I would strongly contest the possibility of getting a "fair picture" from only interviewing "white guys who only date Chinese women". The Sino-Western dating scene in China can most certainly not be reduced to those guys!

Big Silly Cat:

The journalist is not planning to interview exclusively white men with Asian fetishes.

But whereas it is quite easy to find women willing to talk about white men and Asian fetishes, and easy to find all kinds of people who criticize such men, it is not easy to find white guys with Asian fetishes who are willing to stand up for themselves in print.

Hence the need for this request.

i talked with several foreign fris be4 on this sensitive issue and the followings will be part of the answers.

1 they are sick of seeing foreign girls anymore,cuz they got a lot in their native lands,they wanna try some different flavors here.sorry,i use the word"flavor",cuz they really want to taste this,right?

2 they want to settle down in china and the best & quickest way is to marry someone here.certainly,dating someone is one thing,getting married is another,so,they must find the right one and that sometimes will take a long time,cuz they said some of the chinese girls are afraid of them,cuz they dont want to be cheated and the time they went back to the foreign land,they turned to be the victims of the human trafficking.

3 they concerned more about the offspring,cuz they no that they can have extremely good looking kids.the reason is interracial kids often have better genes because there is less commonality.

4 chinese girlfriends are sweet,pragmatic,kind,respect and take good care of their husbands and parents.they will be good campanion for a life time.

5 most chinese girls are still very stereotyped and not that open like the foreigners,they dont always hand out and go to some bars or night clubs often.so here is the thing,some foreign guys prefer to marry a VIRGIN,yeah,surprise,shocking news!ok,in order to prove that,here i once heard a saying,quote,"why would you want to wear an old shoes if you can buy them new?"certainly,women are not shoes or properties,but it just they way it is.

right now,i cant come up with more ideas i got from them.u might say those things are all craps,that's fine.but i simply hope it can give some hints to that journalist.

:)

Gr8 Wei*2: Some of your comments are dead on, however the thing about virgins?!?! I thought that was a Chinese thing, us Westerners tend to be scared of virgins by a certain age...

I once heard, and please take this with a pinch of salt: Who would buy a car without testdriving it?

Is Danwei going to plug the article once it comes out? Would be a shame otherwise.

Can we please move beyond the prejudice against interracial dating and marriage? As a product of an interracial family, I find it offensive to label Caucasians (or anyone else) dating Asians as "yellow fever", or having some kind of kinky fetish.

We've moved beyond, thankfully, the point where people would continue say that a white person dating a black person has a bad case of "jungle fever".

People are people, regardless of their skin color. Discrimination against either party of a mixed-racial couple is a manifestation of racism and prejudice. The term yellow fever, and the conception of an Asian fetish, are used to legitimize hatred and intolerance against miscegenation.

I am proud to be mixed race, Latino-Caucasian. And I am incredibly offended that you would insinuate that one or both of my parents had fallen ill with some kind of unnatural affliction (fever) in the cultivation of their relationship, marriage and family.

This post is in bad taste, Danwei.

I would also add that the derisive terms such as "yellow/jungle fever" perpetuates a perception of white dominance and denies the non-white (woman or man) of agency and subjectivity over the choice of partner and the terms of the relationship.

And I just read the comments, which are making me even more upset.

To quote Jeremy Goldkorn: "...it is not easy to find white guys with Asian fetishes who are willing to stand up for themselves in print."

Why should it be necessary for them to have to stand up and defend themselves? Is it because they have, in your eyes, broken a cultural taboo? What role do we have to arbitrate the legitimacy of other people's relationships?

It sounds like you've made a critical judgment against these people based on the race or ethnicity of their lover.

It's more anglo brain-washing.

Thanks, Jeremy, for your response. It seems that the article is still about "fetishes" -- and thus not likely to depict a "fair picture" of the western dating scene in China. Given your response, I remain optimistic, and hope to read the article on/via danwei.org!

