AWE8

I realize this is a very broad general question but I am a chinese female from Canada who will be travelling alone to Paris for a few weeks in April.

Obviously, since Paris is a big city with many tourists, I didn't even think that racism would be an issue until a friend of mine mentioned that she got many stares (albeit discreet ones) from French people there either in the streets or shops. No, they weren't flirtatious ones nor were they openly hostile since France has apparently quite strict racism laws but she said they made her unpleasantly uncomfortable in a way she hasn't experienced before in any other country.

I'm a bit worried now since she's not the overly-sensitive or confrontational type so I was wondering if racism against chinese people is a real concern in Paris? I know the japanese culture is quite popular there but since i'm not japanese, I don't think that would help me.

I posted on another help site as well and one of the answerers said that when he and a group of his friends were in Paris, he was refused entry into some bars/restaurants while his friends (who were Caucasian) were allowed in. Whenever that happened, they all just went to a different restaurant. I'm already nervous about eating alone for 2 straight weeks and if this happens to me in front of everyone, it's just going to be humiliating.

Thanks for any advice!

janisj

I have traveled twice to Paris w/ Asian friends (2 different friends / two different trips / one male-one female) Once many years ago and one about 4 or 5 years ago.

Both absolutely LOVED Paris and neither expressed and concerns and I didn't observe anything like what you describe. There are MANY asian visitors in Paris (and Asian residents as well) and some large tour groups do attract subtle attention -- but IMO not really racist but more because they can be 'pushy' in some situations.

The male Asian friend (Chinese American) has been back twice on his own.

Of course this is just anecdotal - but then so is your friend's account.

kerouac

All of my friends of Chinese origin have absolutely loved Paris, including the friends from Canada (after coming from Singapore). The Southeast Asian & Chinese population of Paris is well over 100,000 -- and there are 4,500 such restaurants in the Paris metropolitan area. In addition, Paris "intra muros" has no fewer than 4 different "Chinatowns" (I live in one of them) and the suburbs have many more.

The tourism statistics for 2011 have just been released, and 900,000 mainland Chinese tourists visited Paris, as it is the #1 European destination of interest to them. (82% list it as #1.) 75% said they would recommend it to their friends after their visit.

Naturally, this implies that 25% would not recommend it for whatever reason, but I doubt if that is any different from any other ethnic group.

jomagpie

I went to Paris alone a few years ago, I'm Filipino (and also from Canada). Didn't notice any stares, hostility, or open racism. Went to bars with Caucasian French people and I was not refused entry in any bars. There's loads of other ethnicities and cultures in Paris (same as in most big, majoy cities) plus even more tourists from all corners of the world, so don't stress. The more you stress, the more paranoid you'll become and end up ruining your own trip.

...now ask me about being the only Asian person in a mall in Warsaw, I'll tell you a different story! Lol.

Sarastro

I have a good friend who was born in Paris and now lives in the USA. Her family is Vietnamese and she is much more sensitive to any perceived bias here in the US than she is in Paris.

I have another friend born in Korea and adopted by a French family at birth. He lives in Paris and has never indicated to me that he has sensed any racism on the part of any French citizen.

It is very possible that any observed racism experienced by a visitor to Paris was more perceived than it was real or intended. Enjoy your vacation and do not dwell upon that which probably does not exist.

TorontoSteven

I would not have said that Japanese culture was that popular in Paris. There are a number of Japanese restaurants which attract a clientele because of its exotic nature - but I have seen very "unattractive" behaviour by the French against Japanese tourists.

greg

I think the anecdotes lack the context such as which neighborhood from what kind of people. In each country, there are group of people more suspicious or less comfortable with outsiders. People who felt they lost jobs to Asian countries might present different attitude towards Asians than those whose businesses are benefiting from their presence. If one stumbles into a local "only" hangout, the reception might be rather cold.

Also like the story Rashomon, the refusal to be allowed into a restaurant might have felt racial to the poster while it was something else to the restaurant employee.

I have a Chinese colleague whose family travel often to Paris. They love the city.

anyegr

I'm originally from Korea, so I look Asian, but I live in Sweden.

