Mixed-Blood Chinese/African Named to Men’s Basketball Team - First Black Player on a National Team

QQ recently reported about Ding Hui, the first "black" player on a national team.  The story is in Chinese but has pictures.  The first two paragaraphs are translated as follows:

“China Volleyball Association recently announced the 18-person roster for the Chinese men’s volleyball team. 20-year-old Ding Hui, one of the young stars on the list, is extremely special because he’s a mixed-blood¹ Chinese-African.  Jian’an Zhou said Ding Hui is highly important for the team for the next upcoming Olympics. He said this pliable, tough and agile player is the first “black” player on a national team in China.

20-year-old Ding Hui grew up in Hangzhou. His father is South African and his mother is from Hangzhou. Black skin, thick lips, big white teeth: these are the Ding Hui’s characteristic traits. Yet, he startles those around him when he starts speaking Hangzhou dialect. Due to his African bloodline blessing him with pliability, toughness and agility, Ding Hui was sent to the local sports school to train at an early age.”

Popular Comments From the Original Article

“I wish the whole Chinese men’s volleyball team were mixed-blood.” (2170 for) (25 against)

“Hua Tian is also mixed-blood. How come nobody reports on him? Is it because Hua Tian is Chinese-English? To be honest, some Chinese people still look down on black people.
Personally, I can accept any colour mixed-blood person as long as they truly love China.
I support Zhou Jian’an and Ding Hui. I express my respects for Ding Hui’s mother and father. It isn’t easy!” (1003 for) (71 against)

“Another Chinese woman taken by an African” (124 for) (329 against)

“Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it's a good cat.” (214 for) (6 against)

"Mixed-blood"

混血, pronounced hùnxuě, translates syllable-for-syllable into “mixed-blood.”

Even though this term is not used in a derogatory way I’ve always disliked it.  It doesn't seem accurate since "blood" represents genes and every human is a mixture of their parents’ genes.  It also reminds me of the word "hundan" or "mixed-egg" which basically means "bastard."  This is just a personal feeling towards the word though - I've never had a Chinese person agree with me on this one.

Many Chinese people are fascinated with mixed-blood children.  For example, there are many many forum posts with pictures of mixed-blood children and nothing but positive comments about how cute they are.  I've found that a lot of Chinese people believe that mixed-blood children will inherit positive traits from the races of their parents.  Hunxueer.cn is a website devoted to mixed-blood children.  It's mostly in Chinese, but here's an English post.

Nevertheless, with a disproportionate number of males to females in China, some people in China are hyper-sensitive to the issue of foreign men "stealing" their national treasures.  More on this soon!

This Story Elsewhere

Canadian Press 

CRIEnglish - English summary written by Chinese people

About the author

Tait Lawton is an online marketer focused on the Chinese market. He is the founder of Nanjing Marketing Group, a company that provides Chinese-language Internet marketing services to Western clients. Tait has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Alberta.
 
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