Chinese bloggers report racial discrimination from Spanish fans during World Cup victory celebrations

Hupu, July 22 — Following Spain's World Cup championship victory, several Chinese bloggers based in Spain have reported experiencing racial discrimination from Spanish fans during the championship celebrations on domestic social media platforms.

Incident 1: "The Most Racist Encounter Ever on World Cup Victory Day"

One blogger described the following experience:

Watching the game with my Indian friend in Madrid, a group of extreme fans (ultras) first maliciously pushed us, then cursed us in Spanish, gave us the middle finger, and drove us away. During halftime, two more fans approached to ask about our nationality, questioned why we were supporting Spain, and shouted in our faces to leave.

The blogger noted the irony of the situation:

After the victory, all the racial discrimination seemed to vanish, and these people came over to high-five us in celebration. The attitude of Spanish people towards foreign fans is very poor. I've watched so many games in England, and no one has ever maliciously questioned our nationality; they even introduced me to their friends.

Incident 2: Discrimination at the Madrid Championship Celebration

Another blogger shared a separate encounter:

Today after work, my friend and I went to Plaza de Cibeles to watch the championship celebration. After waiting for an hour, it was hot and we couldn't hear or see anything, so we decided to leave (many people were also walking out of the crowd).

The blogger continued:

As soon as we turned around to figure out which way to go, within less than a minute, a girl behind us suddenly shouted at us: "Inside or outside Coro!" The guy next to her was laughing, thinking we didn't understand the swear words. But the first words we learned when we came to Madrid were swear words. Although our Spanish is still half-baked (just barely getting by), swear words are already an area where we have a relatively larger vocabulary.

We initially held back, afraid of being surrounded and beaten by foreigners in a celebratory atmosphere. I replied, "Why cono?" She said something else, which I didn't understand, but I could tell the tone was very harsh. So, despite our concerns, I still replied, "Hijo de puta."

She didn't expect us to fight back and muttered "chino" under her breath. My friend and I were about to leave after cursing, but hearing that provoked us again. As I backed away, I cursed her in Chinese. She recognized it as Chinese swear words and kept shouting. I had already taken a step away, but luckily my friend added, "Puta madre."

The blogger added a rueful note:

After coming out, I still felt I hadn't done my best, that I hadn't finished all the swear words I knew in one go. Luckily, she only cursed "Chinese people" and not Chinese football (she also didn't do her best, didn't hit our sore spot). By the way, I'd like to ask everyone, what are some harsher Spanish swear words... I'll study them hard.

Source: Social Media