Publishers of Air China’s inflight magazine have recalled the latest issue after comments in one of the articles were branded as “insulting” and “racist”.
A London city guide published in the airline’s Wings of China magazine warned readers that although the city “is generally safe”, they should avoid areas populated by ethnic minorities.
Specifically, suburbs occupied by people of Indian, Pakistani and African heritage.
“London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people.”
Air China
The article continued, saying it advises tourists to not “go out alone at night” and that females should “always be accompanied by another person when travelling”.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? The comments are a little similar to those retracted statements made by India’s Tourism Minister last month, in which he cautioned foreign female tourists against wearing short skirts and going out alone at night in his country.
The advice in the article was picked up by Chinese journalist, Haze Fan, who just happened to be engaged to a Londoner. She showed it to her fiance, and he found it “rather insulting”.
Publishers, Air China Media, of the magazine have come out and apologised to readers “who are feeling uncomfortable”.
The apology continued, saying the “inappropriate description” was “purely a work mistake by the editors” and it not the magazine’s views.
The entire issue of the magazine has since been recalled, however, not before Brits jumped on social media to share their disappointment and in some cases defending Asia’s third largest airline.
Like this guy who understands that racism exists but expects better from a large company:
@swapan55 Racisim is in every country – China or UK or even in India..But for a professional Airline like AirChina to put this is disgusting
— arunSpurs (@arunspurs) September 8, 2016
While Rama recalls a similar incident:
Utter Racism….. Remember the controversy of China's earlier washing machine advertisement mocking black man…. https://t.co/1sqrdmzMso
— Rama Moorthy (@Raamdxb) September 8, 2016
This person called for fellow Pakistanis to boycott the airline
https://twitter.com/sagarvmehra/status/773768056992587776
And this actor only had two words for the airline:
Fuck you Air China. pic.twitter.com/tsNpYSKI3X
— Rahul Kohli (@RahulKohli13) September 7, 2016
Radcliff says he doesn’t see a problem with the comments:
Air #China Under Fire For #racist Warning On #London #Minority Areas https://t.co/8OLaDqK5es #racism #equality #airtravel #travel #tourism
— Radcliff Gregory (@TransBoundaries) September 8, 2016
While this person just sees it as the airline looking out for its passengers:
@kunalnayyar well, do you live there?do you care about Chinese people?apparently you dont, but air China does
— ziming (@wjsytzzgsj) September 8, 2016
