Ethnic chauvinism has impeded China from launching a significant number of international brands, despite having developed the world’s largest economy and getting hundreds of thousands of foreigners to learn Mandarin. This same attitude is what cripples companies’ ability to work with other ethnicities in remarkably surprising ways and is responsible for a lot of the bizarre public relations disasters and broken English produced by Chinese companies. Ethnic chauvinism is a highly abstract, deep cultural problem, and I think it would be easiest to understand by looking at a case study from a televised program that gave a rare look into the thought processes of managers at Chinese corporations. While these managers are not discriminating against individual people, they are expressing a belief that their own culture is superior which, in turn, causes them to make bad decisions.
Many years ago, John Pasden posted this case study on his blog about an old Chinese game show where businesspeople would judge whether a person is qualified for a job. The panel of employers, there to promote their businesses, frequently provide interesting commentary. John was surprised to see an American applicant on the show, which is a rarity; typically, participants on this show are all locals, unlike the popular dating show If You Are the One (非诚勿扰), which has featured a number of foreigners over the years. During the program, each applicant is given the opportunity to explain what type of job they are looking for and to be interviewed by a panel of twelve employers in front of a camera. If all goes well, the employers make offers to the applicant and discuss their salary live on the show. Finally, the applicant is offered the chance to accept or decline the offer.
Nathan, a 25-year-old Caucasian American contestant seeking a job in advertising, had been living in Beijing for a while and spoke fluent Chinese, with no difficulty communicating on the show. However, the employers’ responses toward Nathan were not what John was expecting. Nathan mentioned that he had not yet completed his bachelor’s degree in Beijing, yet he was looking for a job in advertising to help Chinese companies target international markets. One classic response from the judges reveals a strong ethnic chauvinism mindset:
“I’ve read your introduction, so I know you didn’t go to college in the U.S. Sorry, maybe that’s your little secret. But, I mean, in the U.S. you didn’t have a degree, and after coming to China you majored in Chinese. Right, Mandarin. Then compared with this year’s college graduates here, you don’t even have a major. So you just have English. But there are tons of university graduates with good English. In circumstances like his, finding a job is rough. However, if, for example, you were looking for an internship, and wanted to work at a certain kind of company, I think that would be simpler. Otherwise, it’s always going to come back to not knowing what he’s good at and what he’s thinking.”
To many readers, it will not be immediately clear that this is an ethnic chauvinism problem, so I will need to explain the concepts in a bit more detail for this to be understood but, more importantly, how ethnic chauvinism is actually harmful to the person with the problem.
An Overview of Ethnic Chauvinism
While a Google search for “ethnic chauvinism” is filled with results on Han Chauvinism, the concept of ethnic chauvinism is extremely widespread and had major effects on history, dominantly with European colonialism. A form of chauvinism based on ethnicity, ethnic chauvinism is often used to justify discrimination and prejudice against certain ethnic groups. At its core, ethnic chauvinism is rooted in a sense of tribalism and an extreme form of nationalism, characterized by an irrational belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group. This often leads to the exclusion or marginalization of other ethnic groups.
In the 18th century, the concept of ethnic chauvinism was further developed by German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder. Herder argued that each nation had its own unique culture and identity, and he argued for the superiority of German culture over other cultures. This idea was later adopted by other nationalists, including French historian Jules Michelet. It was also used by some nationalist movements to rally people behind political movements, such as the territorial claims preceding the world wars. Ethnic chauvinism can also lead to increased political tensions between different ethnic groups, which can lead to conflict and violence. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin used Russian ethnicity as the reason to justify the country’s recent claims of parts of Ukraine.
Media and propaganda can also play a role in the emergence of ethnic chauvinism. The media can portray certain ethnic groups in a negative light, and propaganda can be used to demonize them. This is particularly relevant to China, where the media typically portrays foreigners as ignorant and unable to understand Chinese culture. The United States, too, has a long history of ethnic chauvinism, as the Constitution was written based on a compromise insisting on the superiority of the white race. This then led to the exclusion and oppression of African Americans, Native Americans, and other minority groups. In my view, ethnic chauvinism is a naturally arising social phenomenon that occurs virtually anywhere the appropriate conditions are present. China is no exception, and Han Chauvinism follows virtually the same exact patterns observed elsewhere. Moreover, China’s leaders not only acknowledge the existence of Han Chauvinism but also declare it an ever-present threat.
