I was having dinner with my language partner one day, and I did not know how our conversation steered; but we went to talking about the term 老外 (laowai).
As a student in Shanghai, I got used to hearing the term laowai (because of the number of 外国人 in the city). Probably the most neutral way to explain the word is that it is a term for a foreigner in China.
I have always thought that “laowai” is a term of endearment made by the Chinese to foreigners. It was just recently that I learned that some feel that the term is condescending. Check this blog post by Tom Vamvanij on the myth that won’t go away.
I would not go on a lengthy discussion on what I personally think of the word anymore, because then I would be part of the group engaged in this never ending debate. Instead I turned the table around and just asked some Chinese friends on their thoughts on the term.
Me: What do you think of the word “laowai”?
Chinese friend: It is a very colloquial term. Other than that, I do not know what else to think.
Me: Oh! So would you call me “laowai”?
Chinese friend: No, I would not; because we are already familiar with each other.
Me: I thought using the word “laowai” is a term of endearment. Like if the 2 persons are very close.
Chinese friend: This is hard to explain. However, generally, Europeans and Americans are the laowai. Asians are not really referred to as laowai.
I had this thinking that “laowai” is reserved for males. So–
Me: What if the foreigner is a European/American girl? Will you call her “laowa”i?
Chinese friend: This is not clear to me as well. Maybe if we are not close, I will probably call her “laowai”. But normally, I do not have this habit of calling foreigners “laowai”. Foreigners and Chinese are all the same to me.
I made a mistake of asking a Hong Kong resident.
Chinese HK friend: I call foreigners 外国人.
Me: You do not call them “laowai”? Why is that?
Chinese HK friend: There is no why. We just do not have that term in the Cantonese dialect.
And finally–
Me: What is the term “laowai” to you?
Chinese friend: Ah?! You want me to explain that in Chinese?!
Me: Sure, why not.
Chinese friend: Ok–”laowai” is what the Chinese refer to those from outside the country. It simply means foreigners.
Me: Is there a negative connotation to it?
Chinese friend: Generally, we Chinese use “laowai” to call foreigners. There is no bad meaning to it.
Me: So would you call me a “laowai”?
Chinese friend: Of course not. I know your name, so I would call you using your name. But then for example I am on the streets with someone else, we would whisper, “Hey, look at that laowai…” It just means we know he or she is not Chinese.
Me: Is that so? Because I have been hearing/reading stuff that some foreigners do not like the Chinese to refer to them as “laowai”.
Chinese friend: *laughs* Maybe it is because they think the term is anti-foreigner. But really, there is no negative connotation to it. However, it also depends on the situation. Privately, for simplicity’s sake, we use “laowai”. Other words to use are 外国人 (waiguoren) or 外宾 (waibin).
So, what do you think of the term “laowai” now? I think some people are just being paranoid.
Well, it can be an insult if a Chinese person calls another Chinese person a “Laowai”. I think “You think I’m a Laowai?” means “You think I was born yestereday?”
“Laowai” is actually a respectful term for foreigners I think. It isn’t the term that can be insulting, it’s the way it used. I’ve heard “You’re a Laowai, so you only eat bread, right?” and “I won’t tell you my name because you’re a Laowai so you won’t be able to pronounce it anyways.”
老外 is a neutral term, to referring to white foreigners.
There is no respect or disrespect, just a term to refer to a group of people. But some people may feel it is unhappy with the term because it infers outsiders, that you are “not one of us” especially for those who is really trying to hard to fit in.
Friends do not call white friends as laowai in their face but that is because of propriety. Of course, it is not polite to use a term that infers you are ‘not one of us’ among friends. But that does not mean the term itself is negative.
Tom probably confused with the HK term for white foreigners, 鬼老 (Gweilo) which started off as a derogatory term in HK. But it has been in used for so long in HK that it is a neutral term or even endearing term.
Incidentally, the term 鬼老 is now also used in China and it is derogatory.
I think people are being silly. Really I think they don’t like it more because they are tired of hearing it and not knowing what else is said. At leas that is the case where I’m at. For us laowai who do not speak fluent mandarin or local dialect we just hear mumble mumble mumble…laowai…mumble mumble. Then we imagine all kinds of things are being said about us. Also, many of us laowai come from a culture where we would not talk audibly about another person even if we weren’t sure what they understood. So, we can see it as rude. People need to adjust to the culture they are living in and relax.
You know what is much more annoying to laowai? When some Chinese guy yells “heeeeelllllooooo” in a silly voice whenever he sees a laowai. When I’m walking around town I hear that all the time and I start to lose my mind. I used to actually look and wave and say hello back until I realized the whole thing was like some weird Pavlovian reaction and they didn’t really want to talk to me.