I was in Paris for a few days in 2010. I never noticed any hostility. My adoptive parents, who are Swedish, had warned me that french people hate speaking english and that I'd have trouble talking with people. But I had absolutely no trouble at all. I actually thought looking Asian may have made it easier, because no one expected me to speak french.

Of course, I never went to bars or expensive restaurants.

qwovadis

Paris is multicultural Josphine Baker is a hero one of the least racist xenophobic places I travel except for attitude
toward the Roma and muslims in some areas.No Asian issues I
have EVER seen odds are great you will be fine.

easytraveler

<i>she got many stares (albeit discreet ones) from French people there either in the streets or shops. No, they weren't flirtatious ones nor were they openly hostile since France has apparently quite strict racism laws but she said they made her unpleasantly uncomfortable in a way she hasn't experienced before in any other country.</i>

Did the people starring at her know she is Chinese? There are probably more Vietnamese in Paris than Chinese. Maybe your friend's slip was showing or she had her hat on backwards. People stare for any number of reasons, none of them racist.

<i>I'm a bit worried now since she's not the overly-sensitive or confrontational type so I was wondering if racism against chinese people is a real concern in Paris? I know the japanese culture is quite popular there but since i'm not japanese, I don't think that would help me.</i>

When they look at you, would they know that you're Chinese and not Japanese? Do they say, "Aha! There's a Japanese person and I'm going to be nice to her, but if she's Chinese, I'm going to be rude". Most likely not.

With a bettering economy in Asia, there are now not only thousands upon thousands of Chinese and Koreans studying in Europe, but the average middle class can also afford to travel to Europe. You'll most likely run into any number of fellow Asian travelers from all over Asia.

Last trip, I met a beautiful Asian girl at the Place de la Concorde and she asked me to take her picture in front of the obelisk. Turned out she's from Kirgizstan.

I'm with qwovadis in considering Paris one of the least xenophobic places in Europe.

Please go and enjoy Paris and stop letting your friends' vague and unfounded fears spoil your trip for you.

AWE8

Thank you for everyone's replies!

I was really starting to get a bit anxious especially since it appears that as recent as last year, there was an Asian protest in Paris itself where the local Asian community rallied against discrimination. That was partly why I started worrying because the fact that this happened and was in the news seemed to make it much more real than if I was just listening to anecdotes from different people.

kerouac

Last year, the local Asian community rallied against discrimination regarding getting legal status. That's because the current right wing government is against practically all immigrants, but this has nothing to do with the French people themselves. If, as expected, the socialists win the next elections, immigration should become less complicated.

In any case, France continues to be a country that practices "jus soli" -- nationality linked to the place of birth, like the United States. The current law requires people born in France of foreign parents to officially request their French nationality starting at age 16, but this a relatively minor complication and very few people miss the deadline.

justineparis

You know ,, sometimes people just stare at us tourists, we do so many things that are culturally different, we dress different, we talk different, it has nothing to do with race usually. I find people tend to pull that racism card too easily. Paris is so multi racial I find it hard to believe that they single out the Chinese for anything. And btw way,, most of us can't tell Chinese from Japanese by sight anyways.

Jay_G

Hi AWE8 - I'm mixed race and having lived in Lyon for a year and Paris for six months, I think I know the exact look your friend is talking about.

After a few months of having people of all stripes, in all kind of situations spend longer looking at me than I had experienced before (never with the slightest hostility) I came to the conclusion that it was because I look different to the average person they are used to seeing. It (at least in my experience) seemed to be a genuine inquisitiveness rather than anything sinister.

As my French improved and I began to be able to strike up conversations with strangers it became clear that this seemed to be the case. Nobody could place my origins, which they'd often ask about quite early on in a conversation. I had people think I was Dutch/American/from a pacific island and even once from the Banlieues of Paris (that last one was a boost to my ego I can tell you), but never, and I can say this honestly, was there ever any racist slant to the questioning.

It did take some getting used to and I still get the same looks whenever I'm in France, but I'm so used to it now I can honestly say I barely notice it anymore.

In all my time spent living and holidaying in France, I can say that I've never been on the receiving end of any racism from a French person, other than the misguided comments that seem, thankfully, to be the reserve of people of a certain age ("you don't need to go on holiday, you're tanned enough already") etc.

