View source for Guizi

{{Short description|Pejorative Chinese language slang term for foreigners}}
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[[File:Boxerspamphlet.png|thumb|200px|A pamphlet circulated {{circa|1899}} during the [[Boxer Rebellion]] that refers to foreigners as ''guizi'' ({{lang|zh|鬼子}}) or ''yang guizi'' ({{lang|zh|洋鬼子}})]]
[[File:2012 Anti-Japan demonstrations7.jpg|thumb|right|[[New Party (Taiwan)|New Party]] Anti-Japanese demonstrators in Taiwan hoist signs with "''Guizi''! Get out" ({{lang|zh|鬼子！快滾}}) following an escalation in the [[Senkaku Islands dispute]] in 2012.<ref name=voa20120923>{{cite news|title=台湾民间团体发起保钓游行 |url=http://www.voachinese.com/content/taiwan-boadiao/1513208.html|access-date=2012-09-28|newspaper=[[Voice of America]]|date=September 23, 2012}}</ref>]]
'''''Guizi''''' ({{zh|c=[[wikt:鬼子|鬼子]]|p=guǐzi|l=devil}}) is a pejorative [[Chinese language|Chinese]] slang term referring to foreigners, with a history of [[xenophobic]] connotations.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Chee |first1=Harold |title=The Chinese are irrationally xenophobic |date=2007 |work=Myths about doing business in China |pages=75–84 |editor-last=Chee |editor-first=Harold |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan UK]] |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230286771_7 |isbn=9780230286771 |last2=West |first2=Chris |editor2-last=West |editor2-first=Chris}}</ref>
== 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".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6uyPDwAAQBAJ&q=uncivilized+tribes+guizi&pg=PA227|title=Inspiration|last=Bonnet|first=Robert|date=2019-04-02|publisher=Page Publishing Inc|isbn=9781644241103|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Lafay">{{cite book |title=The Chinese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture |last=Lafayette De Mente |first=Boyé |year=2000 |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Professional|McGraw-Hill]] |isbn=978-0-658-01078-1 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yx8AC_d3lWgC&q=Lafayette+De+Mente,+Boy%C3%A9.+The+Chinese+Have+a+Word+for+It:+The+Complete+Guide+to+Chinese+Thought+and+Culture,&pg=PR1 }}</ref> In the southern parts of China, the term ''[[gweilo]]'' ({{lang|zh|鬼佬}}) was used; this term remains popular today in the [[Cantonese]]-speaking regions of China. In northern parts, the term 'western devil' ({{lang|zh|西洋鬼子}} {{transl|zh|xiyáng guǐzi}}) was used.<ref name="Lafay"/>
== Use ==
The character ''gui'' ({{lang|zh|鬼}}) can have negative connotations itself without the ''zi'' ({{lang|zh|子}}) suffix. For example, when it was attached to the Westerners in the term ''yang guizi'' ({{lang|zh|洋鬼子}} 'overseas devils') during the [[Boxer Rebellion]], to the Japanese military in the term ''guizi bing'' ({{lang|zh|鬼子兵}} 'devil soldiers') during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], and to the Korean collaborators with the term ''er guizi'' ({{lang|zh|二鬼子}} 'second-rank devil'). It can also be used as an adjective to express hatred and deprecation. However, the same term can also be applied derogatorily to any foreign military which was an enemy to China. In [[Taiwan]], anti-Japanese demonstrators from the [[New Party (Taiwan)|New Party]] hoisted signs with "''Guizi''! Get out" ({{lang|zh|鬼子！快滾}}) during the [[2012 China anti-Japanese demonstrations]].<ref name=voa20120923/> Local expressions towards the Japanese during their occupation of China during [[World War II]] also used ''gui''. The term conveys a generalized negative feeling; it is somewhat archaic in contemporary use, and other comparatively negative terms have largely replaced it.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
== Related terms ==
* '''''Riben guizi''''' ({{zhi|c=日本鬼子|l=Japanese devil}}) or '''''dongyang guizi''''' ({{zhi|c=東洋鬼子|p=dōngyáng guǐzi|l=east ocean devil}}) — used to refer to [[Japanese people|Japanese]]. In 2010 Japanese internet users on [[2channel]] created the fictional [[moe anthropomorphism|moe]] character {{nihongo|[[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]] {{lang|ja|日本鬼子}}.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 1, 2010 |title=萌系日本鬼子 反攻中國 |url=http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/nov/1/today-int5.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103022506/http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/nov/1/today-int5.htm |archive-date=November 3, 2010 |access-date=2012-09-29 |website=[[Liberty Times]] |publisher=}}</ref>
* '''''Er guizi''''' ({{zhi|c=二鬼子|l=second-rank devil}}) — used to refer to ethnic Korean [[Korea under Japanese rule#Korean service in the Japanese military|conscript]]s and [[parapolice]]man who contributed to the Japanese occupation and war effort during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] and the [[Pacific War]].<ref name="people20111216">[http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/16632423.html 第一滴血──從日方史料還原平型關之戰日軍損失 (6)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203102443/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/16632423.html|date=2014-02-03}}. [[People's Daily|''People's Daily'']]. December 16, 2011</ref>  It was later extended to refer to all collaborators with the Japanese, including ''[[hanjian]]s'' and [[Taiwanese Imperial Japan Serviceman|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.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
* '''''Yang guizi''''' ({{zhi|c=洋鬼子|l=overseas devil}}) or '''''xiyang guizi''''' ({{zh|c=西洋鬼子|p=xiyáng guǐzi|l=west ocean devil}}) — used to refer to Westerners.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
* '''''Jia yang guizi''''' ({{zhi|c=假洋鬼子|l=fake overseas devil}}) — used to refer to "sellout" Chinese who [[acting white|adopt Western values]] and are discriminatory to their own ethnic identity and cultural heritage.  Initially used to describe [[comprador]]s and foreign-educated scholars during the late 19th century, who often dressed and talked like Westerners, the term is now synonymous to race traitor]s.  A similar word in English is "Uncle Chan", which is derived from [[Uncle Tom]] and used to describe a xenophilic [[Hongkonger]]—and by further extension any [[westernized]] Chinese, regardless of mainland or overseas origin—who are perceived as [[self-hatred#In social groups|self-hating]], supporting [[Hong Kong independence]] and pandering to [[sinophobia]] in order to gain favor from Westerners.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
==See also==
{{Portal|China}}
* [[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==
{{Wiktionary|鬼子|guizi}}
{{Reflist}}
{{White people terms}}
{{Ethnic slurs}}
[[Category:Anti-Japanese sentiment in China]]
[[Category:Anti-Korean sentiment in China]]
[[Category:Anti-Western sentiment]]
[[Category:China–Japan relations]]
[[Category:China–Korea relations]]
[[Category:Boxer Rebellion]]
[[Category:Chinese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for in-group non-members]]
[[Category:Xenophobia in Asia]]