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"Chinese" ---- 一个对中国人带有种族侮辱的称呼
我来自一个叫做"中国"或"中央之国"的国度, 英国人将其称为" China". 我在美国已经生活了十年了, 期间我碰到了一些非常怪异的事情并且意识到了"Chinese"实际上是对我们中国人的一种蔑称. 这里我愿意同各位同胞分享我的观点和想法.
去年我在田纳西州的纳什维尔市中心乘坐电车时同司机聊了一会天, 他收养了一个韩国男孩. 令他大伤脑筋的是他的儿子在学校里经常被其他男孩捉弄, 并将其儿子称?quot;Chinese".
他的儿子每天都哭着从学校回来并且感到非常痛苦. 这个司机让他儿子告诉其同学他不是" Chinese" , 而是" 韩国人", 或者"韩裔美国人".
我当时就在捉摸为什么那些学校里的小孩不管那个男孩叫做"Korean"来侮辱他呢? 1991年的冬天, 我去辛辛纳提市见我的女友, 在大街的一个角落有一群年轻人在那里,他们看见我走过来. 令我吃惊的是他们竟然拿我开心: 指这我喊道: " Chinese, Chinese.". 我当时还是不太明白这是怎么回事.
还有一天在我下班后走向停车场的途中, 一个无家可归的男子拦住我乞讨, 我想了一会说:" 对不起, 没有.". 再次令我惊奇的是这个流浪汉居然生气了,并且对着我叫到:"YourChinese."
我已经怀疑很久了,现在我突然明白了"Chinese"实际上是一个种族蔑称. 在英语中, 英国人过去将非洲人叫做"黑鬼(Nigger)"而将黄种人叫做chinese". 在前面我讲的第一件事情中, 那些学校里的小孩完全知道电车司机的儿子是一个韩国人,但是将其叫做"Korean"没有任何意义, 并将其叫做"Chinese"却是对那个男孩的侮辱和轻视. 因为在英语中, 英国人用后缀"-ese"来表示那些他们认为"低等的","不重要的","弱小的", "怪异的", "带有疾病的","从虫子演变而来的"种族, 他们蔑视和厌恶这些种族. 这些种族包括中国人,日本人,越南人,葡萄牙人.(Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese). 他们用"-ese"来羞辱我们,同时他们用后缀"-an" 来表示那些所谓"优等"的种族, 例如美国人,加拿大人,英国人,德国人,加州人,德州人.(American, Canadian, Britain, German, Californian, Texan). 这就是为什么那个一文不值的流浪汉居然叫我"Your Chinese", 而不是"Your Asian", "your American" 或" your Korean"来侮辱我, 尽管他根本不知道我是从哪里来的. 他需要使用一个羞辱我,伤害我的蔑语, 这里"Chinese"就正好可以用于伤害任何黄种人. 那么"Chinese"的字面意思是什么呢? "-ese"表示小的,微小的,和不重要的, "China"的意思是坚硬的粘土或泥土, 那么放在一起"Chinese"就是用坚硬的粘土或泥土制成的微小的、微不足道的、"怪异"的东西。这真是一个莫大的侮辱！！
我来自东亚，在那里英国人曾经去过，征服、压迫和羞辱过那里的人民，并且把那个地方叫做"China"，把那里的"弱小的"、"劣等"、"分文不值"、"带有疾病的"、"虫子一样的"的人叫做"Chinese"， 尽管他们知道我们的土地的名字叫做"中央之国"、"中国"。
我知道上天所创造的每一个人天生是平等的，我也热爱我自己、我得种族和我的故土，我丝毫没有因为我的种族和文化背景而感到耻辱。 当别人叫我"Chinese"时我感到受到了极大的伤害，就象是一个黑人被叫做了"Nigger"。 我记得我第一次来到美国时，我在田纳西大学有一个名叫约翰的朋友，他的祖父来自中国的上海。很显然他对他的身世和种族背景一点也不感到羞耻，但是每当别人问他是不是一个"Chinese"时，他会感到非常生气并且说"不是"。 他憎恨"Chinese"这个词。我当时还不明白这是为什么，现在我知道了。因为它是一个用来侮辱我们的种族的蔑称，就相当于用于侮辱非洲人的"Nigger"。
