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China outraged by 'racist' Spanish TV sketch

Alex Dunham
Alex Dunham - [email protected]
China outraged by 'racist' Spanish TV sketch
Numerous Chinese news channels, newspapers and social media websites have given coverage to the story, including China’s main state-run broadcaster CCTV. Photo: Screenshot CCTV

China's embassy in Spain has demanded an apology from Spanish TV channel Telecinco after a 'vulgar' and 'insulting' comedy sketch they aired during their New Year Gala caused anger across the Asian superpower.

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Chinese diplomat in Spain Huang Yazhong has written a letter to the chairman of Telecinco demanding an explanation for a sketch which mocks the quality and service of Chinese restaurants.

"In the show titled Mesa para Dos (Table for Two), a clown wearing strange 'Chinese clothes' jumped up and down, making all sorts of exaggerated gestures," he wrote in the letter published on the Chinese embassy's website.

"What's more, the other actors openly insulted Chinese people using words so vulgar it would make any educated person blush."

One of the comments Huang refers to in his letter to Telecinco is “este Chino es gilipollas”, which translates to 'This Chinese guy is a moron'.

Numerous Chinese news channels, newspapers and social media websites have given coverage to the story, including China's main state-run broadcaster CCTV.

Telecinco already angered China in 2013 when they aired an ‘investigative journalism’ show which accused Chinese restaurants of serving cat, dog and even human meat.

As a result, 500 Chinese residents in Spain took to the streets of Madrid to protest against the damaging allegations made by Telecinco.

"Tele 5 is a commercial TV station and only cares about ratings, so 180,000 Chinese people is a small enough audience to ignore," wrote Huang.

"But let me warn you: behind these 180,000 Chinese people stand 1.3 billion Chinese people from the world’s most populous nation and second largest economy."

Back in 2008, a photo of the Spanish men's Olympics basketball team, using their index fingers as if to slant their eyes, also sparked controversy with Asian rights groups.

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