By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, walks with Mayor of Shanghai Han Zheng, right, at Xijiao State Guest House in Shanghai, China, Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Nov.  16, 2009 – President Obama is breaking new ground with his visit to China, and it’s not his foreign policy it’s his popularity.  

The headline in “The Hindu” on-line news paper reads; “In China, Obama’s popularity challenges race stereotypes.”  Stereo-types that aren’t much different than those here in the U.S. according to Raymond Zhou, a popular newspaper columnist, “Much of China’s simmering intolerance is color-based. It is not an exaggeration to say many of my countrymen have a subconscious adulation of races paler than us. The flip side: We tend to be biased against those darker skinned.”

But skin color was the cause for a racist outburst by some in China when a bi-racial contestant won a realty show. Lou Jing, the daughter of an African-American father and Chinese mother became the target of racial slurs on Internet blog site when she won a popular Shanghai reality television show.

The reaction to the 20 year-old contestant brought the debate about race in China to the front page of papers previewing the visit of America’s first Black president.

One interesting finding; last week a survey of 3,381 on a Chinese website asked what people found most attractive about the president.  Half responded, “his smile,” 30 percent “his skin color.”  

The president’s popularity is higher among younger Chinese — similar to his appeal to young folks in the U.S.  That could be why the president will follow his bilateral meeting with Party Secretary, Yu Sheng, and Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng with a town hall meeting with future Chinese leaders.

The town hall will be streamed live on The White House website from the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. 

After hosting the town hall Obama will leave Shanghai for Beijing where he’ll attend another round of meetings with President Hu Jintao of China in Yangyuan Hall of the Diaoyutai State Guest house.   Later that evening the two heads of state will have dinner.

TAGS: Lou Jing, President Hu Jintao, President Obama, Shanghai

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