Gweilo

Gweilo or gwailou (Chinese: 鬼佬; Cantonese Yale: gwáilóu, pronounced [kʷɐ̌i lǒu] (listen)) is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. In the absence of modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use, although it has been argued that it has since acquired a more neutral connotation. Cantonese speakers frequently use gwailou to refer to Westerners in general use, in a non-derogatory context, although whether this type of usage is offensive (i.e., an ethnic slur) is disputed by both Cantonese and Westerners alike.[1][2]

"Foreign devil" redirects here. For other uses, see Foreign Devil.
Gweilo
Chinese鬼佬

Etymology and history

Gwái (鬼) means "ghost" or "devil", and lóu (佬) means "man" or "guy". The term gwáilóu therefore means "ghostly man",[3] and is sometimes translated into English as "foreign devil".[4] In Chinese, "ghost" can be a derogatory term used as a curse or an insult.[5] The term ghost has also been used to describe other ethnic groups, for example, a 17th-century writer from Canton Qu Dajun wrote that Africans "look like ghosts", and gwáinòu (Chinese: 鬼奴; lit. 'ghost slave') was once used to describe African slaves.[6]

Usage

The term gwái (鬼) is an adjective that can be used to express hate and deprecation, an example being the local's expression of their hatred towards the Japanese during their occupation of Hong Kong in World War II with the same gwái. It conveys a general bad and negative feeling but is a somewhat obsolete and archaic/old-fashioned term nowadays and other more modern terms have largely replaced gwái for similarly negative meanings. Cantonese people sometimes call each other sēui gwái (衰鬼), which means bad person, though more often than not it is applied affectionately, similar to "Hey bitch!" in English when used affectionately. Nowadays, Cantonese speakers often refer to non-Chinese people by their ethnicity.

The pejorative sense of gwáilóu (鬼佬) can be identified when the term is used as it is the equivalent to saying, with a hatred tonal, which refer white male = "white devil", or just refer gwáilóu as a slang of white guy, which doesn't really have insulting nuances.

Gwáilóu is often considered to be an acceptable generic racial term for Westerners.[7] Also, some members of the Hong Kong community with European ancestry (particularly those with limited or zero Cantonese fluency) are indifferent to the term, and those who believe that the best way to defang a word intended as a "slur" is to embrace it, and use gweilo to refer to non-Chinese in Hong Kong.[8] Gwailóu has, in some instances, been recognised as simply referring to white foreigners in South East Asia and now appears on Oxford Dictionaries defined as such,[9] although non-Caucasian foreigners are not gwáilóu. While gwáilóu is used by some Cantonese speakers in informal speech, the more polite alternative sāi yàn (西人; 'Western person') is now used as well, particularly if the conversation involves a non-Chinese person in order to avoid offense.[10]

However, an increasingly common view is that the term is unacceptable in a modern context. The word is not permitted to be used in Hong Kong media due to the offensive nature of the term as brought up by Hong Kong actors of non-ethnic Chinese background.[11]

Gwai is one of the term of various terms to refer to a white foreigner that is considered controversial and potentially offensive; other Cantonese term exists when referring to foreigners, a list of which is given below:[10][12]

Mandarin Chinese
A Boxer Rebellion pamphlet, circa 1899, that refers to foreigners as guizi.

Guizi (鬼子; pinyin: guǐzi) is a Mandarin Chinese slang term for foreigners, and has a long history of being used as a racially deprecating insult.

However, xiaogui (小鬼; pinyin: xiǎoguǐ; lit. 'little ghost') is a common term in Mandarin Chinese for a child. Therefore, some argue that gui (鬼) in Mandarin is just a neutral word that describes non-expectable or something hard to predict.

Laowai (老外; pinyin: lǎowài; lit. 'old foreigner/outsider') is the word most commonly used for foreigners and is a less pejorative term than guizi. Although laowai literally means "old foreigner", but depending on context, "old" can be both a term of endearment and one of criticism. The pejorative aspect of the term laowai comes from conjoining the words old and outsider, suggesting the described person to be a visibly aged and unfamiliar, characteristics usually associated with apparitions or ghosts.

Comics
  • Larry Feign's Lily Wong comic stories, about the buildup to the handover of Hong Kong to China, frequent uses the term, often in a derogatory sense used by Lily's father.

