The strange, contradictory privilege of living in South Korea as
a Chinese-Canadian woman
“Koreans think Western people, white English speakers are the
‘right’ kind of foreigner,” says Park Kyung-tae, a professor of
sociology at Sungkonghoe University. “The wrong kind include
refugees, Chinese people, and even ethnic Koreans from China,”
because they’re perceived to be poor. “If you’re from a Western
country, you have more chances to be respected. If you are from a
developing Asian country, you have more chances to be
disrespected.”
Personally, I’ve found that Koreans often don’t know what to
make of my background. There are microaggressions: “Your skin is so
pale, you could be Korean,” someone once said to me, adding, “Your
teeth are really clean and good for a China person.”
A saleswoman in a clothing store remarked, after I told her what
country I’d grown up in, “You’re not Canadian. Canadians don’t have
Asian faces.”
But there’s also no denying the privilege that my language
brings. If I encounter an irate taxi driver, or if a stranger gets
in a huff over my Korean skills, I switch to English. Suddenly I am
a different person—a Westernized person, now received with
respect.
https://qz.com/1172515/living-in-south-korea-as-a-chinese-canadian-woman-is-a-lesson-in-the-complex-world-of-contradictory-privilege/
