Question

weichen

one serious question:
What do the irish people think of Chinese people in ireland?

DEmeant0r

Well, I'm a Chinese myself, but I feel that the Irish are now more and more accepting of the Chinese, more friendly, I don't really get racist comments thrown at me now, so It's all good.

weichen

well,is that true?thing becoming different now compare to 4 years ago.
hard to say....

anyway,what are you doing here?

me chinese too

DEmeant0r

Well yea, things have definately improved since 4 years ago, I'm getting very little if any racist comments thrown in my face. Well except for the travellers/knacks whatever you want to call them, they still are childish enough to call me racist names like 'chink' etc... you can't do anything about them except ignore them.

I'm a student in here, in Leaving Cert, I should really be studying. :ninja:

davros

Well, I'm Irish though I don't know whether my views on the Chinese are typical.

I heard this topic being discussed on the radio recently. It was suggested that the Chinese are regarded quite differently from other groups of foreigners (e.g. Eastern Europeans, Nigerians) because:

- there have been thousands of Chinese here for decades (Hong Kong Chinese, mostly)
- they are seen to be very hard-working and Irish people respect that
- they are seen as coming here to learn English rather than to gain Irish citizenship

I would add that there is still quite a romantic and mysterious idea of China in this country. So perhaps we have more of a fascination with the country and its people than, say, Nigeria.

But I also note that, though there are tens of thousands of Chinese here, there is very little interaction between them and the Irish (or am I wrong?).

I'd quite like to see more parts of China represented here among the new arrivals. Not just Shenyang. China is such a diverse country, it would be nice to meet people from all parts.

fjon

I think Davros is right, we Irish do respect the Chinese for their work ethic.
I think more and more people are accepting Chinese people living here, and this will only increase in the future.

Having said that, 95% of Chinese people living here have only arrived recently - there are not a large number of 2nd or 3rd generation Chinese. This tends to lead to a kind of "clique-ness" between them. I know from experience that it is not easy to get to know people from China because of this.

DEmeant0r

I agree, I have never seen any third generation Chinese around Galway ever. But that's probably because Galway is only 80000 or so habitants. Maybe Dublin has some third generation Chinese, you might never know.

strawberry

I would go for yes. Don't know any myself, but I know second generation people who are old enough to have kids so....

MeatProduct

Can't say I speak for anyone buy myself here but I love the Chinese. I'm very interested in their culture and I would certainly like to see much more of it in Ireland. I thought it was wonderful that the Chinese community in Ireland celebrated their new year in such great style.

I would very much agree with the comments above regarding the work ethic. When one belongs to a racial minority, especially in Ireland, I think it is very important that you make yourself seen in the right light. Many people have commented on seeing a lot of pregnant nigerian women at the dole office and how it has affected their opinions regarding Nigerians. For the record I am not bothered by this.

Nick