Beijing store sparks racism row by banning Chinese customers

A clothing store in Beijing has caused an outcry after putting up a sign banning Chinese customers. The sign reading: "Chinese not admitted - staff excluded" appeared more than a week ago.

"We didn't want to hang up the sign in the first place and lead people to think we Chinese look down upon ourselves. But some Chinese customers are too annoying," a salesperson said, adding that the wholesale store mainly sells to foreigners. The salesperson said the store had to pay a foreign customer £3,200 ($5,000) last week to settle the theft of his wallet by a Chinese shopper.



"The surveillance camera footage showed a Chinese customer stole his wallet. But the foreign customer claimed that we [the shop and the Chinese customer] are a group of thieves. And Chinese women often try on lots of clothes but end up buying nothing," the salesperson added.

The sign, which is written in Chinese, was also aimed at preventing competitors from copying their designs, another salesperson said. Legal scholar Li Xiandong, of the China University of Political Science and Law, said that while the sign was discriminatory, the mainland had not outlawed racial discrimination, so the sign was not breaking any laws.