A proposal to help a few foreigners settle in China triggers a furore
Several women vow to leap off the Great Wall rather than marry a foreigner
CHINA’S LEADERS have pulled off a remarkable feat. They have joined the long list of governments humbled by a populist revolt over immigration—though there are hardly any immigrants in China, and political opposition is banned. The revolt’s cause is also a surprise: a consultation exercise by the justice ministry, inviting comments on a proposal to make it slightly easier for rich or highly skilled foreigners to become permanent residents. This expands a scheme begun in 2004. On March 7th, after days of online fury, officials took the proposal back for revisions. Soon afterwards censors moved to shut down the debate. By then a related hashtag on Weibo, a Twitter-like service, had been viewed more than 5bn times. A dismaying number of comments betrayed racial and sexual panic, with men vowing to defend Chinese women from immigrants, notably from Africa. Several young women vowed to leap from the Great Wall rather than marry a foreigner.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “When nationalism bites back”
From the March 14th 2020 edition
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