China Taunts Ambassador Gary Locke: Calls Him "Banana"

Ambassador Gary Locke, a third-generation American, got a strange send-off from China. The state-run China News service called him a "banana,"  a term, notes the Seattle Pi,  that is considered offensive my many Asian-Americans,  suggesting they  are"yellow on the outside and white on the inside."

The New York Times notes that the parting shot was inspired by Mao, who in 1940, slammed Ambassador Leighton Stewart.

The clip below comes from the Asia Society. Novelist Amy Tan and Orville Schell discuss what it means when you are Chinese-American, especially in light of these recent slurs.