oldbei
Junior Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2014
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- Canada
Hello, teachers and native speakers,
I need your help here.
About a month ago, a message displayed on the back of a small truck created quite an uproar among the comunity of new Chinese immigrants in Canada. Many of them felt seriously offended by the message and considered it racist. I feel differently because I have a different interpretation of the text, but since my native tongue is not English, I cannot be sure about the correctness my interpretation, let alone convince others that the message is not racist. I seek help here so as to achieve a correct understanding of the text with good confidence.
The text is as follows. (Excuse me for presenting it in all capital letters because I wanted my presentation of the message to be as faithful as possible to the original. For the same reason, I also preserved the same line breaks as the original.)
SAY NO TO CHINA CRAP
THEY POISONED THEIR OWN PEOPLE FOR PROFITS
DO YOU THINK THEY CARE ABOUT US?
PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR ECONOMY
IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THIS YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN THIS COUNTRY
Those who feel offended the most are the ones who interpret "CHINA CRAP" as Chinese people and think that the subsequent "THEY" naturally stand for Chinese people. In contrast, I think "CHINA CRAP" refers to poor-quality products made in China and "THEY" stands possibly for the Chinese government or the business people who make money out of producing and selling those poor-quality products from China. Could "CHINA CRAP" in this context, or in any other context, refer to Chinese people in general? Does the text convey a clear meaning or is it really a clever play of the words aiming at attacking Chinese people in general?
I need your help here.
About a month ago, a message displayed on the back of a small truck created quite an uproar among the comunity of new Chinese immigrants in Canada. Many of them felt seriously offended by the message and considered it racist. I feel differently because I have a different interpretation of the text, but since my native tongue is not English, I cannot be sure about the correctness my interpretation, let alone convince others that the message is not racist. I seek help here so as to achieve a correct understanding of the text with good confidence.
The text is as follows. (Excuse me for presenting it in all capital letters because I wanted my presentation of the message to be as faithful as possible to the original. For the same reason, I also preserved the same line breaks as the original.)
SAY NO TO CHINA CRAP
THEY POISONED THEIR OWN PEOPLE FOR PROFITS
DO YOU THINK THEY CARE ABOUT US?
PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR ECONOMY
IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THIS YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN THIS COUNTRY
Those who feel offended the most are the ones who interpret "CHINA CRAP" as Chinese people and think that the subsequent "THEY" naturally stand for Chinese people. In contrast, I think "CHINA CRAP" refers to poor-quality products made in China and "THEY" stands possibly for the Chinese government or the business people who make money out of producing and selling those poor-quality products from China. Could "CHINA CRAP" in this context, or in any other context, refer to Chinese people in general? Does the text convey a clear meaning or is it really a clever play of the words aiming at attacking Chinese people in general?