我来自一片我们称之为"中国"的土地，我为我自己和我的故土而自豪?quot;China"这个单词无论在含义或发音上都无法体现出"中央之国"的本意，并且"中央之国"的人民绝对不应该叫做"Chinese"。 那些所谓的"大不列颠"人居然如此的不知廉耻和心胸狭窄，以这种带有侮辱性的词语来命名我们的国土和人民，这真一个莫大的悲哀。
几百年以前，当那些所谓的"优等"的"大不列颠"人来到我们的"中央之国"时，看到了我们的人民，在那些英国人看来，这些与他们穿着迥异的中国人简直不如狗和虫子，他们身无分文、面黄体弱、"带有疾病"、"是从虫子演变而来"。 于是这些"优等"的"大不列颠"人觉得应该用带有贬低性的、侮辱性的?quot;China"和"Chinese"来形容我们的人民和国土。我想仅从
那些英国人对待我们的态度和方式，我们中国人就应该更加警觉和更早地怀疑"China" 和"Chinese"是带有恶义的词语。难道你会认为那些"大不列颠"人会那么文明地给我们这些"虫子" 起一个体面的名字？
可悲的是，那些"大不列颠"人在为这个蔑称编造的故事中竟然没有丝毫掩盖他们对我们的恶意和偏见。他们宣称我们的国家被称为"China"是因为我们的景德镇出产陶瓷。并且他们随便地在"China"后面加上"-ese"来称呼"China"的人民。那我们不禁要问：如果这是"不列颠"人为其他的国家和人民命名的方式，那么为什么不将意大利叫做"比萨饼"（Pizza）、意大
利人叫做"比萨饼人"（Pizzese），因为意大利是因为比萨饼而闻名？为什么不将德国叫做"啤酒"（Beer）、德国人叫做"啤酒人"（Beerese），因为德国人以喝啤酒而闻名？为什么不将美国称为"玉米"（Corn）、美国人叫做"玉米人"（Cornese），因为它因出产玉米而闻名？为什么不将英国人叫做"罪恶之地"、英国人叫做"鸡奸者"？因为大多数英国人都进行鸡奸？
让我们回到七十年以前，当时的中国人选择共产主义并不是出于疯狂，而是为了同不仅仅是来自国内的压迫进行斗争，更是为了同英国人和日本人这些外来侵略者的压迫和羞辱进行抗争。这些侵略者来到中国并不是象他们的子孙所宁愿相信的那样是来提供援助的基督或救世主、传播传道士，而是作为掠夺者来到中国的。感谢上苍，在共产主义者的领导下我们将这些强盗赶出了我们
的家园。
每次当我听到有人说"我很自豪我是一个'Chinese'"时，我感到无地自容。我们，这些来自"中央之国"的人，应该对英语和那里的人有更深的了解。为自己的传统、民族和"中央之国"而感到自豪是没有任何错误的，但是你决不会听到某个非洲人说"我很自豪我是一个'Nigger'"，他们只是说"我很自豪我是一个'African'"。 在很久以前，我们把小日本叫做倭寇，如果我们告诉小日本他们的汉语名称是倭寇并且这样当面称呼他们，他们难道没有理由生气吗？ 我们现在还这么叫日本人合适吗？如果他们自己还叫自己是倭寇这不是侮辱吗？如果现在我们还是被当面叫做"Chinese"，难道我们没有理由生气吗？这个由"大不列颠"人在几百年前杜撰的用于侮辱贬低我们的
蔑称，难道我们到今天还要用它来称呼自己吗？
该是扔掉这些英国佬强加给我们的蔑称的时候了，我们要用自己的称呼并且找回我们的尊严。30年前伊朗就成功地将其英文名从波斯（Persia）该为伊朗（Iran），并将伊朗人叫?quot;Iranian"，他们以被称为"Iranian"而自豪，他们不会幼稚到称自己为"Iranese"。 在芝加哥一名出租车司机(在美国已入籍30多年了）再三坚持让我称他为"Iranina"而不是"American"。 相反的，许多有中国背景的美国人乞求被叫做"Asian"或"American"，而不是"Chinese"，这绝不是因为他们为自己的种族和背景而感到羞耻，也不是因为他们渴望被称为美国人，而是许多中国人在不同的程度上都意识到"Chinese"这个字带有贬义和侮辱性，极力回避这个单字。
许多来自中国的人乞求被称为"Asian"，这一点在最近的一部叫做"Big Lebowski"的电影中表现得非常清楚，影片中男主角John Goodman大肆捉弄中国人，他嘲弄我们，嘲笑我们的"怪异"的行为，他想我们满足于被称为"C-ese"。 那么Goodman先生，请你记住：我们希望被称为"Asian"是因为我们不想被叫做"Chinese"。因为英语中没有我们一个合适的称呼，所以我们请求你叫我们为"Asian"， 这难道过分吗？ 就象是黑人不愿意被称为"Nigger"，我们当然不愿意被称为"Chinese"。 你这个卑鄙的、丑陋的肥佬、白痴，为什么你一定要刺痛我们的心呢？