That’s weird, well, I haven’t encountered anyone call me in that silly voice, which I think would be interesting to experience!
Where in China did you experience this? I’m sure it must be in some medium-sized China city.
Funny, I asked the same question to many of my chinese friends just to verify the fact that it IS derogatory. Noone will use the term in polite company, because it is disrespectful and, in the words of my friends, very “tu”.
Nice post,
The idea of the foreigner in Chinese society has always fascinated me. Fei Xiaotong’s “From the Soil” presents some interesting thoughts on the treatment of Chinese traveling within China and the classification of ‘visitor’ that they receive. Some of this perception of a foreign individual as a temporary individual seems to hold well with the thoughts that Fei presents in his work. Even after many years of stay within China, the laowai is still distinctly classified by their foreign status.
Thanks for the recommendation, Fabrizio. Could you share more on Fei Xiaotong’s work? I think I’d look for a copy.
When I think of the term, 老外 I think negative connotation
I rank it up there with extremely derogatory words, “chink” and “nigger”
Even the 鸟语 （Bird talk-cantonese) 鬼老 I believe is bad…
best to say, 外国人 if your into that nationalism nonsense
or my favorite… 地球人 “earthling”
五毛党
地球人–sounds alienish. I wonder how I would react when someone calls me that.
I’m curious. So, you mean to say you’ve used 地球人 before?
oh yes.
even this evening,
coming home in a Taxi,
the driver asked, 你是哪国人吗？
我说了。。。。 thats right ….. 地球人
And what was his reaction? Now I do regret not knowing about this beforehand!
如果你告诉对方你是“地球人！”，他一定会认为你很幽默。
我看到你的评论的第一反应是想起了一句电影台词“地球太危险，我还是回火星吧”，哈哈~~
对啊！我也是觉得这样！跟司机做朋友没什么问题。特别是如果你只一个人在车里面。哈哈。
my wife is from Jilin…..she refers to me as laowai to her family….like it’s my name. they all refer to me as laowai also…even calling me that like it’s my name. they mean it nicely and i take no offense. it’s like a nickname because they don’t call me by my western name. of course, they’re from a peasant village and i’m the only laowai they’ve practically ever seen, let alone met. So it’s like I’m their personal laowai. I think, depending on where they are from and their social/educational level that the term might have different subtleties in meaning. Most other Chinese people I know and work with would not refer to me as laowai. Only strangers. On the other hand, i don’t think i’ve ever been in another country where such a big deal is made about being a foreigner.
I like that–personal laowai.
I think if you are in a place in China where you are the only non-Chinese there (as in non-touristy place), people would think of you as a “friend”. But in Shanghai, where foreigners are everywhere, it’s like–what, you’re not from here? Who cares.
The story is cute. You should call them all Zhong guo ren and never refer to them by their name. See if they like it after a year or so :) Seriously, it would be an interesting experiment.
If there’s one thing I love about Chinese is that they call things as they are. Let’s not encourage them to change that.
What would you prefer? American from European descent? Bleh.
I’d prefer just plain “person”, like what they call everyone else. I think it’s inconsiderate to group people into such broad categories that real identity is lost and “NOT LIKE US OR ANYONE ELSE IN OUR WHOLE COUNTRY” becomes the main defining characteristic of a particular person. I don’t think it’s socially healthy.
It’s like the English word “foreigner”. The word is not in itself offensive, but there are connotations associated with how it is commonly used and who by in some circumstances. It can be seen as a negative term due to association, rather than literal meaning.
For example, if you were watching a 1970s British TV show with some blue haired 70 year old woman who says “‘E’s a foreigner!” about a Pakistani gentlemen, the connotation would be that she didn’t like foreigners and was probably racist. I use this example as I’ve seen a few British shows with this sort of thing and the implication was clearly that this type of character didn’t like non-whites and that “foreigner” was used as a notionally polite term by such people in a negative context. I assume others at that time would avoid using the same word – or at least not pronounce it in the same sneering way – to avoid being seen as similarly xenophobic.
Waiguoren does NOT, repeat NOT mean foreigner. It means “non-Chinese person”. Foreigner is an inaccurate translation.
Laowai generally means “whitey”.
Waiguoren literally is someone who is outside the country, right? So…it’s like…”foreigner”, right? But now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m not entirely sure. Anyone would care to expound more on this?
Liter ally it means “foreigner”.
but Huron has a point. Here in Australia “Waiguoren” is used by Chinese people to denote non-Chinese, and not non-Australians, as you might think.
