Final Remarks on the Usage and Abusage of "Laowai"

It appears that the H-ASIA thread on "laowai" may be finally drawing to a close (I may be speaking too soon--Ryan may still be holding a few posts in his mailbox).  As one of the editors of this list, and also as the person who inadvertently started this conversation by using the term in an unrelated discussion, I thought it might be a good idea to summarize the gist of the conversation we've had.  Basically, the discussion has revolved around the meaning and usage of the term "laowai" in China today.  

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Frederic Wakeman, _Policing Shanghai_/ A Review

 Here's my next installment:  a review I wrote back in grad school (with slight revisions for this site) on what I consider to be one of the best studies of pre-Liberation Shanghai done by any scholar.  Fred Wakeman sadly passed away not long ago.  An homage, long overdue, to this outstanding historian and person is in the works.

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Resurrecting Old Shanghai: The Peace Hotel

I just read a news article stating that Swatch, the Swiss watch company, is joining with the Jinjiang Hotel Group, owner of the Peace Hotel, to renovate it.  This is interesting news because the Peace Hotel, from what I've heard, is rated quite poorly as a hostelry.  I recall that it was renovated in 1997 by the same New York firm that renovated the Park Hotel (guoji fandian).  They did a decent job with some features such as the 8th floor ballroom (though one questions whether or not all of the features in that ballroom today are genuine 1930s Deco), but apparently not so with the majority of rooms.  I've also read in online travel blogs that the service is appalling.  Whether or not the next round of renovations will change the software as well as the hardware of this fine historical building is another matter.

 

On the True Meaning of Laowai

In my experience, the Mandarin word laowai, which literally means "old outsider," does not in fact mean foreigner in the strict sense.  A much more accurate translation for this term would be "Caucasian."  Japanese and Koreans are rarely if ever referred to in China as laowai, and neither are foreign-born Chinese.  Nor are people of African descent. 

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A Short Walk on a Great Wall: David Spindler Strikes Again

 

Mark Schatzker, a travel journalist, has posted two blogs (April 4 and 5) on a hike on the Great Wall with David Spindler on his 80 Days blogsite for Conde Nast Traveler.  In the process, he also recounts some of the knowledge that David has accumulated over years of research on how the Ming Wall worked and whether or not it kept the Mongols at bay.

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I also remind readers that I have a few blogs and photos of David and the Wall as well.  See my Great Wall journal.  I promise to add more soon.  We're also nearing completion of a documentary film featuring David hiking on and telling stories about the Great Wall.  If anybody is interested in learning more about this film, please write me at andrew.field@unsw.edu.au. 

On Translations of Popular Chinese Literature

I recently read a novel, written by the Chinese author Zhang Henshui, called _The Shanghai Express_.  The original title in Chinese is pinghu tongche 平滬通車.  The plot is fairly sentimental, and for that matter, implausible.  I won't give away the story, but suffice it to say that a wealthy Beiping banker (Beiping was the name used for Beijing after Nanjing became the national capital in 1927) falls for a beautiful young southern woman while traveling on a train from Beiping to Shanghai.  What made this such a great read was the author'seye for detail. 

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