Question for black forumosans: do you ever hear

i was wondering if any of you hear “hei gwei” or “lao hei” on the street. curious about this.

the reason i asked this question is, that if you never hear it, i have 3 theories:

  1. theory one: taiwanese people are aware that black (americans) have endured racisim already and give them a break

  2. theory two: at least you’re not white (white equaling the white establishment that always blocks taiwan independence), and therefore consider you not the enemy.

  3. they’re terrified of black people due to years of stereotyping from movies and TV, and dare not push their luck.

need input. greatly appreciated.

[quote=“theposter”]the reason i asked this question is, that if you never hear it, i have 3 theories:

  1. theory one: Taiwanese people are aware that black (americans) have endured racisim already and give them a break

  2. theory two: at least you’re not white (white equaling the white establishment that always blocks taiwan independence), and therefore consider you not the enemy.

  3. they’re terrified of black people due to years of stereotyping from movies and TV, and dare not push their luck.

need input. greatly appreciated.[/quote]

Is this for a book, or for your hate campaign? I’d say you WANT the input, rather than need it.

Come on, give the guy a break. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but lately it seems he’s been getting harassed a lot not for personally attacking others, or for making racist or sexist remarks or doing other things for which harassment might be deemed a justifiable response, but just for making perfectly valid posts.

theposter, I hope you can simply ignore those who harass you, continue posting as you see fit and enjoy your time on forumosa . . . and Taiwan.

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]Come on, give the guy a break. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but lately it seems he’s been getting harassed a lot not for personally attacking others, or for making racist or sexist remarks or doing other things for which harassment might be deemed a justifiable response, but just for making perfectly valid posts.

theposter, I hope you can simply ignore those who harass you, continue posting as you see fit and enjoy your time on forumosa . . . and Taiwan.[/quote]

Whats wrong with a little socratic reasoning? Better than seeing a guy in pain, and saying nothing. You bystander you! :slight_smile:

By the way, I’m not mean to him in pm’s, if that makes you feel a bit better.

[quote]

  1. theory one: Taiwanese people are aware that black (americans) have endured racisim already and give them a break[/quote] :roflmao:

[quote]2. theory two: at least you’re not white (white equaling the white establishment that always blocks taiwan independence), and therefore consider you not the enemy.
[/quote] :roflmao: :roflmao:

[quote]3. they’re terrified of black people due to years of stereotyping from movies and TV, and dare not push their luck.
[/quote] :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Aint gonna say anything, lest I be accused of playing the race card. :wink: :laughing:

In any event, was the post offensive or trollish? Or did he have a legit question? I’m not asking to rag on the mods, or the admin, or the gods, or the social engineers, or whomever, but just because the OP may have asked a worthy question. I just don’t know, in part because I don’t know what the pinyin means.

What do those translate to?

Hei gui = black demon, or ni . . word between m and o. And lao hei, old black, a polite variation of the former.

HG

:wink:

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Hei gui = black demon, or ni . . word between m and o. And lao hei, old black, a polite variation of the former.

HG[/quote]

So, part two of the OP’s question was: do any black people in Taiwan ever hear those terms being used? Bu jer dao.

:wink:[/quote]

Nope I was thinking more along these lines…

I’m not a racist, that’s what’s soo insane about this…

[quote=“theposter”]the reason i asked this question is, that if you never hear it, i have 3 theories:

  1. theory one: Taiwanese people are aware that black (americans) have endured racisim already and give them a break

  2. theory two: at least you’re not white (white equaling the white establishment that always blocks taiwan independence), and therefore consider you not the enemy.

  3. they’re terrified of black people due to years of stereotyping from movies and TV, and dare not push their luck.

need input. greatly appreciated.[/quote]

Theory four: they’re more considerate than you give them credit for.

theposter,

In spite of ramblings here on f.com…my ‘black cousins’ are the most happiest people I’ve ever met ont his rock. So the views you may or maynot get on this site are skewed. My friends seem to have found an understanding and acceptance within Taiwan. They don’t complain…they just go for it. It’s the lighter shade of grey that seems to have the problem and that speaks volumes in character if you ask me.

White people in Asia are, for the first fuckin time, subjected to outward discrimination unlike others. It’s funny isn’t it? you end up in a European society based in Euro beliefs and you come to a Confucius society and although you find benefits, you still find yourself in a bind. Why’s that? Introspec ,my friend. You’ll find it one day. Live on the other side of the coin.

