Carnival in Germany has produced distinctive traditions that imagine and perform ‘Chineseness’, most prominently in Bavarian Dietfurt’s ‘Chinese Carnival’ and Cologne’s carnival association Ihrefelder Chinese. Drawing on costumes, paper lanterns, dragons, invented names, and in Dietfurt’s case, even a symbolic emperor – until recently accompanied in both traditions by yellowfacing – these festivals have been granted recognition as intangible cultural heritage and celebrated as markers of local identity. Situated against the backdrop of German–Chinese relations and the history of German colonial activity in China, marginalised in public memory, the article critically examines how these practices (re)produce and (re)frame ideas of China and the Chinese within German cultural life. By tracing their development and recent adaptations, the discussion highlights the tensions between safeguarding cherished traditions and confronting the problematic legacies, representational strategies and racialised stereotypes that continue to shape them.
Alexandra Kolb (2026) studied this question.