Originally Posted by
Deltus
Why? It's a basic fact that foreigners travelling in regional China are targeted for more hassle and admin than Chinese nationals, at hotels, airports, random bao'an checkpoints, entry gates, police surveillance etc. I didn't think that was contentious, but have you had a different experience?
Like I said, I'm not sure if that was the factor at TAO, but it was noticeable that in my security channel, the only 2 people pinged for secondary out of the 20 or so while I was there were were the foreigners. When challenged, the agent claimed it was because there was a book in my companion's bag, I didn't even bother asking about mine.
Perhaps your wording was a bit strong and came off wrong. But I have had the same experience, particularly with security services. For example, once when departing from Lanzhou and waiting to get hand luggage screened an agent pulled all foreign looking people into a different lane where our luggage was searched before it was xrayed. No explanation given. It was not done with any urgency or thoroughness, so I doubt it was a specific security threat. Maybe racial profiling is a better way to word it?
Discrimination and bias exists everywhere, its one of the challenges we all face at one time or another.