Favoring the Foreigners: Do Laowai Have it Easier in China than Waidiren?

Jerry Chan | Jul 22, 2013 6:00 pm | 5 comments | 9119 reads

Chinasmack has posted a translation of a video that's been making the rounds on Youku and Youtube contrasting the living situations and standards of urban foreigners (a.k.a. "Laowai" 老外) and big-city dwelling Chinese from other provinces ("Waidiren," 外地人). Among the contentions (which I've paraphrased below):

  • Foreigners have it much easier than waidiren when it comes to buying real estate in first-tier cities - the former only needs one year of working experience while the latter needs to have paid five years of social insurance or individual taxes.
  • Foreigners get tax breaks on business and income tax while waidi Chinese get taxed even when their incomes are extremely low.
  • Chinese people are (generally) limited to one child per family while foreigners are not.
  • Waidi Chinese students are stuck with the inaccessible gao kao (the nationwide university entrance exam) while foreigners with green cards are guaranteed to have an easier time if they go to a Chinese university.

And some of the ensuing comments left by Chinese viewers:

I completely do not understand, really. Why does a portion of Chinese people so blindly worship the foreign…? Truly it is baffling. They’re humans and you’re human too. Where are you inferior to them? There truly are too many idiots. Actually the laowai who come to China have all been washed out from their own countries, yet we treat them as treasures, shouldn’t we really reflect on this???

Along with some comments left by foreigners:

i think it's just a bunch of bullshit. As foreigner in china you do not have any preferential treatment in anything. You have to pay everything more and you're always checked and controlled by police. Let's think about chinese in other countries.. do they need a degree to get a work permit? no. Do they need a citizen fellow to open an activity? no. Chinese always think foreigners are better treated, but the truth is that in china foreigners are treated in a bad way, worst than in most of other countries. I would like to reply point by point, but there's just one .."If foreigners want to start a business in China, there are even more preferential treatment " who wrote this do not understand how international business work.. it's obvious that if you want foreigners to invest in your country you have to give them a good treatment, but this is an investment that makes china richer, a chinese that open a restaurant is not like a foreigner that open a factory.... beside all foreigners investment are strictly checked and very often the know-how is stolen..About children, they are not chinese citizens so why should china care about how many children foreigners choose to have? there are not so many foreigners with green card, and among them i think no one would like his children go to chinese schools..

The video has been making the round in social media as well. Here was one long-time Beijing laowai's reaction on Facebook:

Having lived in China since 1995 and started and run several companies, here is the scorecard so far (versus local equivalents): Business tax benefits received: none Personal tax benefits received: none (should have been a diplomat I guess) Length of time to set up retail WOFE: 12 months (versus a few months for locals starting up wholly-owned businesses) Cost of complying fully with tax and labor laws (versus local counterparts who seem to manage their overheads more efficiently): hard to assess.

And so it goes - back and forth, back and forth, with a predictable amount of trolling, self-righteous whinging and stereotyping from both sides (this is the internet, after all). But all that aside, I found this to be one of the more insightful comments:

Question is what do they want to do about this issue? Should they extend the same positivity to their fellow citizens, or should they have a gradual reduction of preferential treatment for foreigners? That's what I'm wondering, what do they want to do? I would hope the first option is what they strive for, but realistically I can only imagine people in China seeings this video and thinking of the second option.

What do you think? Is this video making a fair comment on a laowai/Chinese divide or just a way to stir up xenophobic resentment?

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Comments

waixingren's picture waixingren Submitted by Guest on Thu, 07/25/2013 - 10:28

What I just saw was a very slick, professionally animated clip. It obviously had a great deal of funding going into it's production.

By recent changes to visa policy and stirring up citizens with this kind of propaganda, there is definitely a push by those in power to run more foreigners out of the country. I thought the scene where foreigners fly home after a stink cloud flies over Beijing comes out of pure spite and jealousy, as the scene is a domestic problem, not a "laowai" issue.

Foreign teachers are the prime target of this ad, NOT international businessmen or embassy staff. People in power hate knowing that money being made in China will eventually leave China. That being the case, it would make much more sense for those in power to set limits to the number of visas allocated to FTs, rather than stirring up more racist propaganda.

It sickens me at how friendly and hospitable my home country is to newcomers from China, when foreigners are so resented over here that (obviously sponsored) hateful propaganda is widely distributed over youku. They love to ban my friend's harmless facebook updates but racist tirades are ok!

I wish the best for this country and know that most foreigners cannot tell the difference between a waidiren and those born in the city. This is Chinese people from Beijing vs Chinese people coming in from other provinces. The entrenchment of unjust discrimination is a domestic issue. Will China ever be mature enough to admit it has it's own political/social problems, or will waiguo be forever blamed?

五毛 described by Chinese President Hu Jintao as "a new pattern of public-opinion guidance"

Tropical big time's picture Tropical big time Submitted by Guest on Wed, 07/24/2013 - 16:48

Lot so long ago it would have been the laowai are better off than the Chinese in china.
That type of propaganda doesn't work now as it is a hatred scam to fire up the waidi working class to gain more rights (the general beijinger is classed as rich now).
Unfortunately every time the Chinese economy slows down the foreigners card is always played.
I know that many local Chinese have their opinion about the working classes of waidi here and it's also much to do with population management.
If life in Beijing becomes too easy for waidi ren what will happen ....more will come and place increasingly more pressure of infrastructure and health resources....
It is desperate and sad that people have to bring foreigners just going on with their daily lives here into a problem that goes so far beyond.
I personally believe we add a literal bit of color to the life and workings of the capital.

vmomo's picture vmomo Submitted by Guest on Wed, 07/24/2013 - 15:13

Right at the beginning of the foreigner crackdown last year my Chinese flatmate answered the door and the policeman forgot all about any laowai who may have been sharing the flat and got right down to interrogating him about hukou and the like. We, without question, have it easier than most Chinese people.

The Equalizer's picture The Equalizer Submitted by Guest on Mon, 07/22/2013 - 20:27

The following comment almost isn't worth commenting on "Actually the laowai who come to China have all been washed out from their own countries" Obviously this was posted by an uneducated Chinese. The Chinese are smarter than that. Tit for tat might be..well, never mind I won't go to that level. In the last year or so there has been some isolated incidents that cast a unfavorable shadow on the foreigner, but these are isolated cases and as the saying goes "One bad apple doesn't spoil the barrel." The government should expel any foreigner that is here illegally, working without proper visas, or through false papers immediately and you will end up with quality foreigners who actualy contribute in some shape, form, or fashion. You can start with your local schools that hire anyone who can speak English, whether or not they are qualified or even if it is their mother tongue. If you want your children to get the advantage then start by using only qualified English teachers so your children will not have to relearn everything they have been taught wrongly. (BTW, I am not a language teacher but I do find it apalling how some of the ones I have crossed paths with can be considered a language teacher, even with my imagination.). However, if this is how you truly feel about ALL foreingers, maybe you should consider outlawing all foreigners and don't allow any of us into your country. I wish all Chinese can end up owning their own mansions, nice cars, clean environment, find love and happiness, and realize their personal dreams. It will not directly affect my life, my work position, or my future in the least no matter which country I am working out of. This world has winners and losers and I am not the latter so I take exception to that comment. Good luck, regardless.

All information stated by this poster is for informational purposes only. The content should not substitute you seeking psychiatric advice should you have a problem with it.

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