Exploring China A Culinary Adventure

In a four-part BBC Two Series - 'Exploring China A Culinary Adventure,' Ken Hom and Ching He Huang rendezvous across China on a R&D mission to discover if there are any 'authentic' Chinese dishes that they haven't yet appropriated for their corporate culinary empires in the west. Its an easy task for Mandarin speaking charm school graduate Ching He Huang as she entices the local Mainland Chinese to open up their kitchens for the cameras - unaware these two corporate goons will purloin their secrets to shore up their already bulging balance sheets.

The programme's hidden word is authenticity, only an authentic Chinese chef can provide an insight into authentic Chinese cuisine, but who could be less authentic than South African raised Ching He Huang, who arrived in Britain at the age of 11, she makes a remarkable admission in the programme that as a teenager Chinese culture was so unappealing that she wanted to dye her hair to blend in with her White peers, it was her mothers love of Chinese food that reconnected her to her Chinese heritage. Ching hasn't quite shed her white fever, her partner is blanched Eurasian Jamie Cho, clearly Ching likes a bit of White in her as a reminder of the good old days. 

In previous cooking shows, Ching He Huang Chinese Food in Minutes and Chinese Food Made Easy, her trademark is an irresistible compulsion to crunch wise old Grandma tales of Chinese emperors and their concubines into her exoticised dishes, titillating the White audiences taste buds for the mystical orient.

Ching He Huang's incurable oriental proverbial tourettes overpowers her..."Don't waste rice, each grain of rice is like a bead of sweat." She should save some lines for her next series - 'Chinese Folklore Made Easy.' 

And Uncle Ken's homecoming? Throughout the series Ken Hom has looked overwhelmed by the whole mainland Chinese experience, its almost a quarter of a century since he last visited the mainland, he has lost touch with China and looks awkward relying on Ching to translate Mandarin to English, rumour has it that Ken's highly secretive long term unmarried partner of 37 years is in fact a gay man, maybe a presenter and locality swap replacing Ching He Huang with Gok Wan, China with Thailand, would be more appropriate. Gok Wan and Ken Hom Gayventuring, man-flirting their way across Thailand reporting on the culinary skills of Pattaya ladyboys would be a ratings thriller.

Overlooking the overplayed dung-dung-ding-a-ling-ling music and the unnecessary use of English subtitles for the 'broken Engrish' speaking chef, Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure reminds me of 'Gorillas In The Mist,' Ching and Ken are primatologists from the west exploring creatures that are genetically similar to themselves lurking in the jungles and villages of the orient, only to find these feral creatures and their cultures similar, endearing and human, if you could stir fry the National Geographic Channel into a wok, this programme would be the outcome.

(Exploring China A Culinary Adventure Review by BBCZeitgeist)

Exploring China A Culinary Adventure Episode 3 - Sunday 18th August, BBC2, 8pm

Watch BBC iPlayer - Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure Episode 1 - Click HERE

Watch BBC iPlayer - Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure Episode 2 - Click HERE

Bad Education BBC3 Racist Sitcom

Bad Education is a BBC3 sitcom written by Jack Whitehall, set in Abbey Grove School, a fictional state secondary school overrun with puerile predictable yawn-festing caricatures - the draconian deputy headmistress, the dexterously challenged teacher and the delinquent school children. Comatosed by this worthless piece of impoverished white-centric 'comedy' writing, any eye twitching interest is limited to the racist portrayal of Chinese student Jing played by Kae Alexander.

Racially humiliating the Chinese for the pleasure of generating cheap laughs for the White audience is considered ironic cutting edge British comedy. Bad Education's Facebook fan base (predominantly White, some Black) were highly amused by the Sinophobia...'that was so funny!'

It begs a question, why do British East Asian actors continually play these racially debilitating roles? Is she blonde? 'She's Chinese you muppet!' Really? With a 'Chinese' name like 'Kae Alexander,' we shouldn't really be surprised by the actions of these white-loving anglicized Asians, should we? (Bad Education Review by BBCZeitgeist)

  

Bad Education BBC3 10pm Starts Tuesday 14th August 2012
Watch BBC iplayer: Bad Education BBC Comedy Click HERE

Should BBCs be racist to White Black Indian?

Remember this?

  

And this?

2008? - OMG that's SOOOO long ago...!

Okay how about this little chestnut from last year...?

 

There was a recent blog comment on the mixed race article posted by a White teenager:

'Considering your blog is about anti-Chinese racism, is it fair to say you are also racist to Whites, Blacks, Indians and other non-Chinese'?

