There has been a spat of racial issues involving Chinese lately that received some widespread attention. The Zhang Yimou film The Great Wall was hit with controversy regarding Matt Damon playing the typical and tired "white man savior" role. Constance Wu spearheaded the criticism and helped bring attention to the issue. When news of a Mulan remake came to light, people took to a petition to protest against "whitewashing" the film and including white characters for no good reason. YG, an American rapper, made a song a couple years ago with lyrics explaining how to steal and to target Chinese neighborhoods. Chinese responded by launching a petition and rating the song negatively on YouTube. Fox News had a segment that contained a plethora of Asian stereotypes that many found offensive. Ronny Chieng from The Daily Show made an excellent response. There were also protests outside Fox News headquarters in Manhattan.



Some lesser known examples include the Bruce Lee biopic Birth of the Dragon, which inexplicably focused on some white guy and his romantic relationship with a Chinese girl. Bruce Lee's own daughter Shannon has distanced herself from the film. Hollywood's obsession with injecting white male characters into films is borderline pathological at this point. According to The Wall Street Journal, Peter Linneman (emeritus professor of real estate at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and principal of real-estate advisory firm Linneman Associates) made disparaging remarks against Chinese men at a real estate conference. There has also been the targeting of Chinese for crime in the US, France, New Zealand and Australia, to name a few.



Reactions included protests, Chinese consulate involvement and patrol groups like the one in Sacramento organized by a 1,000-member WeChat group. Just last week, the Chinese Consulate in New York issued a statement about Syracuse student Yuan Xiaopeng, who was found dead after reports of gunshots.





Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

There is no reason why the media shouldn't be spotlighting these issues and helping to foster solutions. The world is becoming more connected than ever before and these issues were never exclusive to citizens of foreign countries. It was netizens in China that helped push the YG song into the news. It is Chinese citizens studying overseas who are being targeted for crime. It's Chinese social media like WeChat that is being used to organize and mobilize everything from the Peter Liang protests to the Sacramento patrol groups. These issues don't recognize citizenship. All Chinese are affected by crimes targeting Chinese and films made or funded by Chinese that support white worship.



Chinese media, both in China and overseas, should coordinate to report it, keep conversation going and dedicate sections for stories involving Chinese overseas. There are many Chinese victims whose stories are ignored by corporate Western media. Chinese media should not ignore them.



Call out Chinese actors, actresses and companies that help make or fund these appalling films. Demand they stop pushing blind foreign worship onto Chinese society. Their careers and business in China should pay the price for doing it.



Facilitate communication and awareness. Work with WeChat groups, Chinese discussion forums and organizations that are dedicated to tackling these issues: spread awareness to other Chinese that they exist; help form new groups, new watchdogs and organize them; create a database of information with relevant links and pool resources on these topics; bring these issues to the attention of the Chinese government; include the appropriate topics in the annual report on human rights in the US.



If there's a story or comment exposing anti-Chinese racism, retweet it.



The issues confronting and affecting Chinese cannot be disassociated from Chinese media. There is a real need for a coordinated effort to spread awareness and foster solutions that Chinese media can specifically meet. It's long past due for responsibility to be taken up in earnest to help mold a healthier Chinese society.



According to the Xinhua News Agency, President Xi Jinping said at a recent meeting that government departments should "use the web for better policymaking, more precise social governance and more effective public service." There are laws and guidelines for media being implemented right now because the status quo is deemed unsatisfactory. Help tackle these issues and achieve results that make an impression.



The author is a writer from KultureMedia, a media watchdog on behalf of Asian Americans. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion