Vice World News: Anti-Asian Hate Is Flourishing Unchecked in Europe

Stock photo Jason Leung

April 21, 2021

In the Netherlands, a country supposedly known for its liberal values of tolerance, many Asian Dutch kids have come to dread their birthdays because of a uniquely Dutch tradition: a happy birthday song called “Hanky Panky Shanghai.” The grande finale? At the end of the song, singers pull at the corners of their eyes to create long slits.

The song is set to the traditional happy birthday song, but swaps out the words “happy birthday to you” with “Hanky Panky Shanghai.” That’s it.

The first time classmates sang that song for Michelle Lau in elementary school, she remembers desperately trying to catch her teacher’s eye in a silent plea for help.

“I looked at the teacher, just knowing that this wasn’t right. I sat there, wondering what’s happening, why isn’t the teacher saying anything,” Lau, 24, said. “But she didn’t notice that there was anything wrong.”

That’s because more often than not teachers were leading the song. Children are led to believe it’s the Chinese version of happy birthday (it’s definitely not), and the Asian Dutch kid would sometimes be placed in the centre of a circle, made to endure around 10 excruciating seconds before being flashed with dozens of eyes pulled taught into slits.

Other times, the teacher would graciously inform the birthday child that they didn’t have to pull at their eyes since theirs were already slanted.

“I remember dreading it, knowing they were going to sing that song for you,” said Amy Cheung, 25. A member of the Dutch Asian online community group Asian Raisins, Cheung grew up desperately wanting to swap out her black hair for blonde locks so that she would no longer be called a “dirty Chinese.”

“But that’s how institutionalised it is. At four years old, Asian kids in the Netherlands understand very quickly that they’re different."

More at https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg8xkg/anti-asian-hate-racism-europe-netherlands-germany-france