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Blackface performance at Lunar New Year gala in China sparks new racism controversy
![Blackface performance at Lunar New Year gala in China sparks new racism controversy](https://api.thelevantnews.com/uploads/2021/02/1080x1000-0c132833-4cab-4b4c-b273-7c2972c91a3b_16x9_1200x676.jpg )
China’s state broadcaster has come under fire once more for a performance featuring dancers made up to look African during its annual gala show to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
During CCTV’s four-hour show which typically draws hundreds of millions of viewers, performers appeared on stage wearing outfits that approximated African clothing and had darkened their skin with make-up.The New Year Gala director team is just stupid and vicious,” said one of a number of users who took to Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, to criticize the skit.
![Chinese actors spark racism controversy during a Lunar New Year performance. (ScreenGrab via YouTube)](https://api.thelevantnews.com/uploads/2021/02/21770acd-8d5d-45c5-ac71-df1ec7c7fc53-300x154.png)
“Is there any difference between Chinese people doing blackface and white people slanting their eyes to make fun of Asians?”
The gala sparked similar controversy in 2018 over a skit featuring actress Lou Naiming. She appeared on stage in colorful garb, her face and arms colored brown, carrying a fruit basket on her head and accompanied by someone costumed as a monkey.
Organizations and advocates for Africans in China also lambasted the show, which aired Thursday evening.
“While supporters of the practice allege that blackface centers on empathy & realism, it’s difficult to disassociate it from a long history of minstrelsy & fixation on problematic caricatures,” Black China Caucus, an activist group, said on Twitter.
![Chinese actors dressed in blackface during a CCTV performance on Lunar New Year. (Screengrab via YouTube)](https://api.thelevantnews.com/uploads/2021/02/270fae10-cdc1-41e8-a49e-e2552dd14df3-300x148.png)
“Next year, we hope organizers decide to end this practice & hire some of thousands of Black people living in many parts of China.”
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday, a public holiday. A representative for CCTV could not be reached for comment.
The show, which this year focused on celebrating Chinese medical workers and the country’s space program, has been a television staple since it was first broadcast in 1983.
source: Reuters
Image source: Reuters
Levant
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