To the journalist: I hope that you could incorporate (and, even more importantly, internalize) Alex's excellent points above! If this is not your intention, it may be best to leave asking about people's "yellow fever" to medical doctors ;-)

I think if you look at the subject with objectivity, this article can be intresting, why someone will choose to date only poeple from a different country and culture. I do have friends in france who only date japanese girls, and here in china I see lots of westerner who are more than happy to find a chinese girlfriend. Why is that?
First they are attracted by the exotic part, totally different from their own world.
Second the asian girl is part of a culture they are interested in, it is a good way for them to understand and live their passion (hobby or interest), to find an asian gf and discover by themself how "real life" is.
Third they can satisfy their dream, fantasm, ideal vision of life. It maybe won't last but "hey enjoy the present time!"
And finally the more important for most of those "asian fever boys", It is really easier for them to find a pretty girlfriend in a different country than their own...When i walk on the streets, how many times i see a nerd like boy, who (i bet my wallet on this) never ever dated a girl (or maybe dated once) in his country, and when he comes to China, become this "handsome" Laowai, who attract suddenly the cute girls.
Sometimes, the attraction is mutual, sometimes, it's a chinese girl who seek an husband, other times both are playing, and sometimes just one of them is serious (poor nerd like boys who has find a girl just searching for a rich laowai to take care of her for a while).
Important thing is the "asian fever" is a part important in the sino-western relationship. Some poeple know it and play with it, as some western know the "western fever" in China and use it too.
It is always intresting to observe the interracial couple, the relations and to compare it country from country. And I also hope we can read the article on danwei.org

I don't see anyone mentioning this, but what about the Western females and Chinese males part of the "Sino-Western" equation? I am interested in their story as well.

Alex

I agree that there are plenty of cross-cultural relationships that are not based on fetishes. But if you deny that some white men who live in East Asia exclusively and obsessively lust after East Asian women, you are just not being honest.

The term 'yellow fever' may not be in good taste, but it's a perfect description of a phenomenon that we all know exists.

Finally, Danwei is the kind of website where the word 'fuck' sometimes appears in large bold type; good taste is not our forté.

I have met a girl who has made love to several western boys.
Before I know that ,I was interested in the girl and want to know more about that. But after I know that, I felt bad about her and lost interest in her.

I won't accept a girl who has made love to a western boy to be my gf!

I think she is dirty!

Jeremy is clearly and 'experienced' journalist, if 'experienced' means 'hack'. Why describe yourself with such dignified terms and then use racist language to describe interracial dating? This article you're planning to write has been written time and time again--just read someone else's and make up your own quotes, if you're not planning on actually learning anything or bringing anything new to the topic.

As a Westerner who is married to a Chinese, I think you're already hopelessly lost if you are to assume that people 'decide' to date 'only' Chinese and then label it as a fetish. There is certainly a lot of thinking and discovering that goes on when one starts pushing past racial and cultural boundaries, but you have obviously already fetishized the process before you've written the article. You're obviously intent on writing the same cliche'd crap you can find on any internet message board, under the guise of reportage.

joe:

I am neither American nor an experienced journalist: it's not me writing the article but a friend of mine.

Maybe I am just old fashioned and shit, but perhaps you should read the article before you pass judgement.

Also, may I point out that the article has not even been written yet?

The only reason I commented was because the article hasn't been written yet. As Big Silly Cat already pointed out, there's every sign this won't turn out to be a balanced depiction of interracial dating if you are looking for someone to go on record as having a fetish. If you are saying you are looking for someone with a fetish, well then it's pretty obvious this is going to be another analysis of fetishes and fetishists. It's not unusual to find reporters generating cliche'd crap after pretending to do fair and balanced reporting. This is even worse where we appeared to have a reporter using racist terms to seek out cliche'd crap before the article is written. Now maybe you're just having fun with the 'Yellow fever' heading and saying that you are looking for a fetishist, but I don't think it's inappropriate for us to point out where the article appears to be heading.

This is a pretty high-quality site that offers a balanced view of intercultural issues. Go ahead and look for fetishists, but why shouldn't your readers point out that there's more to intercultural dating than that?

a fair picture of the Sino-Western dating scene in China

That would be a really boring article. I think what he actually wants to write is about the extremes of "the Sino-Western dating scene in China" (a pretentious phrase if I ever heard one), an intention he should be more honest about. Otherwise people get defensive (see above) and could possibly end up getting hurt by connections he may have not intended to make.

May I suggest that all of the concerned citizens who have commented above write to yellowfever@danwei.org and tell my journalist friend what they think of the subject?

I didnt read the entire thread, but I dont think anyone has mentioned that there's a separate article on the subject posted here. Check the 'Sexuality,' page for Yellow Fever a Myth?

Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to be offensive, I'd like to contribute the following:

My experience is that there are two general classes of foreigners residing in China (note that this excludes tourists): 1. those with real jobs and/or businesses ('real' in this case meaning that they make more money than they would at an entry-level position in their own countries), and 2. those whose main reason for being in the country is to chase girls. The latter category seems to be predominantly composed of 'western' males, most notably Anglos: viz. Aussies, Brits, Canucks, Kiwis and Yanks (and occasional representatives from Jeremy's country), many of whom get by 'teaching English' illegally, as it's the easiest job for them to get. Please also note that what they teach is generally oral and colloquial, as their command of written English tends to be limited. This group can also be subdivided into two categories: 1. shiftless dissipated libidinous punks, and 2. retired licentious degenerate lechers.

