Posted on 04/26/2022 11:20:25 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Although Hong Kong prides itself on being Asia’s World City, a lot of common terms and phrases reflect an anti-foreign sentiment
I am not easily offended. Offence-taking in the modern age, it seems, is often used to leverage power and impose one’s moral sensibilities on others. I don’t care. That said, one aspect of Hong Kong culture that has always unsettled me is the way other races are referred to in Cantonese.
The roots of these terms come from anti-foreign attitudes. The commonly used phrase for “white person” is (gweilo), which literally means “ghost man”, or “devil man”. The term for “black person”, (hak gwei), means “black ghost”, or “black devil”. In Cantonese, the word gwei evokes or implies hatred and negative feelings. We use it in the words for “devil” (gwei tsz) and “bad person, scoundrel” (jin gwei). There is simply no way of separating the terms and their negative and xenophobic connotations.
Cape Town’s Day Zero water scarcity crisis should be a wake up call for us all Putting their troublesome origins aside, what concerns me about these words is how frequently they are used. If these words were only used by racists or jokingly among friends, then this might not be a huge deal. However, these words are often used by people with no racist intention, on the street, and in all forms of media. They are, on some level, an acceptable part of this city’s culture.
I have been called a gweilo many a time by a local. These terms – which carry weighty implications – are used more casually and frequently than I believe they should be.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
Spanish has “Guey” which is too close to that...lol. “Hey, guey!”
Nothing will change the utter racism of the Han Chinese.
The White Shadow
Insults from an inferior culture and people have no weight.
Whites invent, Chinese steal and reverse engineer.
I’m from Vancouver and even back in the 90’s it was called HONGcouver. “guay lao” was a term heavily used even back when I was a kid. Didnt bother me one bit as I returned the favor too ;)
My. My. My. Here is another opportunity to join a fashionable consensus by adopting a wounded identity instead of seeking adulthood and finding dreams to pursue or accomplishments to celebrate.
Sometimes it seems like they have a different word for everything
“Goyim” used among Jewish people also has very negative connotations and is universally used constantly.
“schwartza” is used by many Jews (Yiddish derived) for black people. The Urban Dictionary has two entries, one saying it is neutral, the other that it is extremely derogatory. When spoken by English speaking American Jews, I believe it is often derogatory (loosely translated as “blackie”).
There was also an actress apologizing for doing “brown face”, darkening her skin with make up to play a Filipino.
The ChiComs have completely taken over Hong Kong. Breaking the treaty they signed, eliminated any freedom of speech or political freedom, prosecuting people for having taken out political ads in newspapers five years ago, for having held commemorations of the Tiananmen Square massacre, it goes on and on. Full scale dictatorship imposed on a formerly free society.
And yet this woke PC nonsense is presented as important.
Huge elephant in the room.
Hard fact is the ChiComs violated the treaty they signed and have no right to Hong Kong at all.
It’s time for Hong Kong to become like Singapore.
In my youth I studied Mandarin for a few years.
I got to level of conversation.
One thing that always sticks with me is their Character for China. It is “Center” as in the center of the universe.
and Jung Wa it’s people.( pardon my interpretation)
Han Chinese literally believe from birth, they and they alone are the center of the universe.
I knew a Chinese woman years ago who married a Mexican-American guy. Her 2 sisters also married non-Chinese. Their father legally disowned them.
White Americans are amongst the least racist in the world.
Really cool white kids are using new anti white pejoratives. Hold one severely accountable today.
What a wimp.
Doesn’t he know that we’re all “Foreign Devils” to the Chinese?
Embrace it.
That Cantonese term is already doing out of usage unless you’ve more than 55 years old.
Growing up around San Diego, I heard plenty of pejorative language from the Spanish speakers. It's a huge mistake to assume the object of the comments is illiterate in the language. To wit, my dad sent me for salad ingredients for Christmas dinner. As I approached the lettuce, a pair of women switched their conversation to German. Having selected my head of lettuce, I wished them, Frohliche Weinachten...Merry Christmas.
My wife calls me that all the time when she is talking to other Chinese people. I take it as a term of endearment.
Yes...my only question is Who did they steal gunpowder from?
I submit the Japanese. They’re intelligent and creative.
Genghis Khan wasn’t for another 200 years or more, so I can’t give the Mongolians any credit...
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