China Nicknames for Foreigners

China Nicknames for Foreigners

What are Nicknames for Foreigners When a person enters a new country, the locals will call them a "Foreigner." Depending on the culture, the language, the religion and many other influence the local will often find a short name they use in common language to call you, me or the foreigner. Related: > Home Nicknames > Travel Definitions Contributor: Wade of Openroadsong.com What is this name in this country? Help the other travelers to learn some nickname, fun slang, the words are interesting and an illumination of the underlying culture. Examples are Farang in Thailand, Gringo in Spanish or Latino Culture, Yebo in Togo West Africa, etc. Thank you, Andy of HoboTraveler.com Travel Blog

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Name: Wade
Site Name: Vagabond Journey.com
Webpage: http://www.vagabondjourney.com
Location: Traveling - Traveling - World
Date: 2008-02-11 14:41:49

Waiguoren- Chinese Nickname for Foreigner.

“Waiguoren” is a word that any foreigner in the People’s Republic of China is bound to hear literally hundreds of times during their stay. The Chinese will yell this word at you from shop doorways, apartment block windows, and from taxi cabs as you attempt to maneuver through the streets of China. The term waiguoren, “literally means “outside country person” (1), and is made up of three characters. The first character is pronounced “Wai” in Standard Mandarin, and simply means “outside,” the second character “guo” means country, and the last is “ren,” which means person or people. When these three characters are assembled, the word waiguoren simply means “foreigner,” and is applied to anyone that is not from China or does not look Chinese. In many parts of China, the presence of a foreigner attracts attention. When you walk on the streets many people get really excited and go and get their friends to stare at the funny looking foreigner. “Waiguoren! Waiguoren!” they yell from every nook of the street scape. Many people, particularly in rural China, seem to be really amused by how us waiguoren look, and, to be honest, I do not know quite why. Little kids of many countries shout, "hello," "hello" whenever a foreigner passes, but in China it is everyone- from adults on down- who seems to enjoy heckling foreign visitors. For the most part I think they are predominantly being friendly, and I have come to the realization that I like this attention. I like people looking at me. I am not just a nameless traveler here, I am a waiguoren; an outsider; exotic. Sometimes when I walk down the streets in some parts of rural China all activity comes to a halt. If I eat in a restaurant the proprietors talk about me to anyone they can. “Waiguoren, waiguoren,” I hear them say as I impress them with my chop-sticking skills. If I am picked up while hitchhiking then it seems as if the driver has the conversation material to last him a month. When I ride in trains everybody in the compartment seems to watch me for the entire time: If I dig into my rucksack I can feel every one-s excitement building about what I could possible be pulling out. “Waiguoren, waiguoren,” I hear whispered throughout the train compartment. I think that I am going to disappoint them by just pulling out something as inane as a book, but they do not seem too put off by it at all, as they often crane their necks to try to read what is written in it. I do not know why the Chinese seem to be so interested in me. I don-t think I am that interesting. Perhaps it is because most Han Chinese people look pretty similar to each other, and when someone walks by who does not look like them it is as if the circus has come to town. It becomes an event, of sorts. If I had spent my life just looking at people who look similar to me, then all of a sudden a stranger who looks drastically different came strolling by, I would jump up and down, stare, and probably shout something along the lines of “Waiguoren!” I remember walking through a crowded market in Hangzhou once with a Caucasian girl from the USA who was seriously around 6 foot 4 inches tall and probably weighed at least 250 pounds. This girl had the shoulder span of an NFL linebacker and a thick neck to match. She was a giant. She was really a very sweet person. But the Chinese people in the market flipped out when they laid eyes upon her. The were seriously jumping up and down screaming “Da Waiguoren lai le! Da Waiguoren lai le!” “Giant Foreigner is here! Giant Foreigner! Is coming! Ahhhh!” The entire marketplace came to a halt as every Chinese person in it quickly rushed to gather all of the family and friends that they could find so they could also witness the parade of the giant foreigner. Yelling, screaming, and laughing, the Chinese were entertained. I assume that they are still talking about that invasion. Wade from Vagabond Journey.com. References: (1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laowai

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Name: Wade
Site Name: Vagabond Journey.com
Webpage: http://www.vagabondjourney.com
Location: Traveling - Traveling - World
Date: 2008-02-11 08:55:40

Chang Bizi and Xiongmao- Chinese Nicknames for Foreigners.

