On social media, young women are making fun of Vietnamese studios. A nail designer from Düsseldorf has clear words for this.
"You go nail making so often that you almost know the songs there by heart," reads the TikTok video of a young woman who bobs her fingers outstretched to the beat of the Vietnamese song "Con gái miền Tây" as if she were sitting in a nail salon.
Among them is the hashtag #chingchangchung. Is this anti-asistic racism, which this TikToker also addresses, a new TikTok trend? "Apparently, I'm not the only one who has these racist videos on her For You page," says nail designer Mary Pham.
@maryxpham Replying to @ant (Taylor's version) Sick world that rssms will be ☠️☠️☠️ a trend in 2024 such people disgust me. #asian#vietnamese#nail salon#nail salon#nail salons#asiantrend ♬ original sound - Mary Soysüren ✨
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Pham has seen videos on TikTok of young women calling nail salons and doing "phone pranks" where they ape the nail designer's accent, she tells BuzzFeed News Germany. "When I see videos like this, I only feel anger and sadness. Anger that in 2024 people still don't see what racism is. And sadness, because I feel sorry for all those affected who cannot defend themselves in everyday life."
"It is clear that such videos lead to more racism and hate speech in everyday life, but the worst problem in my opinion is that extremely many people see no problem in it at all," says the operator of "Marys Nailbar" in Düsseldorf. She thinks: "If you celebrate such content or post it yourself, then you should be abysmally ashamed."
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On TikTok, under a Vietnamese sound, many people make fun of Asian nail salons.
© Screenshots TikTok, Steffen Schellhorn/IMAGO, Collage
This young woman expresses it in a similar way, who experiences racism in her own family at Christmas.
Racism in the nail salon: "I was asked if I would like to go to school"
The fact that a video, which at first glance looks like a "harmless joke", can cause considerable damage in everyday life, she experiences in her own nail salon. There, too, she had often been called by children. They shout "Ching Chang Chong" or, as in the TikTok trend, imitate a Vietnamese accent.
Due to their "non-German" appearance, older people often assumed that they had a low level of education or did not speak German. "I've been asked a few times if I'd like to go to school. Many people don't want to believe that I did a master's degree," Pham told BuzzFeed News Germany.
Some customers just hung up on the phone because they can't believe that someone speaks German in the nail salon. "Sad, but funny," says the nail designer.
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Nail designer Mary Pham runs her own studio in Düsseldorf. At BuzzFeed News Germany, she talks about anti-Asian racism.
© Screenshots @marysnailbar_de and @maryxpham
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Vietnamese nail salons: what does nationality have to do with quality?
As in many parts of the world, many nail salons in Germany are run by people from Vietnam. This has a long history, which the SZ magazine unravels. In short, many Vietnamese women were looking for work after the end of the Vietnam War and found manicure as an activity that allowed them to be independent and offered many opportunities, especially in other US countries.
Pham would like to see an end to prejudices about Vietnamese nail salons. There are problems, such as labor exploitation in some studios, she does not deny that. Clients should question the working conditions if a nail salon offers extremely cheap manicures. "There are bad nail salons and there are good nail salons," Pham says. Whether German, Russian or Vietnamese: "The quality depends on the people in the studio and not on any nationality."
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A post shared by Mary Pham (@marysnailbar_de)
If you absolutely have to make fun of Vietnamese music, you might want to avoid Vietnamese nail salons in the future. "I don't understand how you can complain and insult and still go to the same studios for years," Pham told BuzzFeed News Germany. Fortunately, the majority of her clientele is great and defends her against racist comments – including on social media.
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Category list image: © Screenshots @marysnailbar_de and @maryxpham