I wouldn't say we were unconciously racist, i would say we are unconciously prejudice towards people.

there is not any bad or nice idea absolutely for "lao wai",it should be decided by the background.

Chinese people are unapologetic racists. Enough said.

I wouldn't call it racism, more as to prejudice. We are prejudice towards people from site. Racism is a hate of another people and an intolerance but im sure chinese people are tolerant and of course prefer there own race but don't hate others.

I wouldn't say its racism, but lack of understanding.

Yes, most are unaware or in denial. A few are not, usually because of circumstance.

Actually I like chinese girls a lot who doesnt and have a lot of respect for the chinese culture
Personally i want to study in beijing uni in a few years so to all that think all foreign guys are bad i disagree some might be but not
Look at me (Excuse the pun) Im a british african

Racists? Maybe. But its because usually they can't keep things to themselves and will just blurt it out.

When some chinese poeple see a chinese girl with a lao wai BF. They sometimes say "Traitor!". Or see a fat girl on the street and will openly say out "OMG check out that fatty!" Or when they see a tall guy they will blurt out "WOW look how tall he is!"

They can't help it but let it out of their mouths. Its the reason why you sometimes see Chinese poeple talking to themselves.

E8l: I hope you are right. I have many Chinese pen pals and I wouldn't like if they called me "lao wai" in some racist manner behind my back. I love Chinese people, I love Chinese language, I love Chinese culture and I really don't think all foreigners are as bad as is discussed here. There are good and bad people everywhere, there are racists and open-minded people everywhere. I hope in China there are not many racists and bad people, I want to keep thinking about China as a great place to live and work!

I noticed many people were struggling with finding the best term to replace

unconscious. i figured the term you might have been looking for

was 'subconscious', which makes way more sence. Saying 'Are Chinese people

unconscious racists?' can have more than one meaning, hence mistakingly

translated as "Are chinese people dead racists?". Although it is ok to

use "UNconsciously", it is preferrably appropriate to use SUB rather UN in

order to make sense out of the words context. English is a very complex

language but its not hard at all. keep in mind that SUB does not neccessarly

apply to every word that use UN for prefixes.

Sub means 'under', "beneath" 'below' therefore you say 'Are Chinese people

racist below the conscious level of awareness in their mind.

==bottomline==

use 'subconscious' or 'subconsciously' to refer what someone does without

being aware of it.

Use 'unconscious' to refer to a someones medical physycal or psychological

state such as " I found the driver unconscious at the scene of the accident.

He was not moving. he was dead."

after all, lao wai is not a bad word.
we call our teacher :lao shi
boss: lao ban
engineer or master of kungfu : lao shi fu.

racists? i think it's not true, perhaps it's political incorrect and ill-informationed.

Quote:
Minderbinder Wrote: After all, lao wai is not a bad word.
We call our teacher :lao shi, Boss: lao ban, Engineer or master of kungfu : lao shi fu.
Racists? i think it's not true, perhaps it's political incorrect and ill-informationed.

Lao is also used in many bad words and neutral words. You can't take the meaning of one word from another word using the same character...

That said I dont' think Chinese are racists as much as they are just ignorant about anything that isn't themselves and their culture.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2008 08:46PM by Olive.

Honestly i hate the word 老外。 Every time someone says the word it make me feel like am at the wrong place mybe its because i hear the word to much. I agree with you thats what most chainse guys do but not every one. belive me 我是老外

don't worry, some rednecks do the same thing here in North America....

if i walk into a redneck bar with a blonde chick, still recently, all guys look at me like "Bobby Lee"!

It’s kinda of small town thing, North American have no different than Chinese..

I still had old school lady told me :” OMG, you are such a tall Asian, because I am six feet”… just because they have never met a lot of asian, they think all asian are short.

i had kid told me, they have never seen Asian like me play hockey or use chainsaw to cut firewood.....

i used to be only Asian drives a redneck one and half truck in my street...
even cops had road block,they all look at me....like oh, you are Chinese.. supposed to drive BMW and Benz...

How you explain that eh?

Those are not really racist, rather than small town, stereotype…

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2008 09:02PM by Canuck.

The difference is if you go to Toronto or New York or LA people wont care...

When I was in 海门 and people would come out of the stores to point and stare at me as I walked past on the street I thought "haha crazy small town people".