Han Chauvinism is based on the belief that the Han Chinese are the most advanced and civilized culture in the world and that they should be respected and protected. This belief is often expressed through the promotion of traditional Chinese culture, language, and values. Over the years, Han Chauvinism has been criticized for its promotion of ethnic homogeneity, which has been seen as a form of discrimination against minority ethnic groups. It has also been accused of ignoring the contributions of other cultures and nations to Chinese civilization. Some scholars and activists even argue that Han Chauvinism is a form of xenophobia and racism, that it promotes an exclusive Chinese identity based on a sense of superiority and rejection of other cultures. In addition, they argue that it can lead to hostility and discrimination against non-Han minorities.
In a prescient 2016 article in The Diplomat, Patrick Meyer highlighted the fact that the Han people are in charge of the politics, economy, and culture of modern China, believing that their own way of life and culture is superior. This Han Chauvinism, or Hanism, is a great risk to Chinese unity and stability, with the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) recognizing it as a major risk. In 2014, President Xi Jinping and other top CPC officials met at the Ethnic Affairs Work Conference and declared that safeguarding ethnic unity was the lifeline of all ethnicities and that they should be vigilant against great Hanism and ultra-nationalism. This further demonstrates the CPC’s awareness of the risks posed by Han chauvinism to the Chinese nation. Nevertheless, Meyer argues that the CPC has not yet been able to implement a successful strategy to address the issue. Since Meyer’s article was published, China’s image in global polls has plummeted, which lends credence to Meyer’s theory. At the time, I did not agree with Meyer’s opinion and, in 2018, I advanced the theory in China that it would be a dysfunctional translation industry, not Han Chauvinism, that would lead to the nightmare results he predicted during internationalization. However, Meyer has advanced a lot of good evidence to support his theory.
Attack of Ethnic Chauvinism On Chinese-English Translation
There are hundreds of thousands of people in Western countries who have learned Mandarin, much of it due to the government’s efforts at promoting it, yet almost none of them seem to be helping Chinese businesses succeed internationally. After looking at directory listings and talking to translation companies, I found that the total headcount of native English speakers is something like 8 out of the 200,000 translators in the field. International opinion of Chinese-English translation quality continues to be very low, and Chinese brands still aren’t succeeding internationally. This is largely due to the ethnic chauvinism groupthink of the translation managers responsible for the bulk of these projects: they are willing to explicitly say that Han culture is deep and vast, extending over 5,000 years and that no foreigner could master it, yet American culture is shallow, having only a couple hundred years behind it, and can be mastered in just a couple years. This is virtually the same opinion as expressed by the game show judge quoted above.
As a result, if given an opportunity to consider an American or British translator with excellent Chinese, translation managers will often rather pick a young translator from Shenzhen who happened to spend two years living abroad. That is perceived to be enough to master all the nuances of English and said managers would turn a blind eye to well-reported problems. Problems like how Chinese students studying abroad tend to minimize their social contact with local students, preferring to live in a Chinese language bubble not much different from what they would experience back home. We don’t instinctively consider this to be a form of ethnic chauvinism because the Shenzhen translator is making maybe $5/hour, less than US minimum wage.
Following comments originally raised by Terry Waltz, a well-regarded interpreter and commenter, my point here is that ethnic chauvinism is directed not towards the person, but rather toward their person’s ethnic-cultural background. That is, they say the American is a fine person, but that “American culture” is kind of an oxymoron: it hardly exists. Thus, a foreigner could toil for 50 years, spending all day every day learning Han culture, and still wouldn’t be considered to have mastered it. Whereas a Chinese native need only play ping-pong on US soil for two years to have mastered everything. In the television show comments Pasden provided, the host very clearly makes this bias implicit: he says Nathan’s English ability is nothing special compared to local Chinese that memorized a couple of word lists back in high school.
Native English translators who go to China and try to find work often tell me that they are offered compensation that comes out to around $4/hour, less than local translators because they are given much more scrutiny and forced to work harder for the same rates. The reason is their native-level mastery of English is valued at the same rates. Often, their good English language translations of Chinese originals will be edited back into Chinglish, and they will be told to learn from the example. Ethnic chauvinism against English-speaking cultural backgrounds causes these managers to routinely implement business processes that cause broken, incoherent English to dominate their international communications.
