China and the West: The Yellow Peril 2.0

An unoriginal draft statue rife with anti-Chinese prejudices (1881)
Image: mauritius images / Alamy / History and Art Collection

A symbol of peril or salvation? Western perceptions of the powerful “Middle Kingdom” have undergone a dramatic transformation over a century. What accounts for these shifting viewpoints?

Who hasn’t encountered the Statue of Liberty, welcoming visitors to New York’s shores? In contrast, its lesser-known counterpart in San Francisco, “The statue for our port,” exists only as a sketch. A colored illustration from 1881, created by Prussian immigrant George Keller, depicts not a beacon of freedom, but rather a Chinese “coolie,” his clothing tattered, hair in a long braid. Instead of broken chains, rats infest his feet. The anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in 19th-century California frequently employed imagery of contagion and disease. Keller’s caricature portrays the torch not as a symbol of liberty, but as a harbinger of “filth,” “immorality,” and “disease”.

When President Trump labeled the coronavirus outbreak the “China Virus” in March 2020, his rhetoric wasn’t novel. He tapped into a wellspring of 19th-century imagery and associations, a tactic employed by many. Germany’s Spiegel magazine, for instance, fueled this animosity with its cover depicting “Corona virus: Made in China,” a regrettable low point in public discourse.

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