onomatopoeiaaah: I wonder if even he himself would want to send him a Valentines card... :D He doesn't strike me as a person who is very fond of himself, which is sad if so.

John Xie wrote something very important, to understand this:
"But note that the reason that Chinese don't favore balck very much is maily comes from their aesthetical biases not realy discremination. one surpporting case is Chinses women try to make them look whiter."

This is an old aesthetical bias that has in times in history also been found in European countries (pre-USA time and is therefore also part of USA's culture), most notably in France with their powdered faces. The simple basis for this is social status. Its as simple as that really rich people dont have to do manual labor in the sun, but can sit inside and thus dont get a sun-tan. A sun tan / dark skin shows that you are a poor out-door laborer and thus have low social status whereas pale skin shows that you are aristocrat or at least rich and dont have to do manual labour for a living.
So this social aesthetics caused the French aristocrats to powder their faces white and sometimes still cause some women in, Korea, Japan, China to use white make-up to further accentuate their social status.

Then there is also the fact - as mentioned above - that China hasnt had much or long time historic contact with African people, so for them its a shocking blend of novelty and the ingrained esthetics that makes for the big reaction. So its not racism as such, its socio-economic tradition of aesthetics. If you look down on a dark-tanned laborer, what is this really dark skin mean? And at the same time, this African man obviously has money, so it gets rather confusing in their minds. Its a shock for them, simply.

The interesting thing in the west is that our socio-economic bias is becoming the opposite: a good tan shows that you can afford to take a vacation in the sun and dont have to work, whereas pale skin shows that you cant afford it, but must slave in the office all hours all the year round. :D

I never got sick. Not once. Nada.
I heard a couple of times some worried comments, but I think it was more that they where afraid my western stomach couldnt handle the food.
Or that some have a "statusist" view, looking down on these small vendors. I dont know.

Its cheap, its great quality (specially the woked noodles with veggies) and I love the atmosphere of sitting on these small kindergarten chairs on the side walk at midnight and eating.
And some pull out complete modular restaurants on the side walk with all sorts of dishes, from dog to crab.

First time in KM, I had the lovely luck to find a small dirty Sichuan restaurant in a small dirty backstreet just a couple of blocks south of the Pagodas. They took good care of me and I have never had such good food. My stomach loved it and already after 3 days of eating there, my body and brain functioned like I was 20 years old again. I ate mainly all my there the 6 weeks I was there. Last time in KM, I was dismayed to see it had been torn down for new development and noone knew where the restaurant had moved to.
If you find a small restaurant on a street at or near the local market, go for it. Dont bother about the spitting on the floor or the dingy grutt on the floors. I found that "fancy" restaurants where often cleaner but not as good food.
I agree with much of the above: If its busy, its usually great food, even if the locale is grutty. And stay away from KFC, MacD and Pizza Hut... thats not food.
So... eat where middle or low middle class locals eat, and you will get really good food most of the times. And do enjoy the street-vendors at night.

colinflahive
Change "Panda" to "Western tourist" (or "gaoxing"?) and "bamboo shoots" to "MacDonalds" or "Pizza Hut" and you got the story just about right. :D