China’s Oriental Angel

By Daisy Hernandez Nov 13, 2009

Her mom’s Chinese and her father African American, but 20-year-old Lou Jing says that growing up in Shanghai her skin color wasn’t a big deal until she took part of a TV show similar to American Idol called Go! Oriental Angel. "It was only after entering the competition that I realized I was different from others," she tells NPR. She’s been nicknamed the “Black pearl” (no, I’m not kidding) and online commentators have issued derogatory statements about her skin color—and ridiculed her mother for having a child with a Black man she didn’t marry (what decade are we living in again?). According to NPR reporters, Lou Jing’s mom has stopped working presumably because of the public taunting and the young woman herself thinks the solution is to leave China altogether and head for the promised land of the mixed-race: New York City. Did I mention that Obama visits China this weekend? The irony…. To view one of Lou Jing’s performances, click here.

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