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I don't know why?But I'm a chinese too,I'm living in Malaysia.We call westerners,''Guai Lou" and we call the indians,''Kak Leng Guai".I don't know really know the reason.
Dear Jack Russell Dog,
Chinese civilisation is very old and influential and the Chinese pride themselves on that. The problem is that their traditional culture is also quite ethnocentric. As you know, "China" in Chinese is "zhong guo", which means the "middle kingdom", a good hint on what position their country occupies in the world, according to them.
Chinese have always believed their country to be the planet's only bastion of cultural sophistication. Traditionally, Chinese judged other countries on the grounds of cultural closeness with China. These nations who paid tribute to the Chinese Emperor were considered civilised, and everywhere else was a land of barbarians. Of course, the first Westerners who came to China were considered barbarians since their culture (and physical appearance!) were so far removed from that of the Chinese.
It also did not help that for most of the last 400 years, contact with Westerners has been fairly negative for China. During the 19th and 20th centuries in particular (the period between 1849 and 1949 is pointedly referred to as the "century of national humiliation" in China), Western countries used brute force to secure trading privileges and mini-colonies for themselves in China.
Britain in particular encouraged the illegal smuggling of opium into China's borders, leading to widespread addiction and the complete corruption of China's government apparatus. When Chinese emigrated to Western countries to escape the crushing poverty and lawlessness caused by this in their homeland, they were often fiercely persecuted. The first immigration laws ever passed in the US were specifically aimed at ostracising the Chinese. All this is what gave Westerners a bad name in China - humiliation by the West is firmly built into China's modern national experience.
But times have been changing quickly. While it is true that some originally derogatory terms for Westerners are still used, for instance, they have lost much of their original negative connotation. The Cantonese term "gwailo" ("foreign devil") to refer to white people is the most widely used in overseas Chinese communities - but it has now become so common that even white expatriates in Hong Kong use it to refer to themselves without a second thought. Same with the Hokkien term "ang moh". In Mandarin, the equivalent term "yang guizi" has fallen into disuse and disrepute and it would be considered shockingly rude to use it today.
And if you have spent 22 years in China, then you surely know that the most commonly used term for Westerners in China nowadays is actually "laowai", which means "honourable outsider" - obviously a very respectful form of address. Long live cultural openness.
Hope this helped,
You may not learn enough Chinese to understand the Chinese.
But it is a good start and don't be discouraged or upset.
In the old times, the Chinese thought they saw "ghosts" when meeting white people. "Gui Lo", actually means "ghost brother/man" because they thought their face looked pale like a ghost. As time goes by, the phrase become something humorous and without any bad meaning.
Did you know Chinese people call little lovely kids "xiao gui -- little devil" because they are naughty and cue?
You can see lots open-minded foreigners learned to call themselves "Gui lo" without any bitter feeling at all.
More educated Chinese people now call western people "Lao wai (old/respected outsider) " Note they use "lao shi" for "teachers" who they really respect. And the educated Cantonese people call western people " sai yan (west person)".
Ask those Cantonese ladies who married "Gui lo", they really don't mind call their honey "gui lo". It is the Cantonese culture. Another example, peole call their husbands "Lo Gong (old grandpa )", and their wives "Lo por (Old grandma)"
Happy learning! ( not bitter learning ) learning can open minds!
People can call me "Paul Small", and I don't mind being "small", big bro!
In Chinese communities, Caucasian foreigners are referred to as "gwei-lo", literally meaning "devilish / demonic / ghost – blokes".
I emphasize LITERALLY because the attribute of "devilish / demonic / ghost" has lost entirely when this term is used by Chinese nowadays. "Gweilo" can be referred to Caucasian foreigners highly respected by the Chinese speakers.
But it is not without reasons that the term had a negative origin. One only needs to look at the recent history of China, especially the invasion and occupation by the Eight-Nation Alliance which included troops from nations Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These troops occupied Beijing in August 1900. During their occupation of China, they ransacked many houses and commited various atrocities against civilians, including rape and murder. Troops and participants of the Eight-Nation Alliance were largely responsible for the ransacking and pillaging of many historical artifacts of Chinese nationalist origin, such as those found in the Summer Palace, and instigated the burning of many prominent Chinese buildings.
If a nation invaded and raped a foreign country in such an orchestrated and systematic way, it's no surprise that it helped give its nationals a bad name for generations to come. The origin of the term Gweilo goes beyond "discrimination", it was deep-rooted in a sense of national hatred.
Gone are the days when Chinese saw foreigners as devils / demons / ghosts when these foreigners' own acts displayed themselves to be so. But the term lives on. However, given the relative status most of these foreigners enjoy in Chinese communities, the term "Gweilo" indeed have the connotation not of devil / demon / ghost but of wealthy, professional, civilised, well-educated and of good tastes.
Indeed, the component "gwei" in "Gwei-lo" is also used in combination with other Chinese characters in Mandarin or Cantonese to give terms like "sui-gwei" (literally, bad ghost), "siu-gwei" (literally, small ghost) and "gwei-jue-yi" (literally, ghost ideas).
Now the surprises, "Sui-gwei" is a term used by an intimate couple to address each other. "Siu-gwei" is an affectionate term used to address children. "Gwei-jue-yi"is a term to describe "naughty ideas". All these terms have nothing to do with the notion of devil / ghost / demon. It is not true that Chinese do not accept calling themselves "gwei".
