Many of us have wondered why it is you see so many white men with Chinese women, and not white women with Chinese men. Call it the AMWF question if you will.

But if we’re going to talk about this, you’d hope for an insightful conversation.

And “insightful” is not how I would describe this piece from Phoenix News, the Chinese media outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch. Maybe we shouldn’t have expected much, given that Phoenix owes its existence to the same man who created Fox News.

The following is my English translation of the the original piece in Chinese, which is rife with overgeneralizations, stereotypes and worse:

In life, sometimes we across some beautiful mixed-race babies. Thick eyebrows. Big eyes. There are some whose hair is even golden. Their mothers are usually Chinese and the fathers are foreigners. For a minority of these babies, the fathers are Chinese and the mothers are foreigners, but this is also true a tiny fraction of the time. Why is it that there are so few foreign women who look for Chinese men? In this case, the foreign women we speak of normally are white European American women. Among Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, there are quite a few women who want to marry Chinese men. Add to that in recent years the fact that rural Chinese men getting mail-order brides from Vietnam is a common occurrence. So why is it that so few white European American women will go for Chinese men? Originally, in current Chinese society, even though there is already equality between men and women, there are always some men who still have a certain male chauvinism and don’t respect women. But the vast majority of foreign women are more independent, so [relationships between foreign women and Chinese men] are destined not to happen. In addition, Chinese men are often quite reserved. Many Chinese men are quite low-key and conservative when it comes to relationships. They believe only dull [expressions] are genuine. But almost all foreign women prefer a romantic and exciting life. Our culture and ways of thinking are different, so naturally foreign women and Chinese men cannot live together. Besides all of this, the aesthetic sensibilities of foreign women are different from Chinese women. With all the blue-eyed and blonde men with tall noses that they’re accustomed to in their surroundings, when these foreign women suddenly look upon the typical Asian faces of Chinese men, it’s unavoidable that there will be some who are blind to these faces. Plus, the average build of Chinese men doesn’t appear nearly as strong as that of foreign men, who have eaten beef since they were young. And foreign women care more about a man’s healthy physique. So they will rarely choose to marry Chinese men. In addition, there are issues in terms of religion and beliefs as well as living habits, but these reasons are not that important. After all, love knows no borders.

You know, you’ve got to hand it to Phoenix for ending the piece on such a conciliatory note – as if “love knows no borders” could somehow excuse the rest of this piece that’s far beyond cringeworthy.

Phoenix News, do us all a favor and stop writing about why so few white women date Chinese men. Please.

Meanwhile, while my thoughts are not the last word on the rarity of AMWF couples, if you are interested you might enjoy On the Rarity of Foreign Women and Chinese Boyfriends/Chinese Husbands and Why Won’t Western Women Date Chinese Men?

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