• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Caravanistan

Caravanistan

The Silk Road Travel Guide

  • Plan your trip
    • Silk Road
    • Uzbekistan
    • Kyrgyzstan
    • Tajikistan
    • Turkmenistan
    • Kazakhstan
  • Tours
  • Visa shop
  • Car rental
  • Forum
Home / Silk Road Travel Planning / Racism and sinophobia in Central Asia

Racism and sinophobia in Central Asia

Does racism exist in Central Asia? Absolutely.

Will it be a problem for you as a traveler? Sometimes, yes.

But most of the time, not – via beenaroundtheglobe

Table of Contents

  • Racism towards black people
  • Travel for South Asians
  • Sinophobia
  • More safety tips

Racism towards black people

There are very few black people in Central Asia, the occasional English teacher from Nigeria or the US aside. Travelers on the Silk Road are 99% white or Asian. Most village people have never seen a black person. So you will *definitely* stand out.

An excellent article on traveling while black comes from the hand of Roobens, one of the very few black travelers we have met so far while traveling in Central Asia. He talks about all the things you will for sure encounter: issues at immigration, blatant stares and endless requests for pictures, people assuming you are a rapper together with all the other stereotypes. If you say you are not from Africa or the US, no one will believe you (by the way, the same thing goes for white Africans. Simply does not compute.)

Black women are often presumed to be prostitutes.

It’s tragicomic really, since people from Central Asia can be quite dark-skinned themselves. But they were colonised by European Russians, and even though Russians explicitly saw them as “our Negroes”, the process of decolonising the mind has not begun in earnest yet.

We had never heard about violence against black people (then again, we are not black) until this deadly incident in Kyrgyzstan. Like Roobens says, an isolated event shouldn’t be your main reason to completely boycott a country. But at least in Kyrgyzstan, you should watch your step.

Travel for South Asians

Dark-skinned people from South Asia, usually medical students or business men, are a little bit more frequent in the major cities of Central Asia.

In general, Central Asians have a great fondness for all things Indian, from yoga pants to Bollywood hits. But they are still absolutely not used to seeing someone like you in real life. You will definitely get the same stares and requests for pictures as any black person, as soon as you leave the major cities of Central Asia.

We haven’t heard of really negative, violent experiences from South Asian travelers, except for targeting by police and immigration officers. Then again, we never asked before. Are you Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi? We could use your input!

Sinophobia

The Chinese government controls Central Asia’s politicians. Refugees or escapees from Xinjiang’s concentration camps are immediately sent back or imprisoned, and activists protesting against Chinese interests are threatened or arrested. While elites have fared well under China, the 99% hasn’t, and this, amongst other reasons, fuels a strong undercurrent of sinophobia in the region.

As a Chinese person, you don’t necessarily stand out in Central Asia by your looks. The only people who know you are Chinese are the immigration officers and the police. They could give you a hard time.

For Chinese people traveling in Central Asia, things seem to be quite smooth. Lots of travelers from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have easy access to Central Asia and have not reported trouble beyond requests for bribes by the police.

The anger of locals seems to be directed exclusively to Chinese workers, not to travelers. If you are working in Central Asia, well, you probably already know the drill. Keep your head down.

Do let us know if you disagree! We need more data points and really welcome your opinion.

More safety tips

Are you also LGBT, a Muslim or a single female traveling? Read on.

Last updated on May 2, 2021

Footer

Travel Guide

  • Silk Road
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Tajikistan
  • Uzbekistan
  • Turkmenistan

Tours & Rental

  • Custom tours
  • Search all tours
  • Pamir Highway tours
  • Uzbekistan tours
  • Kyrgyzstan tours
  • Car & motorbike rental

Visa invitations

  • Kazakhstan
  • Pakistan
  • Russia (tourist)
  • Russia (business)

Get to know us

  • About us
  • Contact us
  • What people say
  • Letter from the Silk Road
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Follow us on Instagram

Caravanistan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Made in Eurasia by Steven & Saule
2011 - 2023

Contact
Close

Do you have a request for this tour operator? Send a message

Customize
Close

Not exactly what you were looking for? Check out our custom tour offer: competitive prices, tailored to your needs and wants. Customize your tour