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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: its official: Many Chinese are racist
In kunming. i have heard low-wai to many times here. just today from a female in her twenties. when i replied angrily in broken Chinese, she was surprised and a bit taken aback. GUILTY as charged, biatch. I will remember all the racism which will allow me to break my contract when its time to leave, and not feel guilty. comes around, goes around asshats.
I don't get upset at 'laowai' tag whatsoever.
First, I'm not fluent in Chinese, and as I understand it means 'outsider' what I am.
I learned 'ni shi laowai' and I use it as a reply, or when Chinese reply 'bu zhi dao' to my English talk.
I can make unknown kids on the street reply after me: 'ni' -exhale- 'shi' -exhale- 'laowai', and when they understand themselves, they hit me again with 'ni shi laowai' and fingers pointing.
I always get laugh out of them.
You can't expect Chinese will treat different races same as we do. They lived among themselves for long time, and 'Us & them' matter won't change that quick.
philbravery:
who even you are does lcnif know you are using his account ?
I don't get upset at 'laowai' tag whatsoever.
First, I'm not fluent in Chinese, and as I understand it means 'outsider' what I am.
I learned 'ni shi laowai' and I use it as a reply, or when Chinese reply 'bu zhi dao' to my English talk.
I can make unknown kids on the street reply after me: 'ni' -exhale- 'shi' -exhale- 'laowai', and when they understand themselves, they hit me again with 'ni shi laowai' and fingers pointing.
I always get laugh out of them.
You can't expect Chinese will treat different races same as we do. They lived among themselves for long time, and 'Us & them' matter won't change that quick.
philbravery:
who even you are does lcnif know you are using his account ?
Yeh, like icnif said, the word laowai is not meant in any derogatory sense whatsoever, it's just an observation.
diverdude1:
I even use it to describe myself, just a lot easier than trying to say weiguoren. sounds better too... I mean it rolls of the tongue better.
even if it were derogatory, who gives a toss? I call them derogatory names all the time.
icnif77:
That's where I have fun in China: 'you can say anything you want in English, and they don't understand'.
I agree...it is not malicious. But for fun, when someone points and says "laowai", point back and say "zhongguo ren" ....you'll get a laugh
icnif77:
I would like to know the difference between statement and question in Chinese, so I can make difference at asking or pointing.
At 'bu zhi dao' reply I like to ask 'ni shi laowai' .....
mArtiAn:
I have at times, on having someone point and excitedly say laowai, pointed myself but to the sky before exclaiming with my own feigned excitement, "feiji" (aeroplane). As yet no-one seems to have gotten the joke.
icnif77:
I did that as a kid: just point and look up in the sky. Everybody followed with looking...., while I walked away....
In English sounds 'ben', if you say 'aeroplane'. Just 'point and look up', then wait till everybody follows, and quickly walk away.
It works every time.
RandomGuy:
You can use "ah! konnichiwa!" with a big smile when they HALUO you which I find extremely dumb as to assume every non-Asian people are English speakers.
If they know the meaning of it (probably from some anti-Japanese TV drama), enjoy the frustration on their faces from being mistaken for Japanese devils.
iWolf:
Hey, that's gold. I'll give it a try next time with a stiff little bow
Should be good for chuckles.
hi2u:
Instead you can point at them and say, "ribenren!" When they say they are Chinese, you can say that they look just like a Japanese.
Yeah, it sucks, but a lot of times racism is out of ignorance.
I actually have had some luck explaining that racial slurs are a bad thing, with the whole "How would you feel living in a Western country, and the people regularly called you racist names?" There are also some people who are uneducated enough to actually not think it's insulting (they all seem to have the same story about how "Lao" is an honorable prefix, and something about it being humorous or respectful. Turns out they all get it from Baidu. Big surprise there). Some city dwellers are starting to realize it's insulting, though most don't think about it.
Once, before class, some students were talking about how their IELTS tests were being graded overseas, and one student used the term "Laowai" in the conversation. It got real quiet. I talked to her one on one, and she apologized, said she was just nervous about her score, and frustrated thinking that it'll be graded more harshly than if a Chinese was doing it, and the word just came out. I told her I was at least appreciative she didn't try to bullshit her way out of it with a "You don't understand. It's not a bad word", but owned up to it. I just said I didn't want to hear it again. A professor used it too, in passing, with one of her students. When I brought it up, she also said that a lot of Chinese use it without thinking, but she knew it was offensive, and after apologizing, said she wouldn't say it again. So yeah, some people can be reasoned with.
Side note: In Poland, in a small town, a Polish fan of American hip-hop asked me something like, "Are there really a lot of niggers in America?" I just stopped, paused, and after a few moments, explained that he really shouldn't be using that word. He was sure it wasn't an insult, since Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre use it all the time. Not malicious, just didn't know better.
Though, actually explaining mostly just works for people you talk with, like friends and coworkers. Little chance convincing the random Wang on the street. And, of course, there are plenty of people who know exactly what it means, and intentionally use it to insult. They know it's racist, but that's the point of them using it. You're not going to reason with them.
Sure, you can reply back with, "Ni hao, chink!", but even if it makes you feel temporarily better, it will probably offend all Han Chinese within earshot. I've enjoyed just staring them down, and asking, "Ni shuo shenma?" Ususally, I just get a nervous smile and a "Sorry."
I know it's not the most polite way of referring to us, but I think in China, where everyone has a label (shifu, ayi, shushu, laoban, fuwuyuan, meinu, shuige, fangdong) , that would be considered impolite in the west (try calling a waitress over to your table by yelling "hey beautiful!" back home), that the sting of laowai just doesn't come off as that derogatory to me. So I'm not gonna fight China on this one.
So yes it's a little crude, but I also wouldn't put it on the same level as "chink" and "nigger", because those are terms that were made to be hateful. I think it's sort of like "oriental" or "colored", terms that were actually considered the polite, acceptable vernacular in their time, but grew to be distasteful. Guai Lou or Gai lou is where I draw the line, means something like "ghost face" in Cantonese based dialects.
RandomGuy:
Gweilo, pretty racist IMO, not at all like Laowai. I punched quite a few Cantofags for calling me this. Though they have even worse terms to describe Foreigners.
Yes they are racist but it's just because they are at a lower level of societal development than we are, I mean just look at them, their appearance, behavior, mindset, knowledge, everything screams backward.
Still they are much less racist than they used to be, I hear derogatory terms much less often than I did 9 years ago when I came here. Give them a few more decades, things will probably improve quickly after Mao's generation dies away.
Japan used to be a pretty racist place too but today you see many Japanese in couple with people from other races, be they guys or girls, even the Koreans who only bred with their own kind less than 20 years ago now increasingly date White and Black people.
If the chinese weren't racist, there wouldn't be a billion of them. ..If you are cultivating a race with a specific, genetic trait...a billion should smack most idiots in the head with the clearest, most f'n obvious sign you are dealing with racists...Polite to others OUTSIDE of race doesn't mean sh*t...It just means they will get out of your way to avoid conflict...what means sh*t to the racist is that dissimilar genetic traits are marginalized and micrcomanaged...Culture can only supplement race...It does not define it...Why the slowdown in the economy? Uh..save up for baby #2?
Thanks for all the comments, input, etc. inwhich a variety across the spectrum has been brought forward. I understand that China has come a long way, but yet still has a long way to go, so to speak.