I replied  ' You wouldn't understand, you're not Chinese' This comment was immediately followed, by a presumably regular BBC  reader who asked, 'Why don't you answer him ? Because you know he's right isn't it?'

To which I replied- ' Are you white too, or just white-washed?'

With the western economy faltering, these days, it's understandable where the first commentor, in typical selfish mercenarial interest would exploit his self-entitled white privilege in the Far East to get it on with a Chinese girl. After all, surely that's what visiting the Far East is largely about for white males? To create 'Asian fusion culture'?

 But that as a BBC, I would have to defend my racial stance to a white person, and then get suddenly shot down by another BBC... is quite frankly, pathetic.

As you can see from articles here  for clues as to the upbringing of a BBC with ignorant FOB parents with the white environment default.... and here as to clues as to BBC solidarity in terms of who they would speak out for when it came down to it - me or a non-Chinese....

Due to being  so hampered by social engineering , BBC social identity hasn't been able to develop due to our mental 'space'  filled with with liberal multiculturalist 'equality', a lack of real strong Chinese role models outside our own family, adopting white viewpoints,  deifying the idea of having mixed race offspring, in actual fact, it's little surprise the aforementioned exchange happened.

In civil society, we have to get on with all kinds of people, but in understanding racial construct, if being 'racist to White/Asian/Black' is the way to go forward to create that mindspace for our Chinese identity to develop, then so be it. With the amount of selling out/white-washing we ethnic Chinese do/have been/is being done to us, having an actual separatist cultural mindset in this day and age, ought to be considered a great sign of self respect.

And why feel guilty about it? In a supposed equal British multicultural society, we are dominated by White advertising, white beauty adverts, white film stars, largely white government workers, with other British ethnic representation on the fringes of British society, even on TV , South Asians and Blacks are accepted as normal but rare appearances of ethnic Chinese...if female, hypersexualised and if male...invisible as usual.

 Do you Confucian-minded BBCs really want to add to our own BBC exclusion by calling me racist?

In a white-is normal default environment , the more you side with a non-Chinese in identity and viewpoint and outlook, the less security you will have in your own ethnic Chinese social identity, and as long as you are an ethnic Chinese, your racial appearance is what you will be judged on.

Has anyone of you readers been on the receiving end of what I call 'inter-ethnic discrimination'?

Inter-ethnic discrimination is when a white-washed British ethnic minority makes a derogatory comment or behaves in a patronising way simply because you are a Chinese.

For example, last year, when I was coming back home from a night out on town with my friend - a group of South Asian lads - one in particular, being all boisterous on a Saturday night suddenly pointed at my ethnic Chinese friend and started laughing at him, that was looking grumpy - actually he had just lost at the Casino.

That my friend is 6ft tall, tough looking and not at all 'wimpy' looking didn't stop this boisterous group of South Asians to happily mock away. At the time my friend ignored it and as typical with these brief exchanges, the incident was over way before your mind can even register it.

In another incident, two years ago, I was with another friend, squinting to view the cinema timetable to see what was showing, when of two South Asian lads, queuing up to see a film - one started smirking because of the way I was squinting to view the cinema times.

They caught me looking at them, and because he was feeling excited about queuing for his Bollywood film,  did a little mocking Indian dance as if to fob me off.

In quick retort,  I devilishly whispered into my friend's his ear something about my self-designated nemesis being a rubberlimbed Dhalsim ( Character from the original Streetfighter arcade game) and we both started to smirk back at his dancing which shut him up as he immediately stopped dancing and turned away.

Inter-racial discrimination is one end product of ethnics being forced to 'integrate' into British social culture because this is precisely the way racist whites behave.  And  obviously the surprising thing, is that in ethnic company, you least expect it from another ethnic minority. Which is also why I have issues with BBCS becoming so white-washed - because at that level, it's not impossible to imagine even a  BBC being anti-Chinese to another ethnic Chinese.

And with remarks from those same ignorant BBC's like 'Stop being a wimp if you think everything is racist'or 'you should learn self-defense' actually only empowers the seemingly 'casual' part of casual racism because apart from the need for that BBC to save face by acting the selfish tough-guy, it does very little for those actually unable to defend themselves , against the physical, mental threat and very real socially acceptable war  own global Chinese population, have willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly, been positioned to fight back against.

Dealing with inter-ethnic discrimination is never easy, but  is it right to for BBC's to be equally discriminating back? And if not then how would you deal with it? Because by not acting out against it, we only perpetuate the myth in a western society that we are a pushover culture, something that our FOB parents have done little to prevent.