Am I crazy? Overt racism while studying in China
I really don't know what to say, suppose this is a bit of a vent post. I wanted to know if this is a common experience. I am a CS Master's student studying in the North East. (It shouldn't matter but I noticed it does somewhat) I am a 20's male from a western liberal country, studying Chinese for the last 7 years with HSK6. I don't consider myself a thinned skin person.
It is not my first time travelling to China, but my first experience living here. I first travelled to China in 2019 with my close Chinese friend from university who introduced me to his hometown and returned to explore the country a few times after.
Semester 2 of 2025 I enrolled in Chinese language at a top university and started my Master's this year. I feel like I've done everything right, I've spent years learning the language, I am a studious and respectful person, made friends, learnt the culture, but I feel like the situation in China the last few years has changed a lot. The last month has been particularly strange:
- I really am not phased by the regular conversations by some people such as "China is big, china is safe, your country is dangerous, your country is bad, etc" despite coming from a developed nation with a low crime rate. I often indulge in their perspective and prefer to agree with them.
- Recently the gym I've been a member of for the last 12 months sent me a message saying they cannot support foreigners for insurance reasons, I was suspicious and spent days negotiating with them as I really enjoy the gym. Eventually, they admitted it's not for insurance reasons, but recently they had an experience with a group of foreigners from Pakistan so they made the decision to ban all foreigners. Since they knew me they said they would make an exception for me.
- A week later I ordered something from TaoBao and the package was lost and received a refund. A few days later I received a message from the delivery station saying they found the package and she wanted 400rmb and I could collect the package. Since I already received the refund I wanted to do the right thing and contacted TaoBao. The delivery station employee called me and called me every curse under the sun "F*** you foreigners, piece of shit, f*** your mother, you don't belong in China“, etc.
- Last week I was walking down the street with my girlfriend, these guys eating shaokao they yelled out at her and called her a traitor, I was really sick of this so I stood up to them and we came to a verbal argument, I didn't curse them or stoop to their level, but I draw the line at insulting my partner and eventually contacted the police, but nothing was done.
- Today was the event which triggered me to make this post. My girlfriend and I went for a walk, we saw three kids in our community. My girlfriend does not have a typical Han person and speaks english, she often will be mistaken for a foreigner. Two kids yelled "Oh two foreigners!" and we thought they were really sweet, so we spoke to them, just the casual normal conversation. Then one of the kids said back "I do not like foreigners!", we asked why and he said "I just hate you!". We were both so shocked, I cannot describe how disappointed I was. We walked past all their parents and they heard what the kids said clearly. We thought that maybe the parents would correct their childrens behaviour, but it seems that they thought this behaviour was amusing.
I guess I want to know is there something I am doing wrong? Am I unlucky? Is this an issue specific to North China? I'm not looking to change anyones opinion, I guess I am just really disappointed in my experience so far.
Edit: Because I'm being asked a lot, yes I am 100% White, native English speaker.