On Being Mistaken for a Chinese Tourist at Oxford University

On the whole, I had a wonderful time at Oxford University and I miss it very much. The beautiful city, the atmosphere, my friends but not the workload just to be clear. But there’s one thing that’s always bothered me. As a half-Chinese student, I was repeatedly mistaken for a tourist.

Chinese students are not a minority at Oxford University. Not in the same way that black students are in any case. With the growth of Chinese wealth, Chinese students now constitute the second-largest group of international students at Oxford.

You’d think, then, that the staff and porters would be accustomed to seeing Chinese student faces around. That I wouldn’t have to worry about being mistaken for a Chinese tourist when making my way to class alone.

Unfortunately, this was not the case at all and I was frequently asked to show my student ID card when entering restricted university buildings, whilst white students were not. I was not alone in feeling this way and it was something noted by pretty much every non-white student at my college.

One incident that particularly stings occurred on my last day ever at Christ Church, but this was one of many incidences throughout my time at university when I was stopped and questioned because of the way I looked. More specifically, because I look Chinese.

By way of background, I am a British citizen. I was born to a Chinese mother and an English father, both also British citizens. I worked hard to earn a place at Oxford so being continually singled out as a “tourist” in my own college, my home for four years, was a source of much aggravation.

This is what happened on my last day at Oxford.

I wake up bright and early, planning to nip across the college to take some final pictures of my beloved university for the last time as a student. I’m wandering around, snapping away, and the college is pretty much completely empty. The day hasn’t really started yet and, crucially, the college is not yet open to tourists.

I head to one of my favourite places in college – the library, of course. I take lots of pictures because it’s probably the last time I’ll ever step foot in it but the librarian watches me carefully throughout. She probably isn’t expecting anyone to come in to take photographs, but it does make me feel a little uncomfortable. I’m not being a nuisance, I deliberately arrived before the students would, so it would be empty and I could snap away in peace.

Eventually, I leave, the librarian still sizing up my movements. I go out the doors and into the sunny quad, but the librarian follows me. I turn around. She pointedly drags a sign in front of the door that says the library is out of bounds for tourists. My heart sinks.

After four years, I’m still mistaken for a tourist? What’s more, I’d spent pretty much every waking hour of my final two terms at Oxford in that very library and walked past this librarian every time I entered.

Being the mature, level-headed, soon-to-be graduate that I am, I marched straight back in there and went poking around for a book I could borrow. I head to the computer to take out this random book, whip out my library card, proving I’m a student and loaned the book out. So there, librarian. I showed you. I belong here.

I exit, triumphant, and continue to take pictures in Peckwater quad, the most beautiful in the college. I lived in a gorgeous room in the corner of this square during my second year so I have fond memories here. Then, a porter comes up to me and says, with a hint of annoyance: “the college is closed to tourists today.”

Seriously? Twice in one day?

I take a deep breath in and tell him that I’m actually a student here, I have been for four years, and I’m taking pictures because I’m leaving today, and I’d like to remember the place in years to come. At that point, he’s all smiles, being super friendly and telling me to take as many photos as I want. But it’s too late – the damage is done.

Don’t get me wrong, this certainly isn’t the worst case of bias at Oxford. For example, a black Oxford graduate was asked if he used to clean the windows or rob the place when he revisited his old college. But the assumption that a POC wandering around Oxford is unlikely to be a legitimate student is completely unacceptable.

Some commenters have said it’s not unreasonable that they thought I was a tourist given that I was taking photographs. To be clear, these incidents are not limited to Asian students carrying cameras. Minority ethnic students walking through the doors of a college, laptop and books in hand, would also be questioned.

Plus, if I were a tourist, I would have had to bypass the porters at the main entrance, whose job it is to ensure that only students and tutors enter, plus the porters in each of the two quads that I walked through in order to get to the library. The library doesn’t have any sort of sign outside stating its the library so I’d have to be pretty bold to choose to try the door and see what was inside.

I was also dressed like a student, I didn’t have a coat or a backpack on me, so in all likelihood, I came from inside the college itself. But instead of assuming that I was a student who had popped down from their room, or even that I was a student journalist taking photos, it was assumed that I was a Chinese tourist.

I know that it’s the porter’s job to make sure the tourists don’t bother the students as, after all, the college is a place of study, not a tourist attraction (at least, it’s supposed to be!). I’m very grateful that on the whole, they do manage to do this. But this is an issue that bothered me throughout my degree, not just the final day, not just went I was carrying a camera, and it needs to be addressed.

I’d often walk through the college gates, looking straight ahead to avoid the porters’ questioning gaze and hurry through. If I was unlucky, the porters would stop me and ask for my bod card (a student card). They’ve decided that I don’t look like an Oxford student and they need to double-check this. Their job is to ensure that they keep those that don’t belong out, and they’ve decided I’m one of those people. The reality is I’m just an Asian-looking student trying to get to class.

Whilst Oxford is making attempts to address its numerous stereotypes, the focus, as far as racial diversity is concerned, seems to be on encouraging BAME students to apply and succeed. Important as that is, they also need to look inwards and make sure that they feel welcome when they arrive. No one should be made to feel like an outsider, no matter their race, education, or background in a place that they call home.

And if you think this is a historic issue, read what happened at King’s College Cambridge in the summer of 2018 on BBC news here and at St Johns College Oxford in 2019 here.

Update: Thank you for the overwhelming support from other POC and particularly Oxford and Cambridge students who have got in touch saying they’ve experienced similar things at their respective colleges. I’m saddened to hear that the implicit bias against POC coming and going from their colleges is so widespread and can only hope that things will get better!

For further reading on the British Asian experience, I would recommend The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla, which you can purchase here.

Want to find out more about Oxford University? Check out my other Oxford University blog posts:

8 Do’s and Dont’s When Choosing an Oxford College
What Happened at My Oxford University Interview?
How Many Books Did I Read For My French Degree At Oxford University?
What is it like to study French at Oxford University?
How I Ended Up on the Road to Becoming a Lawyer

Laura

Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.