Thank God that he punished me early when it comes to this colour shit. Otherwise I’d be a mess due entirely to the colour spectrum. I have a problem with humans. Not colour.

why would this be offensive or trolling? it’s a legit question. they can’t call them ah do gah because that actually is meant for europeans. so i’m wondering if black people here have had racial insults thrown at them, and what they were. if not, i’m wondering why, and hypothesizing why that may be.

what the fuck is wrong with that???

2 things:

  1. Nama, are you saying you can’t add to this because you’re black???

(kidding, of course)

  1. I have wondered this for a while:
    Are the reason that my black friends here not as grumpy and tired from it all that they are used to the treatment?
    I mean we get pissed off because a percentage of the people here treat us differently because we are a minority. But they are USED to being the minority. So they have long ago faced the decision of getting over it or going nuts. They are used to being asked stupid questions “Do you Sing/ Play Basketball/ like hip hop, ect”, being stared at by morons, and even being accused of doing shit simply because of their skin color.
    Even more so, the ever annoying that locals do about saying “I Understand American culture, I watch sex and the city” can be replaced with B.E.T… and I have heard someone say that to a friend of mine.

So yeah, the question is… is this a decent theory?

Back to theposter’s question. I asked my man and he said “no one says that”. Not sure how true that is, but it surely means that no one around him says it.

why is it that there are not a whole lot of black people in taiwan? i wonder if there are more then a few hundred at any one time in taiwan? I dont think taiwanese discriminate against them (for the most part) because they are usually pretty aware that the chinese get discriminated in america, and that the blacks get discriminated against in america too. So i think chinese do go out of their way not to offend black people?

NOtice how in america only the chinese seem to live in even the most dangerous black neighborhoods?

Iv been in some of the black neighborhoods around the bay area and other then blacks iv only seen chinese (or chinese looking) in any sort of numbers (well thats oakland, but richmond seems to have a lot of latinos with the blacks) I watched this young chinese girl who just got off school i suppose walk thru a black neighorhood where the people look pretty tuff, without any fear. She obviously lived around there, and chances are all those tuff people know her too?

In LA the blacks and the koreans seem to have a few issues. but so far , not so with the chinese.

why is that? maybe cuz both the blacks and the chinese (at least in america) know that each has been discriminated against for much of americas history?

interesting theory i think.

theposter, I think none of your theories hold water.

Hei1 gui3 (黑鬼) is not common usage in Taiwan, rather, it’s much more popular in Hong Kong. It is closely related to that other famous Hong Kong term for foreigners, that being gui3 lao3 (鬼佬). Gui3 lao3 has been around for a while to describe Europeans or Americans, who historically have almost all been white. Once blacks came into the picture, the gui3 lao3 term got prefixed with hei1 (黑, black). In keeping with the common practice of simplifying Chinese words down into two characters, the last character lao3 (佬, fellow, bloke) was dropped once hei1 was added. The character gui3 (鬼) is often translated as "devil’ and that may have been its original meaning and intention, but today, using the term gui3 to describe foreigners carries a rather neutral connotation for the most part. It all depends on usage, of course. Hei1 gui3, however, tends to be negative more often that gui3 lao3. Although I used Mandarin Pinyin for these terms, actual usage is in Cantonese of course.

Lao3 hei1 (老黑) is just a variation on lao3wai4, but with added information about skin colour. Its connotation depends on usage. This is common usage on the mainland.

Not true. We mostly live on the other side of the coin in our own countries now, too, and have done for quite some time employment wise, benefit wise and education wise.

Discrimination happens everywhere to all races. Try going to places Middle East, South America and other parts of Asia - today and throughout time and histroy, and Whites and “Others” will get a good idea of what discrimination and racism is really like and how having stones thrown at you, being made to wear a veil, having to discard shoes or having your head cut off for not following a certain religion is perhaps incomparible to any amount of racism found in the west today.

[quote=“Namahottie”]

Aint gonna say anything, lest I be accused of playing the race card. :wink: :laughing:[/quote]

You may have already done that with the George Bush picture?!

[quote=“sulavaca”][quote=“Namahottie”]

Aint gonna say anything, lest I be accused of playing the race card. :wink: :laughing:[/quote]

You may have already done that with the George Bush picture?![/quote]
I dont’ see how that is a race card. I am a different ethnicity than Nama and I would happily pull the lever on his electric chair.