Top China actors Wang Yibo and Huang Jingyu have faced a backlash for appearing in blackface makeup in a new movie about Chinese peacekeepers in Africa. On May 2, an online observer posted Wang’s blackface makeup from the action film , accusing the actors of “racial hostility”. The post has attracted 35,000 likes and 11,000 reposts.
Released in the mainland during the May Day holiday, the film is directed by Hong Kong director Lee Tat-chiu and produced by Andrew Lau Wai-keung. It stars the two Chinese actors as peacekeeping police officers in a fictitious conflict-torn African country. They wear the makeup in a scene in which they disguise themselves as local gangsters to rescue witnesses.
The practice of non-black performers using makeup to portray black people in entertainment works was popular in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, but was later considered offensive and racist. In 2019, Canadian-born comedian Mark Rowswell, who is well-known in China under the stage name Dashan, apologised on Twitter over a high school performance he made with three friends 35 years ago, in which they painted their faces black to mimic the popular music quartet, The Four Tops. China’s most watched show – China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala – was also caught up in a controversy in 2018 when a comedian painted her face black to play an African who expresses gratitude for China’s help.
The storyline was made even worse because by her side stood an Afr.
