Hi there,
I'm a psuedo-expat and this is my first post in this forum! I was born and raised in hk but I've spent the last 8 years here living in the states. I am not exactly ABC, but I'm definitely way more western than most immigrants... anyway..
I just thought i'd chime in on the topic of the phrase "gwei lo". (There was a thread back in July) First of all, as you might all know, China in chinese actually means "middle country". So they are definitely very ethnocentric. They believed that only Chinese people are REAL people. All others are well, either animals or supernatural beings. When they first encountered the westerners, the Chinese were so shocked by their distinct looks from their own that they couldn't really label them as "people". Along with their lighter paler skin and non black hair, the Chinese initially thought they were really "ghosts", hence the phrase "gwei". There are other different usages, such as "fan gwei" (foriegn ghosts), or "yang gwei zi" (ghostly people from the sea), and of course our infamous "gwei lo". The best (american) english equivalent of "lo" is probably "dude". "Lo" used in such a way is mostly among, iirc, southern chinese/cantonese speaking people. So i'm not even sure if the phrase "gwei lo" originated in HK.
Sorry i have not provided any referential / factual backing for my theory. But that's what I was told in history classes in my early hk education. One thing IS for sure though and that is the label "gwei lo" is by no means meant to be offensive, at least nowadays. however if you hear something like "say/sai gwei lo" (dead ghost man) then that's supposed to be an insult.
Anyway, I hope my first post here has been of some help to clarify things for those interested/curious. If anyone has any question about hk culture or people, i'd be happy to answer them. I've been back to HK almost every year or every two years.. i'm actually planning to move back next summer after i'm done with college.
Hope you all don't mind me the psuedo-expat. I think this forum is great. I've already soaked up a lot of little knowledge here and there (like on broadband services..) Look forward to hanging out here once in a while.