Chinese social media is littered with racist videos, particularly content that mocks black people or portrays them through offensive racial stereotypes, research by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

The human rights watchdog analysed hundreds of videos posted on Chinese social media since 2021 and found that major platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, “do not routinely address racist content”. 

One type of video that is popular on Chinese social media portrays people in African countries as primitive or impoverished, with Chinese people – often the content creators – being shown as wealthy saviours.

One video posted on Douyin in April this year shows a woman in an African country washing her hands in a hut, before drinking what is described as homemade alcohol from a muddy blue container. The video, which is captioned “#LifeInAfrica #cleanandhygienic #PrimitiveTribe” has 12,000 likes and several negative comments underneath, such as: “Thank you to my eight generations of ancestors for giving birth to me in China.”

Other videos denigrate interracial relationships, particularly between black men and Chinese women, in ways that are both racist and misogynist. HRW found that Chinese women who post photographs with their black male partners on Chinese social media sometimes receive online harassment, including death threats, rape threats and doxing, where private residential addresses and images are shared online.

In other cases, Chinese people who support victims of anti-black racism in China were called traitors online.

Chinese authorities have condemned online racism, especially when there is a backlash, and pledged to crack down on “unlawful online acts”. Last month, Lu Ke, a Chinese vlogger, was convicted in Malawi of 14 charges including child trafficking and procurement of children for use of entertainment, and ordered to leave the country. He was arrested last year after a BBC Africa Eye documentary exposed him as the creator of videos featuring Malawian children, which were being sold on Chinese social media for up to £55. 

Lu had coached the children to recite messages in Mandarin that they didn’t understand, such as: “I am black monster, my IQ is low.”

The social media platforms included in the HRW investigation have all published community guidelines banning content promoting racial or ethnic hatred and discrimination. But HRW said these policies are “inadequate”.

The researchers note that Beijing’s Great Firewall of censorship on the Chinese internet means that platforms have thousands of content moderators who remove or restrict politically sensitive content. Comments critical of government policies, the Communist party or even just gripes about the economy are deleted within hours, whereas content that is derogatory about ethnic minorities often remains online and earn thousands of likes.

HRW said: “The amount and extremity of racist content on the Chinese internet suggest that the platforms either are not meeting their own standards banning racist content, or that their policies are inadequate when addressing racist content, both contrary to their human rights responsibilities.”

Manya Koetse, the editor-in-chief of Whats on Weibo, a website, said that since the BBC Africa Eye documentary, racist videos on Weibo were taken down more promptly. But, she noted, “often what is perceived as racist content against black people in western content is not perceived as racist content against black people in China”.

Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government likes to tout China-Africa anti-colonial solidarity and unity, but at the same time ignores pervasive hate speech against black people on the Chinese internet.

“Major Chinese social media platforms are failing to fulfil their own guidelines to address pervasive racist content.”

Douyin told HRW that the platform “on average take[s] action on more than 300 videos and comments per day that include violative content targeting black people”.

ByteDance (Douyin’s parent company), Bilibili, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu have been approached for comment. By Amy Hawkins/ Additional research by Tzu-Wei Liu. The Guardian

Survey of students in post-16 education in Wales finds that a quarter were unable to find suitable housing last year as rent and bills soared.

8% of students in Wales have experienced homelessness during the cost-of-living crisis, according to a new National Union of Students Wales (NUS Wales) survey. The survey of 570 students, conducted over the summer, also found that half of those students who have been homeless had experienced it for more than a week.

With rent, energy bills and other housing costs rising at an unprecedented rate for well over a year now, almost a quarter of students in Wales said they had been unable to find suitable, affordable accommodation in the 2022-23 academic year.

Students reported living further away from their education provider or commuting from home to make ends meet. 32% of students said they had been unable to pay rent and 36% said the same of bills.

The report also shines a light on the negative academic impact of students having to pick up extra work shifts. The majority of students work alongside their studies, and 1 in 5 work more than 20 hours a week. 64% of those who do work said it negatively impacted their studies.

On top of this, 1 in 5 students in Wales have missed in-person classes because of the cost of transport and 9% have missed online classes because of the cost of broadband or equipment such as a laptop.

The findings show that maintenance support for students in higher and further education in Wales is failing to reflect the cost of living, and NUS Wales is calling on the Welsh Government to do more to support all groups of students, including apprentices on the £5.28 minimum wage.

There are a significant number of students in Wales who will not benefit from the Welsh Government’s 9.4% increase to the undergraduate maintenance package or the 33% increase to the EMA for FE students.

The report’s findings are consistent with the findings of a similar survey conducted in 2022. A quarter of students in Wales continue to live on £50 or less a month after paying rent and bills – figures consistent with this time last year before any support had been announced.

NUS Wales President, Orla Tarn, said:  “The fact that not much has changed for students in Wales, who continue to be left with so little to live on, should be a real red flag for the Welsh Government that it will need to act again to support students in 2023-24.

“One of my main concerns continues to be students’ mental health. We know that money troubles, housing issues and poor work-life balance can all be detrimental to your sense of well-being, and during the cost-of-living crisis all three have become more pronounced for many students.

“The Welsh Government acted last year by raising the undergraduate maintenance package and the EMA for further education students, but swathes of Wales’ student population – including students from outside of Wales, postgraduates and apprentices – have not benefited.

“I urge ministers to take these groups into account when designing support schemes and take real action to get spiralling student rent under control. The Welsh Government’s White Paper on Fair Rent cannot come soon enough for students paying through the nose for accommodation.” - NUS Wales

Rwanda and South Korea have signed two agreements, namely a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on political consultations, and a Framework Arrangement on Economic Development Cooperation Fund, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday, August 12.

The signing of the two agreements took place during a bilateral meeting held in Kigali between Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Biruta, and his counterpart, Jin Park, of South Korea.

Meanwhile, earlier — in the morning of August 12 — Park paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Rwanda and South Korea have an already established cooperation, which seeks to strengthen ties between the two countries.

For instance, in November 2020, Rwanda and Korea signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) which is intended to enhance connectivity between both countries and facilitate the private sectors of both countries to realise and tap into economic and social benefits, according information from the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Information from Rwanda’s Embassy in South Korea indicates that Rwanda established diplomatic relations with Republic of Korea in 1963, and the relationship grew stronger with the opening of a diplomatic bureau in November 2008 and later upgraded to an embassy in February 2009.

“We now boast economic, political, educational, tourism, investment and trade ties,” it adds. - Emmanuel Ntirenganya, The New Times