The same can be said about the term "dog" in English where it has a neutral meaning. You can call someone a top-dog without any bad connotations. But "dog" in Chinese has a very negative connotation, meaning someone who has a very bad quality and integrity. On translation, the term "top-dog" is never literally translated into or understood in Chinese where the meaning of "dog" is rendered.
Another example is "Dragon" which is a very well-respected mythical creature in Chinese referring to the Emperor or a man of distinguished ability or social standing. But "dragon" in the western world refers to a mythical creature which is evil, ferocious and cruel. When a Chinese describe a western man as "a dragon among men", he is certainly making a compliment.
Some people discriminate others with actions, some with words. The best way to find out whether one is being discriminated is to see if he is ill-treated by actions, and not just by words or in that case merely by a single word and for that matter, a single word of address which came into being when it was very much justified.
I am a Chinese with half of my life living in the US. It looks like 20 years in the orient is too long, instead of trying to change a 250-year old custom, maybe it's time for you to come home to USA.
I know exactly how you feel. I myself do not like people to call me with insulting words. However, behind the foul names there is a series of conflict between the Chinese and Westerners in history.
I can tell you why, as I am a Chinese descendant and have studied Chinese history when I was in junior high and senior high.
In the 19th century, when China was still in the Qing Dynasty and Western countries were looking for colonies, there had been a lot of wars between China and those Western (later include the Japanese) countries. Due to the fact that the Western armies had better weapons, China always lost and had to "compensate" the expense and lost of those wars. Those treaties had affected the life of the Chinese people and they became more improverished.
Another reason is that the Westerners in China at that time were very dominant to the Chinese people, and so were the Chinese Christians. The Chinese people began to hate the Westerners more and more for the aforementioned reasons. They began to call Westerners "foreign devils" for those reasons.
During the World War Two, due to the invasion and the slaughter of the Japanese army, people called the Japanese "Japanese devils".
Even until now, many Chinese in the older generation still call Westerners "foreign devils (洋鬼子)" and the Japanese "Japanese devils (日本鬼子)". I think maybe it is because they have suffered from the battles in the beginning of the last century, and it is an unextinguishable memory.
Anyway, all I can say is that they have a reason to call you that foul name, though it is insulting.
Additional answer:
I just went over your responses, and I wonder whether I sounded as though they have the right to do that to you or not. I know you are very upset about that, but I am just providing you with what I know.
Now, let's get back to the responses. Firstly I didn't mean they can do that to you because Westerners have caused our ancestors disasters in the past. Of course it is very wrong to do so, and most Chinese, as far as I know, lecture their children severely not to offend someone, including someone who is not Chinese.
Secondly, I can tell how people felt about the Westerners, even though I don't live in that era. What would you feel if someone bullies or kills your family, robs most of the money you use for your daily life, and then turn to fight someone else for you later (if you did not die in the previous disaster they have caused)? Would you still be thankful for them? Of course, the Westerners might not have robbed people's money, but the compensation came from the money of the government of the Qing Dynasty and the money of the government came from the taxes people paid, and it was not enough to pay for the compensation. Consequently, people had to pay more for taxes and they weren't very rich even before all those wars. The compensations caused them to be poorer than before. I've heard of old people recalling the hard time they had during wars when I was little, both from those around me and those on TV.
Also, only a part of Chinese would call you that name or any other name with that meaning, just like only a part of Americans would call us with bad names.
Okay. First of all, I'm Chinese, and I've been living in Hong Kong for 4 years, I'm living in USA right now, and I've only heard Chinese people call western people foreign devils a couple times. I'm guessing you speak Cantonese. I don't think the people in mainland China says that.
If you ask me, "Gui Lo" literally means "ghost people" They're not really calling you devils. There's a difference. In my primary (elementary) school, there's one white guy in the whole grade, and we never call him "Gui lo". (I know, we were kids, but the fact is we were never taught to say "Gui lo") We even had to learn what the correct terms for western people are. I remember we learned it in 2nd grade, I still have the textbook to prove it. If you don't believe me, go to Hong Kong's Central MTR station. Right outside the door is a book store, just ask them for the 2nd grade books and look it up yourself.
I don't know what part of China you live in, but we just refer to where they're from, just like what Melodie said "May gwo run", which translates into "Americans". Same with the British, we just call them "ying gwo run"
I personally think it's awesome you know Chinese, and taking a stand for what you believe is right, but don't be prejudice and think that all Chinese call western people "Gui Lo".
For the typical Chinese "Gwai Lo" (and similar) is used to refer to a westerner with pale skin. It was coined up in the olden days when the Chinese first saw white pale people - similarly, a black person may be called "Hut Gwai" or black ghost/devil. But nowadays it's used unconsciously without intention of offending the westerner. It is definately getting rarer by day, I can't remember the last time I used the term Gwai Lo.
Some words or sayings over time become so common that they become part of the language and maybe until someone-else points it out, people don't notice it or intend any malice.
For example the word 'wog', 'Chinese burn' or 'it's all Greek to me'. What about 'you little devil'. It does depend on the context.
There are many prejudice people in all races. It's good to point things out that offend you, otherwise it will keep going on. With time and knowledge, most people will change it they know what they doing are hurting others.
