Hello readers! I am currently in 南宁 (Nanning) city in the 广西 (Guangxi) autonomous region, which is home to the 壮族 (Zhuang ethnic minority). Taking the train over here, I took the 硬卧 (hard sleeper) option along with my friend, because all of the tickets for 软卧 (soft sleeper) seats had already sold out. As we climbed into our 卧铺 (berths), we drew the attention of a woman underneath us. During our 13 hour train ride, I wanted to see what she would say to others if she didn’t know that I could speak Chinese. It turns out that the woman referred to me and my friend as 外国佬 (“gringos” but much stronger than that, see below), which is a 极端 (extremely) 轻蔑 (disdainful) way of speaking about non-Chinese people. At this point I could not remain silent anymore, and instead suggested that she refer to us as 外国朋友 (“foreign friends”). She was surprised that I had understood, and quickly tried to sweep her choice of words under the carpet, insisting that she had been speaking too quickly to know which word to use. When I pointed out that there were more neutral phrases that could be said, she ceased to speak and neither she nor her traveling companion said a single thing for the remaining hours of the trip.
南宁 nan2ning2 – Nanning city, capital of Guangxi autonomous region
广西 guang3xi1 – Guangxi autonomous region, home of the Zhuang people
壮族 zhuang4zu2 – Zhuang people, the largest ethnic minority in China with 18 million people
硬卧 ying4wo4 – hard sleeper
软卧 ruan3wo4 – soft sleeper
卧铺 wo4p41 – berth (on a vehicle)
外国佬 wai4guo2lao3 – a term used for foreigners which is particularly disdainful, not like the [now-neutral] 老外 (lao3wai4)
极端 ji2duan1 – extreme, extremely
轻蔑 qing1mie4 – disdain, disdainful
外国朋友 wai4guo2peng2you3 – “foreign friend” one linguistic register lower than 外宾 (wai4bin1 – [distinguished] foreign guest)
2 Comments
“She was surprised that I had understood, and…”
and?
AND?
How did the story end?
I just read your blog for the first time and have appreciated some of the posts. I’m working on mandarin using the library’s online service though a little already. My wife is from Taipei and I lived in Shanghai for about 4 months altogether.
Actually, many of my relatives refer to me as the “waiguo” though they generally don’t refer to me as an old foreigner waiguolao. My first trip to China was part of a reconciliation project with some British friends. We were in Hong Kong for a month and Shanghai for two. Unfortunately (or interestingly) the epidimic of 2003 hit while we were there so our trip was cut short and we missed out on visiting other parts of the country. As it turned out, I returned to Champaign-Urbana and my wife’s family moved to Shanghai to start a business (actually a farm and convenience store). So, we travel there about once a year and get to live in the countryside for part of the time.
I look forward to reading more of your blog.
~Cheers