In the name of help: Anti-interracial marriage discourse in China and the intersection of racial discrimination, patriarchy, and nationalism.

This article examines how the concept of "help" on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu was used in a nationalist, racial, and gendered discourse to oppose a young Chinese woman's interracial marriage to a Nigerian man. Through qualitative content and critical discourse analysis of user comments, the study reveals that the purported assistance offered by Chinese netizens was rooted in anti-Black racial stereotypes, patriarchal assumptions, and nationalist ideals that framed the woman as dependent and in need of protection. The discourse emphasized Chinese national solidarity while implicitly denigrating Africa and African people, thereby reinforcing racial hierarchies and traditional gender roles. The study highlights how such "help," framed as care and goodwill, functioned as a mechanism of subtle discrimination that undermined the woman's autonomy and perpetuated intersecting oppressions within the Chinese sociopolitical context.