China mining

[heiligekuh]

China: Another thing that is very important here is stereotyping. One of the things that is dangerous about genre fantasy and science fiction is that ethnic stereotyping is true. It is absolutely the case that trolls are stupid and bad and like to smash things up. What I have tried to do in Perdido is have an idea of culture that is both constraining and enabling, but doesn't describe you in cold genetic terms.

I have also tried to show that when expected cultural behaviour breaks down the ideology of stereotyping tries to maintain itself. That's what racism does. The vodyanoi in the book have a culture that tends to make them quite surly and grumpy to the outside eye. But that isn't a necessary part of their genetic make-up, and when the humans find a vodyanoi who is not like that they tend to say, "all vodyanoi are grumpy except my mate so-and-so." That is a standard racist line. The way that stereotyping tries to negotiate its own patent untruth fascinates me.

from this interview.