Foreigners in China WeChat group investigated after racial slurs, Nanking massacre references
Social media erupts over screenshots of derogatory messages described as anti-Chinese hate speech
Two foreigners in China are being investigated by Shenzhen Cyber police in Guangdong province, southeastern China, after allegedly posting anti-Chinese hate speech and slurs relating to the Nanking massacre in an English-language WeChat group chat.
Screenshots from the group chat purport to show two members using racially derogatory language and making allusions to the 1937 Japanese mass murder of 300,000 Chinese at the place now called Nanjing.
The messages, which appear to have been sent last week, were mainly directed towards one group member, who objected to the use of a racial slur in the chat. He was identified as Chinese in a local media report.
“Wow since when this group turn racial [sic],” asked the user, identified by local media as a Shenzhen resident, known by the handle Master Gao.
His message was followed by responses from two others in the 88-person chat group accusing Chinese people of being “cowards” and directly referencing the massacre.
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The screenshots have spread across Chinese social media, prompting an outpouring of anger, as well as coverage of the story in the Modern Express newspaper, 1,400km (870 miles) away in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, in eastern China.