Most Western expats instinctively know that it is not OK to make racist remarks about black people, but they’re a lot less sensitive when it comes to Chinese people. They think that as long as you don’t use words like “Chinaman” or “Chinky”, you’re not racist. But who under the age of 90 would use those words anyway? The real problem is crass generalisations.

India bemused by ‘racist’ Chinese video

Listen when expats talk about China and its problems. These guys could fix anything, to hear them talk. Social unrest in rural China? Bring on the white guy. Ethnic trouble in Tibet? We need that white guy. Rule of law? The aggression of China’s Pacific fleet? Undervalued Renminbi? Too much spitting? There’s nothing the average white guy can’t solve.

And for many white people, having a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse proves you’re not racist, no matter what else you say or do. Sorry, white person, that is not a recognised defence to a charge of racism. “Mr Perkins, you have been found guilty of ethnic cleansing.” “What, me? But my girlfriend is from Shanghai.” “Oh, OK then you’re free to go.” That is not how it works.

I pointed out above that no modern Western person would use words like “Chinaman”. That is what I thought … until I moved to Britain in 2015 and met a New Jersey lady who kept using the phrase “Chinaman Number One” to refer to China’s president. And a month later found myself consulting for a Midlands company whose CFO told me that the Chinese “can look you in the eye and lie to you”. So, quite unlike the English then, who never lie.

Of course, this view of China is often put about by Chinese “consultants” who set up companies around the Western world called things like “Gateway of the Dragon” or “Jade Panda Advisory” or “Great Walls of Fire”. These fellows make their money by telling everyone that in China, all business is taken care of by a mysterious oriental concept called guanxi of which there is no equivalent in the rest of the world. Luckily these consultants are friends with the brother of the local vice-mayor of Pingzhou, so they can get things done. Consultants like these encourage a stereotypical view of China, so I suppose you can’t completely blame foreigners for repeating it.

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What do Chinese people view as expat racism? Well, here’s the thing. The Chinese are the most tolerant people on earth when it comes to anti-Chinese racism. In fact, Chinese people love stereotypes. Whole sections of the Chun Wan gala (in the old days, when people used to watch it) were devoted to stereotypes of people from different parts of China: Shanghainese calculating, Dongbei people pugnacious, Beijing people verbose ….

No, if you want to find people who are oversensitive about racism you have to go to the US, where being easily offended is taught in junior school. Asian people in both Britain and the US get tremendously sad if an actor who isn’t Asian plays the part of someone who is Asian. Matt Damon had to apologise for appearing in a fantasy film about the Great Wall, even though he was playing a European. He should certainly have apologised for the film, because it was moronic, but not for some sort of weirdly perceived racism.

Perhaps the most important distinction is between doing something racist, like attacking a person or refusing to hire them just for being the wrong colour, and saying something racist. Most people make racist remarks all the time. Perhaps we need to be more tolerant of intolerant people. ■

Nicolas Groffman writes on China, practised law in Beijing and Shanghai, and is currently a partner at law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys