short answer: no they're not racist, but they won't give visas to Africans. found that out when I applied to uni here, sent application form with my photo. reply: "sorry, the school doesnt accept african students"
me: "but im from america"
they: "oh, that's fine then"

it's really to do with the visa/ PSB people, not the schools themselves, apparently

not **MORE racist, than other places, hehe

Read this -

www.gokunming.com/[...]

Once they identify you as NOT from Kunming - they'll try to charge you 30-50% more. taobao.com - learn how to shop online for necessities and luxuries. Taxi drivers are the worst - they can kick a taxi fare by 50-100% by offering to take a "different" route - just say no and bear with the traffic.

nanjing (on the east coast, in jiangsu province) has a lot of african students. it appears that it is easier to apply to and be accepted by various schools there. however, i know some of the medical students had problems with their internships in the hospitals when many of the patients did not want a black person to touch them...

so, maybe your question is twofold, because local psb/immigration officers and the attitude of the local people can be at times quite different. due to the large amount of minorities in yunnan, as well as the expat population here, most kunming people are more accepting and used to dealing with people who are different than them. however, city infrastructure and policy is still in an arduous developmental process, so you will find that a lot of policies in dealing with foreigners are not quite in place.

sorry for your experience, but i would still encourage you to come out to yunnan as a tourist and enjoy the sites/culture.

Maybe you can check this link for reference.
www.nytimes.com/[...]

I have found that Asia in general is pretty racist against people with dark or black skin. It is unfortunate.

Asians are just racist. It's not an issue with color of skin - it's more an issue of the unknown. Every country has its dens of intolerance. China is no different - if not highly magnified because of its internal security issues.

Assuming you're REALLY coming here to learn - enjoy it all. Smile, say hello - enjoy yourself and don't let a few petty racist uneducated imbeciles mess up your day. Laugh it off and walk away.

Yunnan is home to 25 minority peoples - but aside from the dress - I still can't tell the difference. Go figure.

So is the US racist when they openly admit that during the visa process they automatically assume a Chinese citizen is going to jump ship and become an illegal and it is their responsibility to convince the consulate staff otherwise during the brief and very biased interview?

Just ask JJ how that process went.

Cheers~

I agree with the idea that the chinese schools might have had trouble with the issuing of visas to african countries passport holders in the past.

I wouldn't be so concerned about what chinese people think of you, there will always people who will want to be your friends.