Germany's Burschenschaften Student Fraternities Group Under Fire Over Seeking to Expel Fraternity After Accepting German Chinese Citizen Kai Ming Au

Another race row erupts in Europe as Germany's traditional Burschenschaften student fraternities debated whether, Kai Ming Au, an ethnically Chinese German citizen could be a member.

This year’s annual meeting of the Deutsche Burschenschaften (DB), one of the largest umbrella associations, was faced with a proposal to expel an entire fraternity because it had accepted a German citizen with Chinese parents as a member.

The Alte Breslauer Burschenschaft der Raczeks zu Bonn had applied for the Burschenschaft Hansea zu Mannheim to be kicked out of the DB because Kai Ming Au, spokesman for the Mannheim fraternity, was ethnically Chinese even though he was born in Mannheim and considers himself fully German.

After 90 minutes of what left-wing daily Tageszeitung reported last week had been an emotional debate, the submission was withdrawn and new rules adopted which allow members to be either from German parents or in possession of German citizenship – although they still cannot be female.

Read more: Ethnic Chinese fraternity man sparks racial row | The Local