Topic: news An Anxious Beijing to Departing Expats: “Please Stay, Guests from Far Away.”

The races being targeted by the moniker of "Lao Wai" are the races that do not fit the qualifier category of the "中华民族“(zhonghua minzu), or the ethnic peoples of China. I believe the number is 56, but I can't remember if that figure is only inclusive of minorities, or if it accounts for that of Han as well. <p> <p>The common experience tells us that the statement of "Lao Wai" is deductive based on race - as soon as you are seen to have skin that is not yellow and hair that is not black, you are immediately determined to be a Laowai. (For Non-Chinese, that are also eastern asians however, usually there is a need to hear them speak language before judgement can be made.) </p> If the government offered citizenship in any significant capacity to foreign nationals, that would perhaps initiate a change. But in a racially mono-pole society, anybody not possessing characteristics of those races in that society will be seen as a foreigner. This is the reality of the closed society model. </p> <p>Lao Wai as a term is is the product of deductive reasoning, the premises of which are exclusive. Let's make an example. Assuming a situation in which there is no communication occurring between the Chinese and the Foreigner in question (so we cannot use language to determine between people) Such a situation may look like: <p> 1. We Chinese are yellow people. （黄种人） 2. He is not yellow. therefore, 4. He is a laowai. In any case where the person was yellow, like Japanese or Korean - in the silent scenario with no linguistic interaction, most Chinese would not determine that person to be a Lao Wai. They wouldn't whisper as soon as that person got on the train "hey look, Lao Wai!" because they couldn't determine the difference, based off of appearance (aka race). There would be no racially visible clues to give them that judgement in other words. Lao Wai is not being used to refer to what specific race you are - but it is referring to what race you are NOT. It is therefore racially based, it is just not specific to any single race. This may be a very historical concept for Chinese. In all of ancient dynastic China, anybody of an outsider status was seen to be a barbarian. The very insulting term of barbarian has disappeared thankfully, but it has been replaced by a counterpart that doesn't seem much better. That counterpart apparently just means "foreigner" yet it performs the same dividing function of the old term. Differentiating between "US" and "THEM." This is not a very appealing quality to possess in the modern world, though. You may argue that it is purely a political word differentiating countries of origin (xenophobia) instead of a racial based one. However, in China, nationality is very close to race. The boundaries between race and nationality are very blured, if you belong to a race within the Chinese cultural system. On the other hand, if you don't, then the line is clearly very separate.</p> <p>Look at any political speech that has been broadcast in China in all of modern history. Look at the basis of their foreign policy right now. It is always related to the Zhong Hua Min Zu. Nationality and race are very closely linked concepts in closed societies. In a closed society, it is easy to determine who is Chinese and who isn't primarily according to racial differences. A person exhibiting any racial difference will be seen as an outsider. This is why Lao Wai is a xenophobic term, but is also inseparable from the racial component.