Fei was a well noted anthropologist, and left quite a legacy of works, though many of them were written around the middle of the 20th century. “From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society” was written in 1947, but still holds very strange despite the great changes that have taken place in the last half century. The work focuses heavily on how Chinese perceive themselves in relation to one another, as well as the position that the smaller community plays in greater China. The book does not directly address the treatment of 外国人, but the principles that Fei discusses can be applied in many different areas. Not particularly lengthy, but deeply thought out and heavy with content. It is one of my favorites.
http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Foundations-Chinese-Society/dp/0520077962/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279803800&sr=8-1
I wrote “Holds very strange”. Meant strong.
Isn’t the English term “foreigner” have similarly complicated meanings depending on how it’s used, by whom and in what context? I don’t see the controversy.
I’ve no problems at all with 外國人 or 老外, but I don’t like the Taiwanese term that is used that translates as “big nose”, as westerners’ noses are bigger than than asians’. I am assured there’s no discriminative meaning behind it, but there’s a fine line.
Haven’t heard of that either! Thanks for sharing! But we really can’t take Chinese words at face level–unless you’re a native speaker. Ever thought that it might be an affectionate term?
Well, in the UK 30 or 40 years ago, certain terms were used that are now considered racist. If a word alienates a group of people based on how they look, and that group dislikes the word, then it shouldn’t be used. I think the issue of whether these words are considered offensive or not is difficult with China/Taiwan due to the high level or homogeneity in these societies.
I don’t know the pinyin for it, but it sounds like “adoga!”
It isn’t the term “老外” that bothers me so much as some Chinese people’s insistence on pointing out to their friends that they’ve spotted one — as if they’ve spotted a bird or a squirrel.
Even worse is when a Chinese is surprised by your presence, and he or she blurts out “啊！老外！” right to your face.
My standard response is, “啊！农民！” (But only in cities. I would never say that in the countryside.)
I think it’s a little offensive, even if they don’t mean it to be. Not N-word offensive, but definitely not nice.Not a bad word, just culturally insensitive.
I’m finding westerners to be very sensitive. Take it from me, a Chinese, laowai has no negative connotation – it’s simply easier to say than the proper phrase for foreigner – waiguoren – see, 2 syllables vs. 3. As all you respected foreign experts know, unless you are really ancient, when Chinese use lao – meaing old, it’s usually meant, however offhandedly, as a slight term of respect because even after decades of revolutionary turmoil the respect for the elderly runs strong in the country. If they want to be derogatory they would call you yang-guei-tze – which I am certain almost no one will say to your face unless they are pissed at you – it literally means ocean devil and is a carryover from the bad old days of weak China and oppressive foreign, well, devils.
As a Chinese person who spent a decades in America, beautiful country with some truly prejudiced (but still mostly lovely) people, I have heard my share of derogatory terms addressed to me and every other non-white section of the population. So, as a public service for all you laowais, let me clear it up for you once and for all:
“laowai” in no way, shape or form equals chink, slant eyes, jap, gook, nigger, coon or spic. It doesn’t even equal cracker, redneck, dago, tarbaby or chinaman. It does kind of equal chinese guy, black woman, latino/a – as used in ‘look at that chinese guy’ – which may prove offensive to the extremely sensitive because, after all, why are you picking on me because I happen to be Chinese (and for all you know I could be of Japanese ancestry – after all we all look alike to you) – you could have just said, look at that guy – over there (to make it clearer). Oops, am I ranting? Ok, one last one, please get over youself and enjoy your stay in China.
Chinese American ..If Laowai is such a polite way to call a foreigner why don’t overseas Chinese refer to themselves this way? Laowai is slang for white people not foreigners so why get offended when someone uses the slang for Chinese…Chink = Chinese are ok Look at the
First it felt odd, but then I have begun to get used to hearing it. I don’t find it rude, it is one part of the whole stating the obvious thing. What I don’t like is that when I’m having lunch with my better half completely strangers, Chinese, start asking me the basic questions. Where are you from? How can you speak Chinese? And so on.
Since I actually use the term in my handle at the China Daily BBS – TraderVic (Uncle Laowai) – I tend to take the attitude of leveraging a percieved weakness as a strength when talking with people. From what I can see – laowai is not a specific racial term, like nigger or gringo – so it can be used in jest or as an “icebreaker”.
Yes, I can see how the term can be a term of familiarity or be derogatory.
Let’s face it – it’s the history and use of the word, and not the sound the word itself makes, that gives a word it’s “good/bad rep”.
“laowei” is a friendly call !! it’s usually better than us !! haha
Your HK friend is disingenuous. They may not say laowai but Cantonese speakers are keen to substitute “gweilo,” which is historically derogatory, although I hear it more in Guangzhou than in HK.