从现在开始，我们在英语中应该这么说："我来自Central Kingdom of Sinai（希腊语中表示中国）或C. K. "， "我是一个Sinaian"， 或者"我很自豪是一个 Taiwanan"，而不是"Taiwan-ese"。 Sinai 在希腊语中表示中国，在英语中，Sinai是各路神仙居住的地方。在圣经中，上帝就是在Sinai山给摩西十条戒律。"China"，"Chinese"，"Taiwanese" 应该从官方字典中去掉。它是一个种族的蔑语并且对亚洲人民带来了太多的侮辱和偏见。连
那些学校里的孩子、流浪汉和乞丐这些词的含义。在讲英语的世界里，一直到今天还在纵容这种对我们同胞的侮辱和不公平的待遇，这真是一种耻辱。
有些人也许会质问：既然我们实际上并不是处于世界的中央，为什么我们称自己为中国呢？我不同意这样的观点，完全没有必要将一个国家的具体地理位置同它的名字直接联系起来。比如说?quot;不列颠联合王国"，难道真是一个"联合"的王国吗？根本没有！！并且这个国家也早已不复存在！！！那么我们应该让英国人将其国名改为"罪恶之国"（Sodom）并将英国人叫做"鸡奸者"（Sodomese），因为这才最接近他们的本质？不，我们不会那么做，英国人可以继续将他们的国家称为"不列颠联合王国"，当然我们也可以将我们的国家称为"中国人的中央王国"（Central Kingdom of Sinaian，C.K.），尽管我们并不是处于世界的中央。
我希望通过铲除"C-ese"这个单字，我们的孩子在这块土地上受到的歧视和伤害会少一些，他们将被称为一个体面的、尊敬的名字，希望我们再也不用告诉孩子他们是"Korean"而不是"Chinese"，尽管他们确实是中国人。我的一位朋友曾经这么说，如果我们中国人能够显示我们在每个方面都比别人优秀，那么"Chinese"的含义就会改变。我对此持怀疑态度。首先，我们不可能在每个方面都比其它种族优秀；第二，我们没有必要在每个方面都比别
人优秀来赢得尊敬和一个体面的名字。第三，即使我们在每个方面都比别人优秀，"C-ese"的贬义也不会改变。飞人乔丹是一个"Nigger"并且在每一方面都非常优秀，难道他能改变"Nigger"的含义吗？日本经济上的成功能够改变倭寇或"Japanese"的含义吗？不能！！ 他们做不到！！这些词必须彻底地从词汇中根除，这是无可争议的！！！
美国的黑人进行了艰苦的斗争去争取被正式地称为"非裔美国人"的权利，而不是被叫做"Nigger"，在这个过程中许多人因此而献出了生命。我希望我们中国人在争取我们的权利时不要象黑人那样艰苦和漫长。我知道有的人在背后对别人叫不同的名字，他们仍然在自己黑暗肮脏的卧室里用"N-word"，"Chinaman"，"pale people"这样的字眼。如果我们听不到这些，这就不会对我们造成伤害。但是，我们绝不应该让别人"正式地、公开地"、当面地叫我们"Chinese"，并且默默地接受别人对我们每天进行公开的、肆无忌惮的贬低。连那些学校里的孩子、流浪汉和乞丐这些词的含义。现在很多人出于漠然或用词方便而使用"C-word"，但是象流浪汉和乞丐这些人却在利用这些蔑称来伤害我们的心灵。 这些蔑称就象毒液一样，那些体内充满毒液的人总要用它来伤害别人。如果我们让他们把毒液撒在我们身上，我们会受到伤害。否则他们必须抛弃这些毒液，或者留在他们自己的心里去毒害他们自己和他们的家人。
现在让我们拿出一点实际行动来：
有一件事情我们是可以做的：让我们中国的领导人注意到这个事情，让他们相信确实需要拒?quot;C-ese"并且用我们自己的词汇来描述我们的国家，还有去关心在其它语言中我们的名字。
请把这篇文章分发给你的家人，朋友，以及所有你认识的人。如果你愿意加入我们的行动，请与我们联系。
请将您的意见和建议发送到：
United Sinaians
21 Kristin Drive #117
Schaumburg, IL 60195
USA
E-mail:
Sinaian@aol.com
Dear Friend,
Please read the followings and let's do somethings.
