonstrators demanded that the tourists be isolated in an airport, and showed distrust over screening tools in airports. It ended after police guaranteed that the tourists would stay in the hotel up to the following day, when the tourists depart from the city.

Italy

La Repubblica reported that the director of Rome's prestigious Santa Cecilia music conservatory, Roberto Giuliani, suspended the lessons of all "Oriental students (Korean, Chinese, Japanese etc.)" due to the epidemic, though most of the students are second-generation Italian immigrants with no relationship to their heritage countries.

Japan

In Japan, the hashtag #ChineseDon'tComeToJapan has been trending on Twitter.

A server at a restaurant in Ito, a Japanese city on a peninsula south of Tokyo, was recorded shouting at a tourist "China! Out!" A Chinese woman, who was the target of the outburst, immediately left the restaurant.

A confectionery shop in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture put up an offensive sign barring Chinese from entering, prompting Chinese netizens to boycott the store.

North Macedonia

A single incident has been noticed where a local roma guy was yelling at a group of South Korean nationals mistakenlly assuming that they were Chinese tourists. He was arrested the next day and the city Mayor of the capital city of Skopje Mr. Petre Shilegov, so as the Ministry of foreign relations organized a meeting with the Korean visitors and apologised for the incident. To be more ironically, the guests were part of an NGO promoting peace and tolerance under organization of the United Nations.

Philippines

Various Filipino-Chinese advocacy groups have warned that racism against the Chinese community has risen after the outbreak has started. The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc and the Trade Union of Congress of the Philippines have condemned anti-Chinese propaganda with links to the virus. Adamson University, a prominent Catholic school in Manila, received online backlash for ordering all its Chinese students to quarantine themselves amid the new coronavirus outbreak.

President Duterte has made appeals to the public to stop discriminating against anyone who has Chinese ancestry.

South Korea

An entrance to a South Korean restaurant in downtown Seoul has a sign in red Chinese characters that reads "No Chinese Allowed".

More than half a million South Korean citizens have reportedly signed a petition lobbying the government to ban Chinese tourists from entering the country.

United States

In an infographic on common reactions to the novel coronavirus epidemic posted by University Health Services at the University of California, Berkeley, the school advised that "Xenophobia: fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia and guilt about these feelings" is normal.

An eight year-old boy of mixed Korean-American and Mexican, Chinese, Native American and white heritage was spotted at Costco with a mask and told by sample-stand worker to "get away because he may be from China."

See also

• Anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea
• Anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan
• Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States
• Yellow Peril

References

Vorlage:2019-nCoV Countries Category:Anti-Asian sentiment Category:Anti-Chinese sentiment Category:Xenophobia