Film

Games
  • In the video game Alpha Protocol (2010), the main character Mike Thornton is referred to as "gweilo" by the Chinese triad leader Hong Shi.
  • In the computer game Deus Ex (2000), when the player embarks on the Hong Kong mission he is often disparagingly referred to as "gweilo" by locals when attempting to talk to them. The phrase is also used by the harvester leader and a weapons merchant in the 2011 prequel Deus Ex: Human Revolution (other characters in the China chapters use laowai).
  • In the video game Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (2003), Kai's Chinese men often say 'Kill the Gwai lo!' when they see Indy.
  • In the video game Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (2010), some Shanghai gang members refer to Kane or Lynch as gweilo.
  • In the video game Mafia II (2010), the protagonist Vito is derogatively referred to as "gweilo" by Chinese characters.
  • In the video game BioShock Infinite (2013), Booker DeWitt is called a "gweilo" by a Chinese prisoner in Finkton.

Literature

Television
  • In NYPD Blue (Season 5 Episode 13. "Twin Petes",a Chinese store owner refers to shooter as gwai lo..
  • CFMT-TV in Toronto had a cooking show named Gwai Lo Cooking (1999) hosted by a Cantonese-speaking European chef, who was also the show's producer and the person who named the show. In response to some complaints, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled[14] that

... While historically, "gwai lo" may have been used by Chinese people as a derogatory remark concerning foreigners, particularly European Westerners, the persons consulted by the Council indicate that it has since lost much of its derogatory overtone. The Council finds that the expression has also lost most of its religious meaning, so that "foreign devil" no longer carries the theological significance it once did. Based on its research, the Council understands that the expression has gone from being considered offensive to, at worst, merely "impolite."

According to CFMT-TV, "Gwei Lo" was used as "a self-deprecating term of endearment".[15] Others, however, particularly foreigners living in Hong Kong, and non-Chinese subjected to the term in Vancouver and Toronto, find it to be demeaning or racist.

  • In the HBO drama Deadwood (2004–2006), Chinese settler Mr. Wu frequently applies the term gwai lo to various white men.

Theatre
  • "Gweilo: The rite of passage of a golden boy in colonial Hong Kong" was the title of the one-man show performed by Micah Sandt in Hong Kong (2016) adapted from the memoir by Martin Booth.[16]

See also

References
  1. Yu, Irene (7 November 2006). "MP shouldn't generalize". Richmond News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  2. Brown, Jules. Gardner, Dinah. Hong Kong and Macau, 2002. Rough Guides publishing. ISBN 978-1-85828-872-7. p 399
  3. Patrick J. Cummings; Hans-Georg Wolf (2011). A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor. Hong Kong University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9789888083305.
  4. Lafayette De Mente, Boyé (2000). The Chinese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture. McGraw-Hill. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-658-01078-1.
  5. Judith T. Zeitlin (2007). The Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventheenth-century Chinese Literature. University of Hawaii Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0824830915.
  6. Zhidong Hao (2011). Macau History and Society. Hong Kong University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-9888028542.
  7. David Leffman; Jules Brown (2009). The Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau (7th ed.). Rough Guides. p. 338. ISBN 978-1848361881.
  8. D'Souza, Ajay. "SBS Radio – I'm on the radio again! » Cantonese.hk: The views and experiences of an Australian learning Cantonese". Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  9. "gweilo – definition of gweilo in English – Oxford Dictionaries". Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  10. Yip, Virginia; Matthews, Stephen (2001). Intermediate Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook. London: Routledge. pp. 168–70. ISBN 0-415-19387-7.
  11. Wong, Michael (25 July 2016). "Michael Wong doesn't like being called a Gweilo » South China Morning Post". Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  12. Patrick J. Cummings; Hans-Georg Wolf (2011). A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9789888083305.
  13. 第一滴血──從日方史料還原平型關之戰日軍損失 (6) News of the Communist Party of China December 16, 2011
  14. CFMT-TV re Gwai Lo Cooking Archived 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, CBSC Decision 99/00-0220. Decided 6 July 2000
  15. Appendix to 'CFMT-TV re Gwai Lo Cooking ' Archived 28 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine,CBSC Decision 99/00-0220. Decided 6 July 2000
  16. South China Morning Post Review, 16 April 2016
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