“Chang Bizi” and “Xiongmao” are two more nicknames for foreigners in China. They are not as common as laowai or waiguoren, and their usage seems to be based in humor. “Chang Bizi,” simply means “long nose” and is another term to delineate a foreigner in China that is derived from the obvious physical differences between Westerners and the Chinese. Put bluntly, foreigners, and in particular Westerners, tend to have vastly different nose shapes as sizes than the average Chinese person. In point, we sport relatively large, pointy snouts, that stick oddly out of the center of our faces. I feel that having such large noses hanging off the fronts of our grills is reason enough for attention, if not humor, and sometimes ridicule from Asians with nicely contoured, somewhat inset, life-size noses. If I were to see someone walking down the street with funny looking clothes and a six inch nose protruding out of the center of his face, I would laugh and call him “long nose.” I sympathize fully with the Chinese, and many other people throughout East Asia, for referring to us foreigners as the “Long Noses.” It is because as we really do have long noses. Just look in the mirror. --- An additional nickname for foreigners that is used in the far off western provinces of China is “Xiongmao,” which simply means “Panda Bear.” Why do they call foreigners this in China? In the words of a Chinese man, it is because, “Laowais [foreigners] are white, black, and rare.” Just like the panda. I laughed. Wade from Vagabond Journey.com.

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Name: Wade
Site Name: Vagabond Journey.com
Webpage: http://www.vagabondjourney.com
Location: Traveling - Traveling - World
Date: 2008-02-11 08:52:53

Houzi and Laomaozi- Chinese Nicknames for Foreigners

“Houzi” and “laomaozi” are two more nicknames for foreigners in China. These terms are used far less often than the conventional “Laowai” or “Waiguoren” (which are also written about on this page), but they are still ever present nicknames for Western outsiders in the People’s Republic of China. These terms also carry with them the implication of distinguishing foreigners from the Chinese through differences in physical appearance --- The word “houzi” is the Chinese Mandarin word for monkey. This animal has been attributed to the foreigner, “because our faces aren-t flat as many Asian-s are and we have to shave a lot more often - once a day as opposed to, say, once a week” (1). I just looked in the mirror, and I have realized that the Chinese are right: my face is hairy like a monkey. I suppose I also have a far longer snout than the average Chinese person as well, which I am told reminds them of the lower primates. But I also suspect that there are deeper cultural implications by this word. I have traveled extensively in China, and I have observed that foreigners often do not act within, or are they held to, the bounds of Chinese society. Simply put, I think that it could be said that many foreigners in China, myself included, act like monkeys. Which is to say, act uncultured. I was not able to confirm this suspicion with any Chinese person, as they tend to be very polite and a touch unrevealing to foreigners, so this last point is pure conjecture. If you know anything about the word “houzi”- monkey- being used to describe foreign people in China please leave a comment on this page. --- Another Chinese nickname for foreigners that runs parallel with “houzi” is “laomaozi.” This term is simply meant to point out the excessive amount of body and facial hair that foreigners tend to have when compared with the Chinese, who are generally not very hairy. It is my impression that “Laomaozi” can be translated directly to mean something to the effect of “furry foreigner” or somewhat creatively as “hairball” (2). The first character “lao” is also used in “laowai” which means foreigner, and also as prefixes to many animal names, such as laohu- “tiger,” laoshu- “rat,” laoying- “eagle,” and laohuli-“fox.” Any way that “laomaozi” is translated, it is intended to further stress the physical differences between that of foreign people and the Chinese. In point, foreign people tend to be hairier than the Chinese, so this criteria is used to further distinguish them as being foreign. My opinion is that many Chinese people just like to joke around with each other and making fun of people is part of their humor. To call a hairy and long snouted foreigner a monkey is simply funny, I say. I do not think it is meant to be necessarily offensive, but I believe that the term is used rather jocularly, or as a way to gain face by making your friends laugh as you pick on a foreigner. Every culture in the world that I have traveled amongst, including my own, amuses themselves by picking on foreigners. I remember being a little kid and stretching the skin on the sides of my eyes back and calling myself Chinese. I would then try to talk in a Chinese accent and do wild imitations of kung-fu in my mother’s living room. I think we all have done this. I still do. If somebody is hairy enough to resemble a monkey, I say, call them a monkey. Wade from Vagabond Journey.com. References: (1) chake.chinatefl.com/cc3.html#chinese%20lessons, (2) waze.net/china/laowai.php

