Chinese customers picking star products at the shelf in a DFS.

"Why are they racist against Chinese people?" "Where can Chinese people go to get respected?" "I will never spend money there again".These were some of the comments on social media recently. Where did the racism and prejudice against Chinese people occur? Before I go into that let's discuss the power of Chinese spending.

Many Chinese tourists come to London and although they are interested in seeing the usual things, Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, the London Eye etc., they are more interested in shopping. They like name brands so will always go to the most expensive shops, indeed many of these establishments have Mandarin speaking assistants. They will also usually have someone to help these shoppers fill out forms so that they can claim the tax back.

Chinese people don't only buy for themselves, they always get presents for the folks back home, and many of them also have shopping lists from friends. When I was doing tour guiding I once took a party of Chinese tourists around London and they wanted to go shopping. I asked my company if I needed to go with them and unfortunately the answer was that I would have to accompany them, which meant I had to trail around the shops and try to negotiate discounts etc. The amount of money this group spent was eye-watering. I would never usually go into these kinds of shops, so it was fun being able to sit in the VIP departments. In one upmarket luggage shop, one lady was doing a video call with her husband who was still in China, she wanted to buy him a belt and needed to know if he liked it (several hundred pounds was the price of the belt). He couldn't make up his mind and so got his mother involved, who directed her daughter-in-law around the shop and got her to show her various products. Needless to say, the shop staff didn't like it, as for all they knew this lady was a spy who was giving away their trade secrets. Belatedly it was discovered that this shop had certain tax benefits, so then my tourists started to bring out receipts for the things that they had purchased previously and wanted to apply the discounts. Unfortunately, the discounts were not retrospective, and I had a terrible job trying to explain what the policy was. They kept asking me "为什么？" (Why) and my answer was "没有为什么",which loosely translated means there is no reason why, in other words, it was the shop's policy and that was that.

Although Chinese people are big spenders, they also like to get what they feel they are entitled to in the way of discounts, no matter how small. They will line up for a long time to get them. I think this relates to their strong sense of justice and they do not like to feel that they are being treated in an unfair manner. Of course, nobody wants to be treated unfairly, but they are more likely to make an issue of it and be vocal as far as social media is concerned. If I felt I had been treated unfairly by a shop assistant, I would probably ask to see the Manager, and then vow never to go in that shop again, I wouldn't take to social media to voice my complaints. However Chinese people will usually do this and then many other Chinese will take note and so it really is a strong incentive for shops to take notice of Chinese concerns, as not to do so would mean business suicide.

Racist or greedist?

Getting back to accusations of racism, it stems from this; at Heathrow Airport in London, there are a chain of shops that sell duty free goods. They are not actually part of the airport, they just pay to have their shops there. My friend Joo Joo works for an airline, and you may remember that she told me that half the time she has to go and search for missing Chinese passengers - they frequently miss their flights. She finds them in the tax rebate office claiming their tax back for their goods. As the queues are very long, and they are in danger of missing their flights, when Joo Joo warns them that they will not be able to board, their reply is "No matter I will book another ticket". They have to stay in London for another day, which means more expense, but even with the cost of the hotel added in, the amount of tax they are able to claim back for their goods is worth much more than the cost of a plane ticket and hotel etc.

Anyway, these duty-free shops had a promotion going on that if a customer spent £250, they could get a 20% discount. This was great for shoppers, although, Chinese customers were told that if they spent £1000, they could get a 20% discount. At first, they were delighted to get such a whopping sum off their shopping, which considering how much they buy, is no small amount. Once they found out that other customers only needed to spend £250 however, they vented their fury, hence the remarks about racism.

Quite rightly Chinese customers felt insulted and hurt, but this situation raises an interesting question. Is it racism? If, say, Polish people were the biggest spenders, would these shops have had the same policy against them? My personal opinion is that yes they would, because it is not emotion that fuels the acts of these businesses, it is economics. Some would have the point of view that this is just business, others would say it is pure greed. I agree with the latter, I do not think for one minute that the Chairman and shareholders of these shops took the decision to show racism against Chinese people. As the Chinese are possibly their best customers, that does not make sense. However, showing discrimination against the biggest spenders does make sense, hence I do not think the nationality of the spenders comes into play, rather the amount of expenditure involved is what drove this policy.

Chinese-speaking assistants are hired to look after Chinese customers in DFS around the world.

Backlash and boycott

In any event it was disastrous and not only provoked wrath of Chinese buyers, but also that of the Airport Authorities who have demanded an explanation and have forced the airport shops to end this unfair, ridiculous practice. Why it was thought that this made good business sense is a mystery and whoever rubber stamped this policy is now probably looking for a new job - and these shops are looking for new customers, as they have almost certainly been boycotted by their best free spending clientele. Insult one Chinese customer and it is almost the same as insulting the whole country – that is the power of Chinese spending. The old saying the customer is always right certainly applies in this case.

Is this policy immoral? Yes. Is it Deceptive? Yes. Is it racist? No, because what matters here is not so much the colour of someone's skin, but the colour of their money.