YouTube couple Yourgangjing, who are from Mainland China and are now based in Malaysia, recently met up with their fellow countryman Xiao Ah Tao, who has been living in Singapore for the past eight years.

What started out as a chat about Tao’s life in Singapore, such as the cost of living, housing, eventually touched on the topic of discrimination. And this is where the couple, Xiao Li and Jing Jing, had a few hot takes about the issue. 

When asked if he’s ever felt discriminated against during his time here, whether it’s by the locals or fellow Chinese, Tao answers: “I’ve been here for so many years, but I’ve never experienced any discrimination.”

He explains that though there are people of many races living in Singapore, he’s mostly interacted with Chinese and Malay-Chinese locals, so he doesn’t face discrimination at all.

Xiao Li and Jing Jing, then brought up some Douyin and Xiaohongshu posts where Mainland Chinese have written about their visits to Singapore and Malaysia. In these posts, some have complained about “discrimination against the Chinese” at hotels and restaurants.

In particular, Jing Jing brought up some instances where people have given bad reviews to hotels in Singapore. 

“They say ‘it’s because the front desk [staff] spoke to me in English’,” she said.

She goes on to elaborate that these tourists complain about how the staff in question, despite “looking like a Chinese person”, only spoke to them in English while helping with their check-in. They believe the service staff are simply refusing to speak in Mandarin, and that these tourists consider this, in their own words, "discrimination". 

“That’s a bit far-fetched. You can’t assume they speak Mandarin just because they are Chinese,” Tao interjects.

Agreeing with Tao, Xiao Li adds: “[The staff] will not be able to tell if the person is Korean, Japanese, or from any other country, so it’s polite to speak in English first.”

“Personally, I think [people from] these places don’t have the time nor energy to discriminate against you. Of course, I believe there are such cases, but definitely not that many,” Xiao Li points out. 

Netizens agreed with the trio’s take on the situation, with some praising them for voicing out a more logical take.

In a nutshell, let’s not assume everyone speaks Mandarin just because they look Chinese, okay?

Photo: 你的杠晶/ YouTube