"Chinese" - A Racial Slur Against People of "CHINA"
I'm from a place we call it "Central Kingdom" or "Zhong-Guao", which English
people called it "China". I've been living in the United States of America
for ten years. I had a few interesting encounters and realized that "Chinese"
is actually a racial
slur derogatory to our people. I would like to share my thoughts with you.
Last year, I was riding a downtown trolley in Nashville, Tennessee. I
started a conversation with the trolley driver. He has a son adopted from
Korea. And he was very disturbed that kids at his son's school kept picking
on his son and called him
"Chinese". His boy came home everyday crying and felt miserable. The driver
told his son to tell other kids in the school that he is not a "Chineeee-se",
instead, he is a "Korean", or a "Korean American".
I wondered at the time why the kids at the school didn't call the boy
"Korean" to insult him.
In winter 1991, I was in downtown Cincinnati, visiting my girlfriend. There
was a group of young people hanging out around the street corner. They saw me
walking by. To my surprise, they started having fun and pointed at me yelling
at me "Chinese,
Chinese". I wondered why.
The other day, I was getting off work and walking to the parking garage, a
homeless man stopped me begging for money. I thought a while and said "no,
sorry". To my surprise, this worthless bum got upset, and yelled at me "your
Chinese".
I have suspected all along, then, I suddenly realized that "Chinese"
actually is a racial slur. In English, English people used to call
African
people "Nigger" and yellow people "Chinese". In the first instance, the
school kids know perfectly well the trolley driver's kid is a Korean,
but
to call the kid "Korean" would do no damage, calling him "Chinese" will
indeed be a humiliation and an insult. Because, in English, the great
Britain people use "-ese" to describe the races, in their views, of
"Inferior", "insignificant", "weak", "weird", "small",
"disease-carrying"
or
"evolved from worms", which they despised and loathed; Such as Chinese,
Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese. And they use "-ese" to put us down. And
they use -an, to describe people of "superior" races, for example, American,
Canadian, Britain, German,
Californian, Texan. That was why that worthless bum called me "your Chinese",
not "Your Asian", or not "your American" or not "your Korean" to insult me,
even though He didn't know where I actually come from. He had to use a slur
that would hurts,
destroy my spirits and put me down. The "Chinese" was appropriate here. It
was a proper racial slur at this situation to any "yellow" people and will do
the right damage and harm. What does "Chinese" literally mean? Well, "-ese"
means small, tiny,
petty and insignificant. "China" means harden clay or dirt. Together,
"chinese" means a tiny, small, petty, and insignificant "weird" stuff made of
harden clay or dirt. What a shame!
I'm from a place in eastern Asia, where, British people visited, subdued,
oppressed and humiliated its people, and gave the place the name "China" and
its "small", "insignificant", "inferior", "worthless", "disease-carrying" and
"wormy" people a name
"Chinese", even if they knew our name for the land is "Central Kingdom" and
was pronounced as "Zhong Guao".
I know that the God creates all human being equal and I feel good about
myself, my race and where I came from. I'm not ashamed of my heritage and my
racial background. I get really offended when people calling me "Chinese". It
hurts me the same way
when black people are called "Nigger".
I remembered when I first came to USA, I had an American friend at University
of Tennessee, whose name is John. His grandparent were from Shanghai, China.
John was born and raised here in the United States. He would talk about his
grandparent and China
often. He is obviously not ashamed of his heritage and racial background.
