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Q: Forever a 'lao wai'?
When I first came to China [Hefei, Anhui] I was just about the only foreigner in the city
[of 5 million people] and so often was stared at, pointed at and heard 'ni kan lao
wai' because many people there had not really seen any foreigners.
So, I got used to it.
By now I have been here for 5 years and even though the official number of
foreigners has climbed to 16-hundred something, I still hear mumbled 'lao wai'
when people see me. It is a Chinese thing to always state the obvious...
This summer, after school was over, I went home [USA] and some good Chinese
friends invited me to a party. It was a big party with mostly Chinese people
in attendance: both Chinese-Americans and some immigrants. Of course, most of the
language spoken at the party was Chinese and so I overheard some conversations
about me, referring to me as 'lao wai'.
Finally, I went to one group and asked them point-blank why they were calling me a
'lao wai'. The answer was: 'you are not Chinese, so you are a 'lao wai', a foreigner. I then
pointed out to them that they were in fact the 'lao wai' or foreigners because they were
tourists and/or immigrants, and that I am the American in my own country. It all did
not matter. They kept on pointing out to me that any non-Chinese is considered
a foreigner.
Interesting, how Chinese people think they own the world, only they are really citizens
- wherever they might live - whereas anyone not being of Chinese ethnicity is simply
just another 'lao wai' and always will be.
Has anyone else had such an experience?
10 years 39 weeks ago in Culture - Other cities
Ahh just read some of my posts and you will see it only gets worse 
China does own the world. Soon, they will discover ancient maps to prove it. They should be finished by 2015.
Chinese continue their comments like that even after leaving home and being welcomed into our countries. Keeps them in touch with their racist practices.
crimochina:
Makes me want to get a job in the visa approval office. Rejected ... Rejected... Rejected... That've i does not look fully dotted, rejected!!!!!!!!!
Yep, it's happened to me. I stumbled upon some Chinese students studying at a local university back in the US. They were surprised I could speak/write a little Chinese. They then took to updating their Weixin status about how they met a "laowai" who could speak Chinese. I politely reminded them who was (and wasn't) currently the laowai. At least they actually admitted that I was correct, and had a laugh about it....I was a bit dumbfounded 
They are stupid and agorant,they should call themselves Laowai when they are in US,as you said,it is your own country.
JustinF:
Chinese Americans and legal immigrants are American too. So nobody in that room should be calling anyone a laowai, since they are all in their own country
Don't worry, Koreans, Japs, even Thais do the same thing [but the SE Asians at least have the courtesy to call us white people (Malay/Indonesian) or "Germans" (Thai word is farang which means German) or "Englishmen" (Burmese call us "inglessis")]. Koreans Japs and Chinese group us all together as foreigners. I think the way they look down on outsiders is a psychological crutch as each of these countries is more dependent on outsiders than they'd like to admit.
EDIT:
I don't know what they would call a black person in Indonesia. But the Thais call black foreigners "farang dam" or literally "Black German". I guess the first foreigners they dealt with were European, they called them German since that's what the Middle Easterners called them ("farangi" or "franks"), then they realized that not all foreigners are white so they called them "black farang" ie: "farang dam".
crimochina:
Yes they should have the courtesy to call us white people
Jnus, missa, anyone who has traveled to korea or Japan, did they constantly refer to you as foreigner?
I find it hard to believe.
I worked with people who worked in jap and Korea and they were shocked that they were constanlty being referred to as laowai.
sam239:
Yes, I got "waygook" a lot more in Korea than I get "laowai" in China. Even got told I couldn't use a water dispenser in the grocery store because it was for "hangook" only, not "waygooks". I used it anyways.
Sth funny I just thought of. If I as an American came to china and called Chinese immigrants or foreigners , some posters would be up in arms about how racist i am. But this no racist
(damn you apple I want that placed at the end!)
JustinF:
As much as you want to convince yourself of the opposite, you'll never be considered a real American by the majority in the US. You'll always be part of the minority group that the majority marginalises while still being scared to offend.
crimochina:
actually your wrong, because soon the minority will be the majority. sb from america would actually know that. ccp needs to update their playbook.
xinyuren:
@Justin - WTF, are you history books in China really that old? White people are now the minority in China.
JustinF:
Don't Whites make up 63% of the demographics in USA, followed by Hispanics at 17%? How is that anywhere close to having Whites get taken over by Latinos? Or are you just repeating White people's news (Whites against all the other ethnic groups gathered together)?
There are 2 types of people in the world. Chinese and Not-Chinese. Anyone Not-Chinese is a laowai because you don't come from the center of the universe.
As an Overseas Chinese, I am still being referred to as the laowai by Chinese.
Such a confusing country.