When I was in 南京 and people would stop and stare and point and say "老外！“ I thought "you'd think they'd have better manners than that in a big city..."

now I'm in 北京 and people still stop and stare and say "老外！"

Yeah small towns everywhere are fairly racist in their views usually but major cities with over 70,000 foreigners living there are usually not so much...

I think mostly it has to do with Mao's teachings about foreigners as well in their schools Chinese people are still taught that Chinese are different than other people.
I had one student tell me Chinese are more evolved which is why the guys have less hair on their body, they weren't amused when I mentioned pigs have even less hair than Chinese...

老外is a racist word plain and simple. I hate it. I'm called it everyday. when I hear it...it's like i'm a dog. lao wai guolai. they just need to whistle and ...dog call.

Of course, I am telling ya, I am Chinese, urban Chinese are bias to rural Chinese. Based on your accent or where you live, people stereotype you. When I live in China, first you know someone; they always ask you where you are from….this could be due to China used to be like Dark Age Europe, so many states independently operating by themselves.

Although by asking where you are from, then stereotyped you, this happens in Canada here too. For example, there are ghetto, redneck town, high-end suburban, downtown condominium. The community I am from, are usually people own trucks, John Deer, farm land, I am the only Chinese on the street. This is the case a lot of time, when I entered restaurants, bars, I am the only Asian there, my workplace, same, I have never felt uncomfortable or threaten.

However, I admitted when I travelled to United States of America, I am afraid to go to where a lot of African American hanging out. I had my bus hijacked by groups of blacks in Las Vegas, after that I think I am being racism to blacks too. Sorry to be offensive, small town Canadian don’t get used to big crime down south, ok? Some parts of U.S, like Rochester, NY, I went there to see my friends, I was told being Asian, do not travel when sunsets..

Lol, still remember first time when me and my gf travelled to U.S, I wasn’t born in Canada, was asked to fingerprint, my gf was very twinkies, told the guy :” you just ask him because he is Chinese! OMG, like whatever”. The border guy told us so seriously that it’s illegal to pull people in based on country of origin, I was like :” you are right, you are an American! I can’t believe what if I am from Middle East!”


By saying that, it’s still illegal to treat people differently in businesses, employment, rental/housing based on their belief, sexual orientation, gender, origin of they are from. This is kinda of protocol in North America.

子曰：仁者见仁智者见智~

Being called names is something that makes anyone annoyed, only if the person lacks the character to be happy about him/herself. Prejudice is a normal and human attitude towards the unknown and the different. And you can even say that racism is not only related to race, people from some places in the world do tend to be "racist" or better discriminatory to their own race or country, even city. It's a way to determine certain barriers that protect the inner insecure self we all have.

I'm not racist by character, but sometimes I find myself making pejorative comments about people (I'm not proud of it, mea culpa, but it's human nature) and I promise as I get older and "wise" I will change that, you should do too.

Remember that being different is actually what makes us special. Chinese are usually friendly when addressing us as "老外", and to me (hearing the "infamous" 老外, more than 100 or 200 times a day) is just a way of acknowledging my differences, for which I'm glad and proud. I love China and Chinese people, their culture and the way they are. It's amazing what they are doing with their country!

People must have some flaws, even the nice ones, otherwise they would be perfect and perfection makes life boring... come on, you understand that that kind of comments come from all over the world. Go to your own country and pay attention to what everybody says about foreigners there... so happens you are the foreigner here and you feel in flesh and blood what foreigners (yes, Chinese going to your country too) feel when they are there. A bit of understanding might not hurt.

How many times have you found yourself with pejorative words coming out of your mouth? How many times have you diminish Chinese people because some of them do lack the "culture" you seek? How many times have you found yourself criticizing the way Chinese do things because is not your way? Haven't you stopped to think that maybe for them you are the one lacking "culture"? Think about it, sometimes we do things that offend the general idea of culture and manners in China, and they are pretty lenient with us. Million thanks to all my Chinese friends for their leniency!.

Tolerance is necessary, how can you attack the very thing you're doing? Isn't saying Chinese people are unconsciously racist a bit pejorative in itself, so how can you ask people not to do so if you're doing that?

I hope nobody gets the wrong idea, we are human; and as humans we do have the right to make mistakes, have flaws and bad habits, we all do...