However, every time people asked him if he is a Chinese, he would get really
upset and said "no". He hated the word "Chinese". I didn't know why at that
time, now I know better.
Because it is a racial slur means to put us down. It is equivalent to
"Nigger" for African people.
The place I came from we call her "Zhong-Guo", or "Central Kingdom". I'm
proud of whom I am and where I come from. "China" has nothing to do with the
"Central Kingdom", neither in its meanings and nor in its pronunciation.
Especially, People of
"Central Kingdom" does not deserved to be called "Chinese". It is pity that
such "great" "Britain" people had so little "decency" and so "tiny hearts" to
name our land and our people in such a way.
Few hundred years ago, when the "superior" "great" Britain people came to
"Central Kingdom", they saw our people, dressed differently, who in British's
views were lesser than dogs or worms, worthless, yellow and small,
"disease-carrying", "evolved from
worms". The "superior" "Great" Britain people felt justified to make up the
derogatory slurs "China" and "Chinese" to describe our land and our people. I
thought we people of "Central Kingdom" would be more alert and would suspect
earlier that these
words could be bad words based on their attitude towards us and the way they
treated us. Do you think those "Great" "Britain" people had the decency and
intent to "assign" us, the worms, a decent name?
It is a pity that the "GREAT" "Britain" people's story about these slurs
shows no intent of covering up their heinous injustice against us. They
claimed that our nation was named "China" was because one of our town(Jing
De) produced china. And they
casually added "-ese" to "China" to come up with a name for the people of
"China". We wonder if this was the way the "Great" "Britain" people naming
other nations and their people, why didn't they call Italy "Pizza" and its
people "Pizzese", since it
is famous for Pizza? why did't they call Gemany "Beer" and its people
"Beerese", since it was famous for "Beer Drinking"? why did't they call USA
"Corn", its people "Cornese", since some of its states produce corn? And why
didn't they name England
"Sodom", and English people "Sodomese", since most of English people pratice
sodomy?
Let's remember 70 years ago, the people of "Central Kingdom" choose the
communists not out of craziness, but to combat not only the internal
oppressions, but also the aggressions, oppressions and humiliations by
foreigners, especially, by British and
by Japan. These foreigners came not as "Christ" or Saviors offering
salvations, preaching Gospel of Jesus Christ or brotherly love to our people,
as their western decendants would like to believe, but mainly as predators,
oppressors and racists. They
treated us bad enough to force us to unite under the communists. Thanks God,
under the communists' leadership, we were finally able to expel them from our
land.
Every time I hear somebody say "I'm pround to be a Chinese", I cringed and
feel small. We, people from "Central Kingdom" should have known English and
its people better. It is nothing wrong to feel proud of our heritage, our
race and our "Central
Kingdom". But you don't hear African people saying "I'm proud to be a
Nigger". They say "I'm proud to be an African". Remember many years ago, we
called people of Japan "Wou -Kou(Short little Pirate)".
Do they have rights to get mad if we "teach" them their name in Mandarin is
"Wou-Kou" and call them "Wou-Kou" to their face? Was it decent for us to do
so? Is it an insult if they still called themself "Wou - Kou"? Should we get
mad if someone still
call us "Chinese" to our face to these day? The racial slur they created a
few hundred years ago for us, means to put us down? Should we still call
ourselves "Chinese", even if it is a derogatory name given to us by the
"Great Britain", meaned to put
us down?
It is time to reject words "China" "Chinese" imposed by British racists, and
use our own words to describe ourselves and get our dignity back. Persia. The
country changed its English name from Persia to Iran, and its people to
Iranian 30 years ago.
They are proud to be called Iranian. They're not naive enough to call
themselves "Iranese". A cab driver(An US citizen for 30 years) in Chicago
insisted me calling him "Iranian" not "American". In opposite, many Amercians
of "Central Kingdom"
background would beg to be called "Asian" or "American", not "Chinese". It is
not because these people feel shame about their race and their heritage. It
is not because we want to be American so bad. It is because, many people of
"central kingdom" to
some extent, subconsciously realize the derogatory effects and attacks of
this word; and try to avoid it.
