Liu Yuting controls the screen while watching the Lunar New Year gala after having dinner with her family at a Haidilao hotpot restaurant, in Beijing, China February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
BEIJING 鈥� China鈥檚 state broadcaster has come under fire once more for a performance featuring dancers made up to look African during its annual gala show to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
During CCTV鈥檚 four-hour show which typically draws hundreds of millions of viewers, performers appeared on stage wearing outfits that approximated African clothing and had darkened their skin with make-up.
鈥淭he New Year Gala director team is just stupid and vicious,鈥� said one of a number of users who took to Weibo, China鈥檚 Twitter-like social media platform, to criticize the skit.
鈥淚s there any difference between Chinese people doing blackface and white people slanting their eyes to make fun of Asians?鈥�
The gala sparked similar controversy in 2018 over a skit featuring actress Lou Naiming. She appeared on stage in colorful garb, her face and arms colored brown, carrying a fruit basket on her head and accompanied by someone costumed as a monkey.
Organizations and advocates for Africans in China also lambasted the show, which aired Thursday evening.
鈥淲hile supporters of the practice allege that blackface centers on empathy & realism, it鈥檚 difficult to disassociate it from a long history of minstrelsy & fixation on problematic caricatures,鈥� Black China Caucus, an activist group, said on Twitter.
鈥淣ext year, we hope organizers decide to end this practice & hire some of thousands of Black people living in many parts of China.鈥�
China鈥檚 foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday, a public holiday. A representative for CCTV could not be reached for comment.
The show, which this year focused on celebrating Chinese medical workers and the country鈥檚 space program, has been a television staple since it was first broadcast in 1983.