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Name: Wade
Site Name: Song of the Open Road
Webpage: http://canciondelvagabundo.blogspot.com
Location: Traveling - Tramping - World
Date: 2008-01-15 16:01:57

//Lao Wai//

Nearly everywhere a foreigner goes in China they are met with a chorus of "laowai, laowai" from the excited Chinese they pass in the streets. Laowai simply means "foreigner," but in usage implies “caucasian westerner.” Other terms, such as “heiren” (black-person) and ribenren (Japanese-person), are used for foreigners of other hereditary backgrounds. The term laowai is made up of two characters- one meaning “old” (lao) and the other meaning “outside” or, more specifically, “outsider.” Compounded together, these two characters create a word whose etymology and real implication is somewhat mysterious. The first character-lao- is used in other Chinese words as an indicator of respect- such as in the word laoshi, meaning “teacher.” Other words such as laohu- “tiger,” laoshu- “rat,” laoying- “eagle,” and laohuli-“fox” also carry the same first character “lao,” but represents animals that the Chinese feel are frightening or unauspicious. Though in actual practice, it is my opinion that the term laowai is not meant to be offensive.
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In my experience, the Chinese tend to be a very direct culture, and I can remember many times in which I was stopped in the streets by strangers who wanted to ask me some pretty blunt questions: “Why do you have a beard? It makes you look old,” “How big is your family?,” "Are you married?,"“What job do you do?”, “How much money do you make?,” “Are you a Jew?” It is my opinion that people in China have a way of communication that transcends the boundaries of Western politeness, and it is therefore not offensive to call a foreigner a “foreigner.” Different cultures simply have different standards of politeness.
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I have known many foreigners in China who refuse to believe that Chinese people are not being rude when they laugh, stare, and point at them in the street while chattering “laowai!, laowai!” Some foreigners in China are actually trying to publicly convince the Chinese people to change their behavior and use more castrated, “polite” terms, such as “laowei pengyou”- foreign friend- to make them feel more comfortable during their stay in China. It seems as if they are viewing this particular Chinese behavior through their own cultural lens and, “In this way ‘‘laowai’‘ is similar to how Americans view the Spanish word gringo and Westerners view the Japanese word gaijin or the Thai word farang. This is because many foreigners in China believe that ‘‘laowai’‘ is a derogatory term. This is due to the fact that some Chinese frequently shout out "Laowai!" to foreigners passing by, which may then be followed up with laughter and taunting (Wikipedia).”
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An article in the People’s Daily Online refutes the claim that laowai is offensive by stating that, “"Laowai" is a good-humored nickname for foreigners, particularly for westerners; and has become an unconscious way to address foreigners in China . . . Some discord and resentment might emerge from the habitual use of this epithet – even though we think it is okay from our one-sided perspective.” An article in the Shanghai Star (2/06/04) backs up this point by stating that “ . . . many Americans who are learning Chinese think that the term "lao wai" is somehow an insult (because the word "foreigner" in English is often an insult), when in fact the term "lao wai" doesn-t have a negative connotation in Chinese.” I agree fully with this sentiment.
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I was traveling around China for a while with a girl who would cleverly substitute the word laowai with "movie star." Whenever she would walk down the street or through a busy market and all the Chinese people would begin chattering “laowai, laowai” and pointing at her, she would laughingly replace their laowais with movie star, and say “movie star! movie star!” to herself and act glamorous. She effectively took a situation in which she could have been made to feel uncomfortable, and turned it around in a way that was fun. This makes me laugh even to this day, as the terms seem to be such adequate substitutions. I think the true implication of laowai is far closer to “movie star” than anything even remotely derogatory. In many parts of China, people really do get very excited when foreigners approach them, almost as if they were celebrities. Simply put, people all over the world point and stare at movie stars; the Chinese point and stare at foreigners. I would much rather be pointed at and talked about by entire streets full of people than completely ignored by the people I am traveling amongst. All of the attention does get annoying sometimes, I must admit, but I am sure that celebrities also become very annoyed at their constant in stream of attention as well hahaha. In most instances, I believe that the term laowai is used more positively than negatively.
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I feel that part of the joy of traveling in China comes from this attention. If you do not look Chinese, then you are on virtually on stage in many parts of the country. I do not believe that the Chinese are generally malicious in the attention they shower upon foreigners, rather, I think it is just their way of approaching people from a different culture. To be blunt, foreigners generally look different than the Chinese. I can only imagine how funny I look. I am not offended when I am laughed at . . . I understand, haha.

Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog

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