“Get lost gweilo!” says the old man. I firmly respond, “How dare you call me gweilo! Be respectful and call me ah-cha!”
If you got this joke, then you have a local understanding of racism in Hong Kong.
(For those who don’t get it, gweilo is a Cantonese term for white people while ah-cha refers to South Asians.)
I’m an Indian made in Hong Kong. And because I was born and raised here, my parents felt it was vital that I learn the local language of Cantonese. They wanted me to better integrate into society and avoid the limitations they faced due to their own language barrier.
It seemed like a simple formula: Learn the language, become a local, everybody’s happy.
However, as we realized in
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Dec 04, 2019