Laowai

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Laowai, an alien, is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 老外 (pinyin: lǎowài, lit. "old outsider"), an informal or slang term for "foreigner," usually neutral but possibly impolite or loose in some circumstances. Formal and polite Chinese terms for foreigner include wàiguórén (simplified Chinese: 外国人; traditional Chinese: 外國人; literally: "foreigner"), wàibīn (外賓; 外宾; "foreigner guest"), and wàiguó pengyou (外國朋友; 外国朋友; "foreigner friend").[1] "Laowai" usually does not refer to other East Asians or Chinese who are foreigners living in a country outside of China. It is typically used to refer to non-Asian "Westerners," whites, blacks, Latin Americans, Arabs, others of Middle Eastern descent.[2][3]

Etymology

The use of the word 老外 began in the 1980s, as an abbreviation of the term 外國人 (foreigner) into 外 (foreign or outside) plus the character 老 (old). The character 老 typically means "old". It can have positive associations, indicating age or experience — such as lǎopéngyou (老朋友; "old friend")—or respect, as in the familiar use of lǎo to denote the senior and respected members of families or to address teachers (老師; 老师, lǎoshī).

However, in certain contexts, it can also carry negative connotations of being old or aged looking (老頭子; 老头子), boring old sticks-in-the-mud—as in lǎo gǔdǒng (Chinese: 老古董)—or of years of experience and contempt—as in lǎo dōngxi (老東西; 老东西; "old bastard", lit. "old thing"). It may be used in the arts or in jokes with the sense of "always" or "very": a famous comedy role was named the Lǎoniān (老蔫, "Old Listless") and Tom Hardy was affectionately known in mainland China as Lǎoshī (Chinese: 老濕, s 老湿) because of his perpetually shiny hair.[citation needed] It can also be used as an empty prefix, particularly with animals such as tigers (老虎; lǎohǔ), mice (老鼠; lǎoshǔ), and eagles (老鹰; 老鷹; lǎoyīng).

The term has come to used for specific countries as well, with lǎo- functioning as a colloquial equivalent for -guórén: lǎoměi (老美; "American"), lǎoying (老英; "Briton"), lǎoxin (老新, both "New Zealander" and "Singaporean"), even lǎozhōng (老中) to refer to Chinese (中國人; 中国人; Zhōngguórén) themselves.

The original and correct form of the term uses the character 佬 (also lǎo), which includes the "person" radical. This lǎo is a slang word for man (similar to "guy") with somewhat derogatory connotations. The fact that it is almost always used as a noun makes this proposed etymology grammatically awkward, however,[4] and there is little evidence to support it apart from its use in the Cantonese racial slur gweilo (鬼佬).

Usage

As with Spanish "gringo", laowai is not considered a necessarily offensive term but may become so from context (tone, manner, situation, etc.). Among the Chinese, the term is informal and may be used in a neutral, genial, or even good-humored way;[5] however, it is othering and some may consider it racist.[6] Varyingly, it is ironically embraced, begrudgingly accepted, openly resented, or, most likely, not minded at all among the expatriate community.[7]

The official Chinese press has expressed concern about inappropriate use of laowai and avoids it in all formal reporting.[8] Mark Roswell, known under the stage name Dashan, as one of the most famous Western nationals in China's media industry, has admitted a place for the term but recognizes it as a pejorative, stating that "it is the foreigners [in China] who can't speak any Chinese who are truly 'laowai'" (不會說漢語的外國人那纔叫老外呢; 不会说汉语的外国人那才叫老外呢).[9] Editorials, written by foreigners and Chinese, have appeared in English and Chinese language newspapers about the subject, particularly around the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,[5] when local governments launched campaigns aimed at curbing use of the term in possibly offensive situations.[citation needed]

The more offensive Mandarin equivalent to the Cantonese term "gweilo"—guǐzi (鬼子; "ghost, demon")—is generally reserved for the Japanese, except in Cantonese itself, where it is used interchangeably to denote all non-Asian foreigners.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Culture: Seven Ways to Say 'Foreigner'". 17 Mar 2004. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.
  2. ↑ Mair, Victor. "Laowai: the old furriner" at Language Log. 9 Apr 2014. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 外佬 would be a more standard construction.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 People's Daily Online. "Is 'Laowai' a negative term?". 21 Dec 2007. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.
  6. ↑ Beyond Beyond Well Being. "The "Laowai", Racism and Personal Space in China". 16 Jan 1998. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.
  7. ↑ Shanghai Star. "Laowai Is What You Make It". 18 May 2001, Hosted by China.org, 2001. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.
  8. ↑ Although note its use in such informal human-interest stories as this photo caption from the Chinese edition of Anhui News.
  9. ↑ New Year's Gala (at 186:17). CCTV, 2011.
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