It seems to me that you don't need to travel to experience racism, as some people on this post appear to be unaware that using a more eloquent variant of "you all look the same to me" doesn't make it any less racist.

thefengs

Hi, my husband and I are both Asians . We were in Paris and southwest France last April for 2 weeks and had a great time. We had the same worries before we went. After the visit, we both like French people a lot. In general, they are more reserved, yet courteous and helpful. I do not find them any different from other races. I think they are very professional in their services. So just go and enjoy Paris. It is truly a magical place.

FrenchMystiqueTours2

You must also understand that the French and Italians look at people in the street far more than North Americans and Northern Europeans do. I have heard so many North Americans say that the French stare at people in the street. Which as a French person I never noticed until I went to live in the US. There, one of the things that inevitably came in our conversations among French and Italian immigrants was how invisible we felt there. Especially women.

I also remember as a child in France hearing several people who had been to England for the first time say one of the most surprising things they encountered was that the Brits never looked at them in the street.

So it is one of those cultural differences that may seem subtle or unnoticeable to some but very noticeable to others. I clearly noticed the difference when I lived in Boston and then came back to France. The French and Italians make more eye contact and spend more time looking at how others are dressed (it could be linked to a different notion of personal space or just a higher interest in personal style).

So regardless of where you are from, people will look at you more here. I can guarantee that staring at someone in Paris simply because they are Asian makes absolutely no sense. I have seen Asians ever since I was a child in the 70's in my non-touristic suburban town so they are completely part of the landscape whether as immigrants, French of foreign origin or tourists.

annhig

justinparis - I'm sure that you could find a better way of expressing that if you tried just a bit.

AWE - I am not qualified to comment on whether you will get stared at in paris, or whether you will encounter any hostility - those who are qualified seem to think not. But I can say that i have had fewer of what we call the "two heads" experiences in France than in many other places.

"two heads" experiences? you know, when you walk into a place and they look at you as if you'd got two heads. a very strange bar in Prague [where there was a but of stalin in one corner, and a picture of alexander dubczek in the other] springs to mind.

a smile and a cheery "bonjour" will go a long way.

AWE8

Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate the detailed and thoughtful responses and you've all truly helped in reducing my worry. I've been looking forward to this trip for a while and like I said, it's the first time I'm travelling alone so I didn't want to deal with all that.

I don't mind a bit of staring but that guy's story about being actually turned away from a restaurant (presumably in full view and hearing of other customers) gave me a bit of a pause. But hopefully that wasn't true or due to something else since no one else here has seemed to experience anything like that.

easytraveler

annhig makes a good point.

The French like to greet each other.

A "bonjour, madame" or "bonjour, monsieur" would go a long ways.

There are plenty of cultural differences and many of them are unspoken, but one should never try to stuff a square peg into a round hole and interpret another's culture through the lens of one's own culture.

I'm part Asian too and I don't think that saying when you look at someone Asian and can't tell their exact nationality is necessarily saying "they all look the same to me" and is racist.

I have the same problem with identifying the nationality of any stranger. Frequently, on trips I wait to hear the language spoken to identify the nationality and even then one could guess wrong, especially when many Europeans are multi-lingual.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so is racism.

Please go and enjoy yourself and immerse yourself in another culture! It's a great experience!

Jay_G

AWE8 - in response to the story about that guy being turned away from bars/restaurants, I've been turned away from any number of bars, due to over capacity, not wearing the 'right' clothes, being in too large a group, being in a group of just guys and a couple of times plainly because the man on the door didn't like the cut of my gib and because he had the power to do so.

I've found that Parisian bars quite often have a quite idiosyncratic door policy, including one occasion I'll never forget when I had to vouch for my white, Australian friend to be allowed into a bar that had a predominantly black clientele. If it had been the other way 'round, the bar would never be able to get away with it, but this place could, so they did.

I'm not sure the storyteller's race would be the reason for being turned away from a bar, but as you, I can only guess.

On being turned away from restaurants, I can't say I've ever been to a restaurant in France (or anywhere else for that matter) that had a door policy and the only reason I've ever been turned away from a restaurant was because it was full.

Again, I'm only guessing, but it looks as though the storyteller might be reading more into the situation than the situation warrants.

Have a great trip.