Many people from "Central Kingdom" would beg to be called "Asian". This has
became so evident that In a recent movie "Big Lebowski", actor John Goodman
made so much fun of the people from "Central Kingdom". He ridiculed us,
laughing at us for this
"weird" behavior. He wanted us to be satisfy with being called "C-ese". Mr.
Goodman, the reason we want to be called "Asian", is because we don't want
to be called "Chinese". Since English does not have a proper word for us, we
asked you to call us
"Asian". Is that too much to ask? Like black people who don't want to be
called "Nigger", we don't want to be called "Chinese". Your fat ugly mean
idiot, why did you have to stab our hearts and destroy our spirits?
In English, we should say for Now, "I am from Central Kingdom of Sinai(from
Greek) (or C. K.)" and "I'm a Sinaian". or "I'm proud to be a Taiwanan", not
"Taiwan-ese". Sinai is the Greek word for our land. In English, Sinai is the
mountain where our
all mighty God resides. The Bible reveals that God gives ten commandments to
Moses in mount Sinai.
The words "China", "Chinese" "Taiwanese" should be eliminated from official
dictionaries. It is a racial slur and has done a great injustice to People of
Asian race. Even school kids, bums and beggars know the difference. It was a
shame that English
speaking world tolerates and condones this kind of conspiracy and injustice
against our people even to these days.
Some questioned that since we're not the center of the world, we shouldn't
call ourself "Central Kingdom of Sinai". We disagree with this argument. It
is not neccesary for a name to tie directly to country's geographic
attributes. For example, "United
Kingdom of British". How united is it now? No at all! The country does not
even exist any more!!!! Then, should we ask British to change its name to
Sodom and its people to Sodomese now, since it is closer to their
characteristics? NO! We wouldn't do
that. It is okay for them to call themself "united kingdom of British" and
It is okay to still call our land "Central Kingdom of Sinain(or C. K.)" or
"Zhong Guo", even though we know it is not the center of the world.
I hope by eliminating the "C-ese" word, our kids would encounter less
discrimination and hurts in this land. They will be called something decent
and respectful. And hope that we don't have to tell our kids that they "are"
"Korean" not "Chinese", even
if they are indeed lowly "Chinese". A friend of mine said if we, people of
"Central Kingdom" shows that we're better in Every way, then the meanings of
the "Chinese" would change. I doubt it. First of all, we can't be better
than other races in every
way. Secondly, we don't need to be better in every way to be respected and
have a proper name. Third, even if we're better in every way, the derogatory
meanings of "C-ese" will not change. Can the super star Michal Jordan of the
Chicago Bulls change
the meanings of "Nigger" because He was a "Nigger" and he is excellent in
every way? Can success of Japan change the meanings of "WEI-KOU" or
"Japanese"? No! they can't! These words have to be eliminated from
vocabulary. Period.
Black Americans fought hard and long for their rights to be called
"officially" "African Americans", no "Nigger". Many have lost their lives
during the process. I hope that we, people from "Central Kingdom", should not
have to fight as hard and as long
for our rights. I know people called other people different names behind
their back all the time. They still use "N-word", "Chinaman" "pale people" in
their own dirty, dark bedrooms. If we don't hear it, it can't do as much
harms to us. However, we
should not allow people to call "Chinese" to our faces, "officially and
openly" and be accepted and let them put us down openly, freely and daily.
Even the school kids, bums and beggars know the difference. Many people
nowadays use the "C-word" out of
indifference, convenience and insensitivity.
However, some of them, like the bum and beggers, will use these slurs to do
the damages to our hearts and our spirits. These slurs like venom. The
persons with the venom have to release it and throw onto somebody to do the
harm. If we allow them to
throw the venom onto us, we get hurt. Otherwise, they would have to give it
up, else, they will have to hold on to it in their hearts poisoning
themselves and their families.
Let's do something about this.
One of the things we can do is to bring this to the attentions of our leaders
back in "Central Kingdom of Sinai" and convince them the need to reject
"C-ese" and use our own words to describe our own country and to exam the
names in other languages for
us.
Please distribute this article to your family, friends, and all the people
you know. Please let us know if you want to join our efforts to change this.
Send your response, comments to
United Sinaians
21 Kristin Drive #117
Schaumburg, IL 60195
USA
E-mail:
Sinaian@aol.com
