Cantonese slang ‘gweilo’ not racist, judge rules in rejecting HK$1 million lawsuit
February 12, 2022
published at 7:29 AM
By Brian Wong South China Morning Post
A Hong Kong court has dismissed a HK$1 million (SGD$172,800) discrimination claim by a British engineer who complained about being called a gweilo and excluded from a tunnel construction project after finding his poor work relationship with colleagues was the real reason he lost his job.

The District Court on Friday ruled against Francis William Haden in an equal opportunity action that shed light on the use of the Cantonese slang. Gweilo, which translates to “ghost man”, is sometimes used disparagingly to mean “foreign devil”, but the widespread use of the word in Hong Kong is generally considered benign.

The judge found that no basis existed to suggest the use of the word in the workplace must entail racial hostility and the term would not necessarily carry a derogatory meaning.

Haden, who also has Australia citizenship, filed the lawsuit in 2018 to seek damages and a written apology from Leighton Contractors (Asia) for alleged violation of the Race Discrimination Ordinance, after he was sacked the previous year.

The blasting specialist was appointed a team leader by the joint venture between Leighton and China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) in a 2016 tunnel project to bridge Tseung Kwan O and Lam Tin. The 2.2km underpass is expected to be completed sometime in the middle of this year.

Haden said he had been made to feel “unwelcome and frozen out” in meetings and from updates between August 2016 and February 2017 because he was not Chinese.

He recounted an occasion where a senior member of the China State team said he did not want non-Chinese engineers. He also quoted a Leighton employee, who claimed that China State workers had grumbled about the large number of “gweilos” at work. He argued the expression displayed general and underlying hostility towards expats.

He alleged that as a result, his colleagues had bypassed him in recruitment matters and left him out of meetings and emails correspondence.

Haden had asked for HK$822,133 in compensation, equivalent to eight months’ salary, plus HK$200,000 for injury to feelings.

But two of Haden’s supervisors, both foreign nationals, testified at last November’s trial that they did not find the slang derogatory. One of them went further to suggest Haden’s legal bid was “an afterthought to harass Leighton”.

They maintained that the company had lawfully terminated Haden’s contract because of his “unprofessional and unconstructive” conduct and “dismissive” attitude towards team members, especially those from China State.
https://www.asiaone.com/asia/cantonese- ... on-lawsuit

40 years in Australia even had the operation for citizenship I was still a kiwi sheep shagger, and wore the term with pride. Racist comments are no defense when you're a dick.

Gweilo, is Cantonese. It translates as 'Ghost Man' and is used to describe a Caucasian foreigner.

Although most of China is familiar with this word only Cantonese speakers use it as a derogative way of describing a white person.

It is considered highly offensive in Mandarin China and with some white people.

Didn't the Chinese used to be called yellow people

Heard gweilo loads when living and working in Malaysia, I didn't know I should be "offended" and have "hurt feelings".

I thought it was quite a cool word really.

atst wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:09 am Didn't the Chinese used to be called yellow people

It's quite strange to me how using an adjective of color to describe a person is sometimes fine, while being offensive at others. I once had a Korean student ask if Asian-Americans would be "Yellow Americans," since there were also Black Americans and White Americans. I told them that most people would find it offensive, but I couldn't really produce a logical reason for the difference. I've heard Native Americans referred to as "Red Indians" more than a few times in the part of the world as well.