Guizi

Guizi (Chinese: 鬼子; pinyin: guǐzi; lit. 'devil') is a pejorative Chinese slang term referring to foreigners, with a history of xenophobic connotations.^[2]

History

Starting with the arrival of European sailors in the sixteenth century, foreigners were often perceived in China as "uncivilized tribes given to mayhem and destruction".^[3][4] In the southern parts of China, the term gweilo (鬼佬) was used; this term remains popular today in the Cantonese-speaking regions of China. In northern parts, the term 'western devil' (西洋鬼子 xiyáng guǐzi) was used.^[4]

Use

The character gui (鬼) can have negative connotations itself without the zi (子) suffix. For example, when it was attached to the Westerners in the term yang guizi (洋鬼子 'overseas devils') during the

• Riben guizi (日本鬼子; 'Japanese devil') or dongyang guizi (東洋鬼子; dōngyáng guǐzi; 'east ocean devil') — used to refer to Japanese. In 2010 Japanese internet users on 2channel created the fictional moe character Hinomoto Oniko (日本鬼子) which refers to the ethnic term, with Hinomoto Oniko being the Japanese kun'yomi reading of the Chinese characters 日本鬼子.^[5]
• Er guizi (二鬼子; 'second-rank devil') — used to refer to ethnic Korean conscripts and parapoliceman who contributed to the Japanese occupation and war effort during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War.^[6] It was later extended to refer to all collaborators with the Japanese, including hanjians and Taiwanese conscripts. In modern times, however, the terms became synonymous with race traitor, referring to any Chinese nationals and overseas Chinese who act as appeasers or promoters of foreign interests at the expense of Chinese national interests.
• Yang guizi (洋鬼子; 'overseas devil') or xiyang guizi (Chinese: 西洋鬼子; pinyin: xiyáng guǐzi; lit. 'west ocean devil') — used to refer to Westerners.
• Jia yang guizi (假洋鬼子; 'fake overseas devil') — used to refer to "sellout" Chinese who
  sinophobia
  in order to gain favor from Westerners.

See also

• Ang mo
• Gaijin — Japanese word for foreigners
• Jap
• The Sword March, the National Revolutionary Army marching cadence which popularized its use against the Japanese
• Xiao Riben

References

Look up 鬼子 or guizi in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.