The upcoming blockbuster film The Devil Wears Prada 2 has sparked a racism furore in China over its ‘nerdy “Chin Chou”‘ character.
As part of the promotion of the film, a sequel to the original that was released in 2006, a short clip was shared online in which an Asian assistant character introduces herself as ‘Jin Chao.’
Jin, played by Helen J. Shen, is portrayed to be a ‘nerdy’ woman and describes herself as a graduate of Yale University with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.86.
And her name was mistakenly believed to have been ‘Chin Chou’, which many online believed to have sounded similar to ‘Ching Chong’, a derogatory and racist slur against Chinese people that has been used since the 19th century.
One social media user said: ‘Another racist Hollywood stereotype of Chinese [people]. They called this woman “Chin Chou”. Nobody is called that in China.’
Another wrote in a post seemingly aimed at the movie’s director: ‘Are you really clueless or just doing it on purpose?’
A third said: ‘What kind of name is Chin Chou?’
But many hit back at the criticism, saying it was unfounded. One person wrote that it was ‘a bit far-fetched to link “Jin Chao”’ to a slur for Chinese people.
Jin, played by Helen J. Shen (pictured, left), is portrayed to be a ‘nerdy’ woman in the film
Her name was mistakenly believed to have been ‘Chin Chou’, which many online believed to have sounded similar to a derogatory and racist slur against Chinese people
Another bluntly said: ‘Nobody discriminates against you. It is only you feeling low self-esteem.’
So far, the film’s producers, directors and stars, including Shen, have yet commented on the matter.
The film is set to be released in China on April 30. The original film hit China’s silver screens in 2007, taking in £1.1million in its first week.
Since then, it has reportedly become a cult classic in the nation. The South China Morning Post reported that on a Chinese film rating site, 800,000 fans gave it an average score of 8.2 out of 10.
Many said the film ‘enlightened them about career attitude’ and ‘Cured them whenever they felt exhausted.’
And nearly 40,000 people put the sequel in their watch lists.
