Anti-Japanese Sentiment - Derogatory Terms - in Chinese

In Chinese

• 日本鬼子 (Cantonese: Yaat Bun Gwai Zi; Mandarin: Rìběn guǐzi) — Literally "Japanese devils" or "Japanese monsters". This is used mostly in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when Japan invaded and occupied large areas of China. This is the title of a Japanese documentary on Japanese war crimes druring WWII. Recently, some Japanese have taken the slur and reversed the negative connotations by transforming it into a cute female personification named Hinomoto Oniko, which is an alternate reading in Japanese.
• 倭寇 (Wōkòu) — Originally referred to Japanese pirates and armed sea merchants who raided the Chinese coastline during the Ming Dynasty (see Wokou). The term was adopted during the Second Sino-Japanese War to refer to invading Japanese forces, (similarly to Germans being called Huns). The word is today sometimes used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
• 小日本 (xiǎo Rìběn) — "puny Japan(ese)", or literally "little Japan(ese)". This term is very common (Google Search returns 21,000,000 results as of August 2007). The term can be used to refer to either Japan or individual Japanese people.
• 日本仔 (Cantonese: Yaat Bun Zai; Rìběn zǐ) — This is the most common term in use by Cantonese speaking Chinese, having similar meaning to the English word "Jap". The term literally translates to "Japan kid". This term has become so common that it has little impact and does not seem to be too derogatory compared to other words below.
• 倭 (Wō) — This was an ancient Chinese name for Japan, but was also adopted by the Japanese. Today, its usage in Mandarin is usually intended to give a negative connotation (see Wōkòu below). The character is said to also mean "dwarf", although that meaning was not apparent when the name was first used. See Wa (Japan).
• 日本狗 (Cantonese: Yat Boon Gau; Mandarin: Rìběn gǒu) — Literally "Japanese dogs". The word is used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
• 大腳盆族 (dà jiǎo pén zú) - Ethnic slur towards Japanese used predominantly by Northern Chinese, mainly those from the city of Tianjin. Literally "Big Feet Bowl Race".
• 黃軍 (huáng jūn) — Literally "Yellow Army", a pun on "皇軍" (homophone huáng jūn) or Imperial Army, used during World War II to represent Imperial Japanese soldiers due to the colour of the uniform. Today, it is used negatively against all Japanese. Since the stereotype of Japanese soldiers are commonly portrayed in war-related TV series in China as short men, with a toothbrush moustache (and sometimes round glasses, in the case of higher ranks), 黃軍 is also often used to pull jokes on Chinese people with these characteristics, and thus "appear like" Japanese soldiers. Also, since the colour of yellow is often associated with pornography in modern Chinese, it is also a mockery of the Japanese forcing women into prostitution during World War II.
• 自慰隊 (Cantonese:Zi Wai Dui; Mandarin: zì wèi duì) — A pun on the homophone "自衛隊" (same pronunciation, literally "Self-Defense Forces", see Japan Self-Defense Forces), the definition of 慰 (wai;wèi) used is "to comfort". This phrase is used to refer to Japanese (whose military force is known as "自衛隊") being stereotypically hypersexual, as "自慰隊" means "Self-comforting Forces", referring to masturbation.
• 架仔/架妹 (Cantonese: Ga Zai/Ga Mui) — Used only by Cantonese speakers to call Japanese men/young girls. "架(Ga)" came from the frequent use of simple vowels(-a in this case) in Japanese language. "仔(Jai)" means little boys, with relations to the stereotype of short Japanese men. "妹(Mui)" means young girls(the speaker usually uses a lustful tone), with relations to the stereotype of disrespect to female in Japanese society. Sometimes, "Ga" is used as an adjective to avoid using the proper word "Japanese".
• 蘿蔔頭 (Cantonese: Law Baak Tau) — Literally "Daikon head". Commonly used by the older people in the Cantonese-speaking world to call Japanese men.