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China: A 'Foreign Devil' (yang guizi) or European sailor as depicted in a mid 19th century drawing by a Qing Chinese artist, c. 1840, at the time of the First Opium War (1839-1842)

China: A 'Foreign Devil' (yang guizi) or European sailor as depicted in a mid 19th century drawing by a Qing Chinese artist, c. 1840, at the time of the First Opium War (1839-1842)

In Mandarin, guizi (Chinese: 鬼子; pinyin: guǐzi) can be used to refer to either the Japanese (specifically, 日本鬼子 rìběn guǐzi 'Japanese devil' or 東洋鬼子 dōngyáng guǐzi 'east ocean devil') or to Europeans (洋鬼子 yáng guǐzi " ('foreign devil', ) 'ocean devil'). Laowai (老外 lǎowài 'old foreigner' or 'old outsider') is another term generally used for Europeans, and is a less pejorative term in Mandarin than guizi. Also, cf. Ang Mo (Chinese: 紅毛; pinyin: hóng máo) meaning 'red hair' (Hokkien).

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