I agree  

I think the new generation has a different type of racism than the old one in HK.

The old people are racist for historical reasons against outsiders. The whole White people conqured our land thing against "鬼佬" (gwailo) and racist against Japanese for the rape of Nanking. Kids these days are more open, but some are still racist for things that occurred during their lifetimes.

everyone think that we should stop using gwailo and use GL instead?
unless the majority of the westerner do not have any objections .........................

I just found out it's illegal to use stereotypically racist names...You can get fined for it.

I certainly have no objection to gweilo. I use it myself all the time and so do most gweilos I know, not to mention the locals. It's
in such common usage now, that it's too late to change it even if we wanted to. The young children of my wife's brothers and
sisters, run to greet me, arms outstretched for a lift up, all calling me 'gweilo shuk shuk'. How am I supposed to be offended?
It's also a very useful term - what would be the alternative - white foreign male? Now that I wouldn't like.  

[ Last edited by  Jake at 27-9-2007 14:51 ]

westerner

Gringo? Cracker?

Just kiddin' just kiddin'. Hope nobody took that offensively.

not nice to joke since this subject is sensitive  

ok since you are a nice young man I think many bros will let you go this time

It's hard to get upset at the term Gwailo when you know it translates as 'foreign devil.' It's such a silly term, expressing fearful, superstitious ignorance. In Taiwanese, foreigners are sometimes called Atoga, meaning big nose - that always makes me smile. I personally like the mandarin term lao wai used most commonly in Taiwan - there's a bit of affection and respect in the term, like lao hu (tiger) and lao ying (eagle). In comparison to other racist terms, the single derogatory Japanese term for all foreigners, Gaijin, is positively innocuous, and yet all the foreigners in Japan hate the term!

Racism is certainly our single most damaging human trait and the cause of almost all the evil we do each other. And the ironic thing is that there ARE no races. Race either means an arbitrary set of physical characteristics, in which case the term is empty and useless; or it signifies a different kind of human being, in which case it is mistaken.

The only true differences between people result from culture and language; underneath it all, we are all the same.

Yesterday, after 30 years overseas, I received my first racial insult. Well, the first one I undersood anyway; I'm sure there have been
plenty behind my back or in a language I didn't understand.   

Me and another guy were trying to get into the same parking space, with neither giving way. He stuck his head out the window and
shouted .... "You Caucasian Bastard". Talk about a polite, educated insult, I just started laughing. I still didn't let him have the parking
space though.       

was he a local ? I doubt so ........................................

Schmuckass > can't agree more. i was educated in the UK for 10 years tooo and yes
i fucking hate seeing the Hong Kongers at china town speaking so damn loudly and dress like tramps from a weird nation.  

but somehow i don't think the japanese has the reverse racism thing.

fuck! that's really fucking offensive

it could have been worse ................................

true.... ....

A major factor is how you are raised and what kind of values are passed to you. Due to social pressure, people don't display racist behavior as readily in the public. However, there are always exceptions. Look up "Jena 6" and "CNN".

I agree with Schmuckass, from the generation identity crisis to the reverse racism. However, there are uncultured, rude, and ignorant Hong Kongers also. I have learned that you can't judge a person by his race or color of the skin, rather by his behavior and moral values.  

The real question is, "what are you going to do about it?" You can talk about it all year long and nothing will change. Do understand that some people are incorrigible though.

nothing we can do about

You can actually do more than you think, especially when you are bilingual. You can resolve the misunderstanding between a strictly Chinese speaking Hong Konger and a strictly English speaking person. You can also bust the myths about the Chinese or Westerners. You can educate other people what they don't know or being misinformed. The change may be insignificant, but it's a change which is better than nothing.

I guess a little bit of tolerance goes a long way .................................

not that easy to understand the different cultures despite being bilingual;

having spent more than 10 years in Thailand, I have yet to understand the culture;

spent only 3 years continuous in Hongkong and my friends called me a "old Hongkong" ..............

agree.  i am still a "foreigner" from english culture.