It’s always amusing when you are referred to as a foreigner in your own country – let alone in your own town. If there is one thing any observant westerner will notice when travelling in China is the term ‘laowai’ being used in reference to…well you. ‘Laowai’ means foreigner, or more specifically, ‘foreign friend.’ It can be both positive and negative depending on the context where in one situation it might be used just to simply point out that there is a white skinned, big nosed foreigner right there beside us who has no idea (supposedly) that he’s being called a foreigner. Then there are those who would use it to refer to us in a negative, stereotypical light – usually from the older generations who have been indoctrinated to think that way.
No matter the reason, practically all Chinese assume that we whities cannot understand what they are saying. I suppose that is justified considering most of us cant, but even with a small amount of Chinese language study, you will (or should) come across this term – particularly if travelling in China. And if you didn’t know the term and will be soon travelling around China – enjoy – you will hear it a lot.
The other thing we heard almost as much as ‘laowai’ was being referred to as ‘mei guo ren’ – or Americans. To the Chinese, if you’re white, you’re probably American – but that’s a different story.
So the other day I was with Courtney, eating in a local restaurant we have discovered recently called Secret Noodle, where along come three middle-aged Chinese men and plonk themselves down on the table opposite us. The first of these immediately peels off his shirt, sitting there in his white singlet because it was quite warm – in what was a very typical Chinese thing to do. In China, you cant walk more than fifty metres without either spotting a man in a singlet, or better yet – a singlet rolled up to reveal a big round belly.
So they sit down, start passing around the menus, and I hear not once, but twice, them referring to us as ‘laowai’s’…except this is not China, this is Box Hill, Victoria, Australia – and I happen to be Australian! This is not the first time I have been called a ‘laowai’ in Box Hill, and to be honest, it cracks me up. If you know anything about Box Hill, it’s that there is a huge Chinese population living there; so much so that when you wander around town, you are clearly in the minority. If you squint, you could actually be in China – and thankfully that carries over to the delicious food choices available there.
While I suppose he could have been referring to the restaurant itself – as it is quite local and popular with the Chinese and potentially doesn’t see as many foreign – i mean, Australian, customers as some others – it could also be (and i suspect) that to the Chinese, no matter who or where you are, if you are not Chinese, you are automatically a foreigner.
China was not called the Middle Kingdom on a whim – the Chinese really believed they were the centre of the world. Is it true then, that a little of that mentality has carried through to even the current generations? It would seem so.
Life After China 