Learn a bit more about culture. Learn about what makes us different and the same at certain point, it will give you a nicer and wider perspective of things. Like so many people have said here, China and Chinese do have a different backgrounds than most of us here, but even in your own country there's prejudice and pejorative attitudes toward different people and cultures.

My advice to all of you is, if you can't stand being called "names" you have two choices, go back to your country and get called names there, or grow some skin and cope with it.

Quote:
Ajad Wrote: I'm not racist by character, but sometimes I find myself making pejorative comments about people (I'm not proud of it, mea culpa, but it's human nature) and I promise as I get older and "wise" I will change that, you should do too.

So should most of the Chinese, hence this thread.

Quote:
People must have some flaws, even the nice ones, otherwise they would be perfect and perfection makes life boring... come on, you understand that that kind of comments come from all over the world. Go to your own country and pay attention to what everybody says about foreigners there... so happens you are the foreigner here and you feel in flesh and blood what foreigners (yes, Chinese going to your country too) feel when they are there. A bit of understanding might not hurt.

My own country is a country of foreigners... We don't say bad things about people based on where they come from because for the most part we have no idea where anyone comes from.(though so racist pricks do based on skin colour. those people are considered assholes by the majority though)

Quote:
How many times have you found yourself with pejorative words coming out of your mouth? How many times have you diminish Chinese people because some of them do lack the "culture" you seek? How many times have you found yourself criticizing the way Chinese do things because is not your way? Haven't you stopped to think that maybe for them you are the one lacking "culture"? Think about it, sometimes we do things that offend the general idea of culture and manners in China, and they are pretty lenient with us. Million thanks to all my Chinese friends for their leniency!.

I criticize the person. not the nationality or race. That's the difference. I'm not saying this is all just the Chinese, many people stereotype or criticize entire races for the actions of a few, anyone doing that should be called on it. Just Chinese do it a lot more because they have such a history of Isolationism that many of them don't know better. Hopefully by confronting it we can help the country get more and more foreigner friendly.

Quote:
My advice to all of you is, if you can't stand being called "names" you have two choices, go back to your country and get called names there, or grow some skin and cope with it.

Why not three choices. Help welcome the Chinese into our Globalized culture by trying to show them how to make everyone feel more welcome...? Why does it always have to be Shut up or Go Home with people?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2009 11:26AM by Olive.

i think even though most of Canadian know discrimination or racism is bad, how many of us actually stands up and say no to racism.

How many times you actually use “N” words among friends?

at least I think I said something like :" Typical, I hate it when black people do that!"


Despite what they think they would do, people are remarkably blase when actually confronted with blatant racism.....

compare with most of country, Canada still has less discrmination, even in the redneck town like us....

my car was crashed into snowbank last night, not even 2 min, a lot of drivers pulled over their cars and help me to push my cars out and make sure i am ok.... people did not leave after seening that i am none-white!..

seriously, in China, if you crashed your car, people never give a F!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2009 12:41PM by Canuck.

Ajad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> character to
> be happy

I think Ajad has it going on. He takes it all in stride. Nothing wrong with "when in Rome...." He's unique and different doors open.

Ajad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not racist by character, but sometimes I find
> myself making pejorative comments about people
> (I'm not proud of it, mea culpa, but it's human
> nature) and I promise as I get older and "wise" I
> will change that, you should do too.

Um...but in denial of "conscious" racism ( "not racist by character..." but by "human nature..."? I don't buy that. ). Hey, is that worse than being "subconsciously" racist? Makes mental checklist for mental repair.

Ajad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chinese are usually friendly
> when addressing us as "老外",

Be friendly with the homies......and the homies will be friendly ( results not guaranteed ).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2009 10:03AM by Guestpass0001.

If some of us think that lao wai is bad then consider what the alternatives might be when most of us are commonly fat, have comparatively big noses and are scruffy. Then there are the politically correct among us who go round telling other cultures what to think and how to behave in countries where we are merely guests - small wonder the term ‘foreign devil’ came into being.

Enjoy the novelty status while it lasts!

Their is this umbrella things. They alwasy cover the skin in the summer.
A fear of suntan. If a lady has a suntan that's a total nightmare.
People will look her down at work. and they will say : You are black!!
I was chocked when i heard that.

Playing tennis or badmington in the summer is something impossible because the devil sun may hit you and provide suntans.