BEIJING – Chinese state television has included black-faced dancers depicting Africans during a national broadcast, while Asia welcomed the lunar year of the ox on Friday with a muted festivity amid travel routes to contain renewed outbreaks of the coronavirus.
The “African Song and Dance” performance took place at the start of the Spring Festival Gala, or “Chunwan”, one of the world’s most watched TV shows. It included Chinese dancers in African-style costumes and a dark face makeup that hit drums.
The five-hour annual program, which according to the TV has been seen by as many as 800 million people in the past, also included tributes to nurses, doctors and others who fought the coronavirus pandemic, which started late in central China. .
China’s ruling Communist Party seeks to promote an image of unity with African countries as co-developing economies. But state broadcaster China Central Television has been criticized for using blackface to portray African people in previous New Year broadcasts.
On Twitter, Black vitality China, a group of people of African descent working in or with China, called the broadcast “extremely disappointing”. This was noted by CCTV’s 2018 Spring Festival Gala, which featured artists in black face with a monkey.
“We cannot have enough impact on the impact scenes like this on African and Afro-diasporic communities living in China,” the group said.
Holidays for the holidays, usually the busiest tourist season in East Asia, are dampened after China, Vietnam, Taiwan and other governments sharpened the curbs and urged the public to avoid large gatherings after renewed virus outbreaks.
Elsewhere in China, Buddhist and Daoist temples, which were usually full of holiday worshipers, were closed. Streets in big cities were largely empty.
Visitors gathered outside the closed gates of the Lama Temple on the north side of Beijing to burn incense and pray.
Ji Jianping, who wore a jacket and a red face mask, the traditional color of happiness, said she and her family went to visit their hometown in the northern province of Shanxi due to the pandemic.
“I wish for safety and health, as well as happiness for my family,” Ji, 62, said.
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China’s appeal to the public to avoid travel is spending on tourism and gifts. However, economists say the overall impact could be limited if factories and shops continue to operate instead of taking their usual two-week break.
The Ministry of Trade said that 48 million more people in Chinese cities planned to celebrate where they live instead of traveling. The Chinese capital’s government has said the two main airports in Beijing are 75% lower than last year.