Moreover, without having conducted a scientific survey, it is my observation that most non-anglo foreign men living in Shenzhen (Arab, Indian, Iranian, Russian, Turkish, etc.) make their money with business, whereas most Anglos 'teach' part time and crawl bars. There are exceptions in both categories (e.g. regarding the former, a girl I know just married a guy from Dubai; regarding the latter, Anglos form the top management of a small number of foreign corporations with headquarters in Shenzhen, but they tend to live with their families, which they bring with them), but I suggest that these exceptions prove the rule.

In addition to the color-wolves living in the country, there are a fair number of westerners who pursue Chinese women on-line, and sometimes end up marrying them. In my personal estimation, based on my admittedly limited experience, both those foreigners who source on the ground and on-line do not generally represent the best and brightest the west has to offer, although I am willing to allow that perhaps a few do. Yes, I am really trying to be polite.

Some of these guys prefer East-Asian girls for physical reasons. Some chase them inside China (or the Philippines, etc.) because they're more available than those back home (Caucasian or otherwise), or less western, or for any other of the reasons 'Neko' mentioned above.

So what? This is common knowledge.

So, Alex, before you take umbrage at the term 'yellow fever', please consider the actual behavior of the vast majority of western men in China who also do not happen to be your parents. When you learn how many of them treat the local women, you might find something about which it is actually worth getting offended.

This is not to say that all Chinese girls who date foreigners are innocent victims - far from it. As a friend of mine once said, "the flies won't come for nothing."

Given all this, I have met some wonderful interracial couples inside China, but be honest - how many do you know? And of those, in how many cases are they within 10 years of age of one another? I'm not suggesting that such an age discrepancy somehow illegitimates the relationship, but it does indicate something about its basis.

Certainly, it would be silly to get offended by the simple observation that people have both sensual and pragmatic reasons for pursuing particular strategies vis a vis dating and/or marriage in addition to more romantic ones, and that these in turn can lead to more general behaviors by groups of people - in this case, Caucasian males in China. To me, the term 'yellow fever' seems a rather convenient shorthand with which to describe this phenomenon.

And blah, blah, and also blah.

The gateway blog makes work for idle hands.

I think to even call it "yellow fever" is silly. Why not just talk about the "white fever" or Chinese women? Or is that just assumed and not worth discussing?
Notice how a white guy liking a Chinese girl is perceived to have some sort of sickness, while the opposite is assumed to be normal. That sure doesn't say much for Chinese people.

I've dated Chinese girls because I live in China and have an abundant selection of Chinese girls to choose from. If there were an abundant supply of western girls to choose from, then I'd be just as likely to date them. And while it is true that Chinese girls have other pros, they have just as many (if not more) cons. You pay a high price either way.

I'm a white girl, and I have the yellow fever. I didn't move to Japan just to chase Japanese boys, but once I was there, I chased them with much fervor. Then I married one.

Before I went to Japan, I had dated Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Indian, and Malaysian Chinese guys here in America. I don't harbor any notion that all those guys are alike, in the way that I think some white guys do think that all Asian girls are relatively submissive and so forth. I just like their shiny black hair. I'm a simple girl.

I think the commenter who posted above that we let it pass without comment that many Chinese girls prefer white guys (so they have white fever?) or that many Japanese men like white girls (usually not to marry, though) had a good point. I'm not sure if this is based on the assumption that whites are always the default racists or not, but it's certainly true.

Sooo... did this controversial article ever get written?

I e-mailed the address above and got a prompt, pleasant reply from the person who was to write the article. It was not written.

Thanks, Micah.

Hrmm.. I just like Chinese girls more than I do any other nation's girls. I didn't realise this was seen as a bad thing or even a fetish....? I like them for their cuteness and their personality.. even when they get angry with me, they are still cute.. ^_^

When I am around Chinese people, speaking the language both in terms of actual speaking as well as culture, I feel more at peace and content. I don't feel like I have to prove anything with Chinese people.. it's the complete opposite with western culture that I personally experience here in Australia..

So it's not just the girls I like but all Chinese people in general, so I guess it just makes sense that I would find Chinese girls attractive in more than a physical way..