Is Laowai a derogatory term?

Question

I am a Chinese. I don't think it is a derogatory term. What do you think of it?

Answer 1

No-it means foreigner.  More proper would be waiguoren--other country person.  As for Guilao--it is Cantonese for foreigner.  In the South it is ok, but my friend in the North says if used there is has a similar connotation for foreigner as the n-word does for African-Americans.

Answer 2

my Chinese friends have told me it is not the word itself but how it is said

I have been called foreign devil twice since living in China, it was pretty funny

Answer 3

I am Chinese too, I don't think it is either. I just think of it as a common term in general. Almost everyone calls American people 老外.

Answer 4

laowai is just a term for all foreigners who are not Mongolian race, means "outsider"..it's not derogatory nor positive, just a word.

Just like Japanese call foreigners "gaijin" (外人 ), it means outsiders too.

Answer 5

Put it his way, if you where in the UK would you mind British people calling you Laowai rather than calling you by your first name or describing you as Chinese.

Answer 6

It is not a derogatory term. It isn't meant to be. Westerners who translate it literally take it as derogatory because in their native countries, it sounds like an insult. However, when used by Chinese people, nobody intends it to be derogatory. It's just a slang term. If you look at Americans, there are plenty of slang words thrown around to describe people that when used in certain contexts are not meant to be insulting either.

Answer 7

I don't think it's derogatory, I'd be a lot more worried if someone called me a gwei lo!

Answer 8

Perhaps you need to know how Chinese use the word "lao".  

Such as

老虎 = tiger (big)

老大 = leader (the big one)

老兄 = big brother (kind of like American slang - Dude)

"老" almost = "Mr" or with a little respect to the ones whom Chinese address. It is kind of like a salutation!

P.S. to Mr. Hex

When I was in Japan, the Japanese called me "Gaijin - 外人", so, I guess I pretty much understand what you feel when being called as a "laowai".

Edit :

Yes, as what Mr. W's Chinese friends said, it depends on how it's said.