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Q: Why Some Chinese Peoples prefer to Call Foreigners by the term "LaoWai"...???
I heard that its not respectful word sometimes,will you like to share your experience???
1) we all look alike
2) we all come from 'foreigner land'
3) none of us understand Chinese
You are all much different that me!
In my 'Fujian', they usually call me 'waigu-O-ren', and I always reply: 'ni shi waigu ren'. They 
! I like, when I make them laugh!
comes from the song Louie Louie by the Kingsmen, classic rock, Chinese thought song said Lawai...
TedDBayer:
it's on this page, it's an original rock rebel song.... http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/23/louie-louie-ultimate-rock-rebel-anthem
icnif77:
I know the song! I can even sing over the webcam, however I fancy Zappa's re-do.
BuTT, I didn't see Utube since I'm in China. I'm often on InvestorsHub, US web site. I just disregard, when poster's link is Utube, because I can't open it.
bill8899:
Laowai loawai. Oh noooo! I said we gotta go now.
Yea yea yea yea yea yea uh loawai loawai ...
TedDBayer:
A fine little girl, she waits for me
Catch a ship across the sea
Sail that ship about, all alone
Never know if I make it home
Not too different from
Laopo
Laoban
Laogong
and other commonly used nicknames. Know a guy who has had "laobei" stuck to him. (Old White)
The MIL calls me Gweilo 
and is a bit pissed that I have owned this name and now refer to myself as The Gweilo.
jetfire9000:
Nice one. You should use a punch line to go with that every time she says it. If ya sahmeeeelll what The Gweilo IS COOKIN!
When they call me laowai, I call them Ribenren, you should see their faces
Especially when people who know my name dare to call me laowai.
Nowadays the term laowai has become pejorative, it's like us calling them chinks.
Waiguoren is alright as it is literally like Foreigner and not pejorative.
Thanks Eorthisio. I'd love to see their faces. 
* What does Ribenren mean?
Eorthisio:
Riben = Japan
Ren = Person
Ribenren = Japanese
A number of Chinese still hate the Japanese for some historical reasons.
Three questions in a row? I've seen this sort of behaviour before. I think I know who you are.
xunliang:
And you have tons of points but you've not been active on this forum since 2012. I'm guessing you have tons of accounts and just rotate through them every year or so?
TedDBayer:
matty never replied either, even to defend itself when caught in a lie.
xunliang:
Yep. He's now changed it to two questions in a row. But it's pretty obvious who it is. And like you say, he doesn't even try and deny it.
Most time this term is a bit of insulting and rude when many Chinese call you guys.But sometimes,it is just a habit of Chinese to call you this way,not any kind of insulting at all.You have to judge it by the situation you are in.
Stiggs:
Yeah that's the same way I feel about it. A few people who I'm close to say it sometimes and I know there is nothing derogatory intended. It's just the word they grew up with.
But when some little muppet grunts it at my back as I'm walking past him... well I know it's derogatory but I just can't take him seriously enough to care.
Don't bother trying to fgure out why they say it... just repl... Bindan in return...
Usually I hear it given snarky, I reply snarky Zhongguo ren or F*** O**.
So you remember you are unwelcome guests.
Eorthisio:
You would still eat grass and sleep in mud houses without foreign investors, foreign businesses and foreign factories.
sam239:
Hey I consider anywhere on the planet I stand as "home", so therefore not a guest. And the day-to-day Chinese have almost always made me feel welcome. So a "welcome person at home". I dunno I haven't heard the Laowai thing so much, except in visits to Shanghai where a traffic cop yelled at me "Laowai, blahbipdyblopbidybop", meaning "foreigner, get out of the road", whereupon I looked at him puzzled as again I don't consider myself a foreigner.
Redguard:
wow sam that is really interesting. I guess when you entered china you waited on the same line as chinese people and not foreigners. I bet you didn't even need a passport
Southern Chinese refer to white people as "Gui Lao". Now this is offensive.
iWolf:
Gweilo is not an offensive term unless you are an oversensitive butthurt crybaby. Unless you are offended by being generically grouped with white people...but that's another issue you to deal with.
It is just a cantonese word to describe a foreigner. It can have negative connotations in certain situations and when said with different inflections....but so can almost any word.
Don't be so sensitive.
Yang-gui-zi is really the only derogatory term for foreigners do yous hear that on a daily basis? doubt it.
