[hua]

I have met many different kinds of Chinese. It seems to me that Shanghainese are the most accepting of whites. I talk with some Shanghainese youth about the interracial dating disparity between Asian and white people. They see nothing wrong about a disparity because they claim it is a fact that white men do look more masculine and better looking than Chinese and average Asian male. They even joked to me that even though I am an American-born Chinese, that I do not seem open minded enough for their tastes.

Other Chinese dialect groups are still not accepting of intermarriage with white men, esp. Cantonese and southern Chinese.

And, surprisingly, although we Cantonese had contact with Westerners for a long time, i still think Cantonese are least trustful of whites. In Hong Kong and Macau, the natives always consider them to be 'gwailo' even though they live under their administration for couple hundred years. No matter how advanced the West is, your average Cantonese will always believe deep in his or her heart, that the 'Chinese way' is always the correct and superior way.

This post has been edited by hua: 05 September 2006 - 02:51 AM

[hua]

I have visited China and I still tend to believe the close knit cohesion is stronger among Cantonese and other southern Chinese compared to northerners. I really don't know why. Perhaps the history and other environmental factors explain it. I heard that in the past, anti-Qing sentiment was strongest in the south, esp. Canton areas. Even if a Cantonese and Shanghainese attained the same level of education, more often the Cantonese still tend to be mistrustful of foreigners

[sg_han]

singaporean chinese tend to be accepting of whites

[Yongwoni GOD]

hua, on Sep 5 2006, 01:49 AM, said:

And, surprisingly, although we Cantonese had contact with Westerners for a long time, i still think Cantonese are least trustful of whites. In Hong Kong and Macau, the natives always consider them to be 'gwailo' even though they live under their administration for couple hundred years. No matter how advanced the West is, your average Cantonese will always believe deep in his or her heart, that the 'Chinese way' is always the correct and superior way.

I think its a psychological reason. Cantonese from HK (dont know about China) tend to despise most non-Cantonese including gwailos.

WangEnlai, on Sep 5 2006, 02:10 AM, said:

Why do mandarin chinese marry white over cantonese, and cantonese chinese marry northern chinese over white?

Actualy I don't think this statement is quite true. The thing is, Cantonese are very Cantonese-identity-conscious and rarely marry with non-Cantonese. I tend to find that more Cantonese marry with westerners than northern China people.

[sg_han]

yongwoni this applies probably in China or among recent immigrants to USA/Aust or the west in general in singapore this preference of cantonese is almsot unheard of and this is also true about the diasporic chinese in SEA

[liuxing]

hua, on Sep 5 2006, 01:49 AM, said:

And, surprisingly, although we Cantonese had contact with Westerners for a long time, i still think Cantonese are least trustful of whites. In Hong Kong and Macau, the natives always consider them to be 'gwailo' even though they live under their administration for couple hundred years. No matter how advanced the West is, your average Cantonese will always believe deep in his or her heart, that the 'Chinese way' is always the correct and superior way.

Actually, the 'gwailo' term is not a demeaning term anymore. It's a neutral term used in HK/Macau to described westerners, but people who called westerners 'gwailo' don't really hold any contemp toward the race.

I remember there was one court case in HK where a westerner sues a chinese for calling him 'gwailo'. But he lost the case because of reason I stated above.

[fcharton]

liuxing, on Nov 20 2006, 03:01 AM, said:

Actually, the 'gwailo' term is not a demeaning term anymore. It's a neutral term used in HK/Macau to described westerners, but people who called westerners 'gwailo' don't really hold any contemp toward the race.

I remember there was one court case in HK where a westerner sues a chinese for calling him 'gwailo'. But he lost the case because of reason I stated above.

I think expressions like laowai in the PRC, gwailo in HK or angmoh in Singapore are not racial slurs, hence the court verdict, but they still do have a slightly negative overtone. I know more about laowai (because I mostly lived in the PRC), which I heard used a lot, not specially intended as an insult. However, it never was (and I think it never is) a polite/correct way of referring to westerners. For instance, people would speak of westerners as laowai, but adressing them as such was slightly negative...

Francois

[Sephodwyrm]

Historically - the Hakka.
They were amongst he first to regard pale skin caucasians as Yang Xiongdi (brothers from overseas).

Perhaps due to military necessity. The Taiping Uprising needs guns.

In any case, I feel that western hypocrisy is a mockery of whatever enlightenment they've been talking about. If there's any real humanist enlightenment ideologies, chancs are its going to come from left-leaning media or minorities. Maybe we should change the title to which type of white people is more accepting of Chinese....

This post has been edited by Sephodwyrm: 21 November 2006 - 08:48 PM

[Wujiang]

I think the answer for this would be 'the liberals'

[fcharton]

Sephodwyrm, on Nov 22 2006, 02:29 AM, said:

In any case, I feel that western hypocrisy is a mockery of whatever enlightenment they've been talking about. If there's any real humanist enlightenment ideologies, chancs are its going to come from left-leaning media or minorities. Maybe we should change the title to which type of white people is more accepting of Chinese....

Yes, it would a be a perfect occasion to have yet another of these ridiculous flamebait threads which are what CHF desperately wants at the moment...

Francois

Hint, Enlightenment and humanism: 16th-18th century, left leaning media and minorities 20th century (end of it).
and btw, why the hakkas specifically, don't you think the same could be said of many other groups?

This post has been edited by fcharton: 22 November 2006 - 03:34 AM

[TwinkieDP]

Sephodwyrm, on Nov 21 2006, 08:29 PM, said:

Historically - the Hakka.
They were amongst he first to regard pale skin caucasians as Yang Xiongdi (brothers from overseas).

Perhaps due to military necessity. The Taiping Uprising needs guns.

In any case, I feel that western hypocrisy is a mockery of whatever enlightenment they've been talking about. If there's any real humanist enlightenment ideologies, chancs are its going to come from left-leaning media or minorities. Maybe we should change the title to which type of white people is more accepting of Chinese....

Seph, am I correct to assume you are Cantonese? You seem to have an immediate aversion to anything western.
BTW, when people talk about Southern Chinese, how come they leave out other dialect groups: Aka Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Wenzhou peoples? My parents were from Fujian, I grew up in Hong Kong, yes, there are times when people that I'm around would express Anti-Western sentiments, but then again, my parents made a voluntary move to the STates.

[Sun Xun]

I have a female friend who's Cantonese (her parents came from Guangzhou, IIRC). She, personally, doesn't distrust white males (she's secretly dating one) - but her parents distrust whites, Japanese, and essentially all non-Chinese (they're generally accepting of non-Cantonese Chinese though) - hence why the dating is secret.

I also have a female friend whose father's family is Cantonese. He married a white woman, and apparently, his parents approved of it, because they all live in the same house. Additionally, she's half Cantonese (and looks very Cantonese, but she has a pale face) and is engaged to a white man, who has also been accepted by their family.

In general, however, I have found Taiwanese the most accepting of whites.

[Mok]

Cantonese would marry non-Cantonese Chinese. Whites? I'm afraid there is still that bias. God knows how my family would take to the thought of any of us - me or my cousins - finding a Caucasian partner. I shudder at the thought.

[Sun Xun]

What's ironic is that I actually received my Chinese name from a Cantonese family despite being as white as the fallen snow.

Of course, we're all generalizing here. But I'd definitely agree from past experience that, even in countries that are mostly white, Cantonese (the older generations) are far more likely to distrust whites or other races than other Chinese groups for the reasons touched upon in this thread. We're making progress though - it seems like more of the younger Cantonese are, while not finding white partners, a bit tired of distrusting whites and other races in general. I could be wrong, but it seems that way.