Orthographic Pejoratives
Some Chinese characters for non-Chinese peoples were covert ethnic slurs, which Paul K. Benedict called the "pejorativization of exonymized names." Wa 倭, the oldest recorded Japanese name of Japan, is a well-known example. The original Chinese exonym for "Japan; Japanese" was Wo 倭 "docile dwarf", which Japanese scribes initially used for their autonym Wa 倭 "Japan", but later replaced with Wa 和 "harmony; peace".
Chinese characters typically combine a semantic element or radical and a phonetic element. For instance, the above Wo 倭 exonym has a wei 委 "bend" phonetic and the 亻 "human radical". James A. Matisoff noted how "The Chinese writing system provided unique opportunities for graphic pejoratives. The 'beast-radical' 犭used to appear in the characters for the names of lesser peoples (e.g., 猺 'Yao'), though now the 'person-radical' 亻has been substituted (傜)." Namely, the Chinese character exonym for the Yao people changed from yao 猺 "jackal; Yao people", to yao 傜 "Yao people", to yao 瑤 "precious jade; green jasper; Yao people" (with the "jade radical").
In addition to this Yao 猺 exonym, language reforms in the People's Republic of China have changed characters for other minority peoples from the derogatory 犭 "dog/beast radical" to the neutral 亻"human/person radical".
John DeFrancis described how the PRC removed the "ethnic slur" Zhuang 獞 for the Zhuang people. Their first Chinese exonym was Zhuang 獞, with the "dog radical" and a tong 童 phonetic, which was also read tong 獞 "a dog name". In 1949, after the Chinese civil war, the offensive exonym was officially replaced by Zhuang 僮, with the "human radical" and same phonetic, which was commonly read tong 僮 "child; boy servant". In 1965, during the standardization of simplified Chinese characters, the Zhuang exonym was changed to a completely different character Zhuang 壮 "strong; robust".
The Yi people or Lolo, whose current Chinese exonym is yi 彝 "sacrificial wine vessel; Yi peoples", used to be condescendingly called the Luoluo 猓猓. This character guo 猓 originally named the guoran 猓然 or 果然 "Proboscis monkey", and was later read luo for the Luoluo. That exonym was first changed to 倮倮, with the "human radical" and same phonetic, but 倮 was a graphic variant character for luo 裸 "naked" with the "clothing radical". Luoluo was later changed to 羅羅 or 罗罗, with an unrelated homophone luo 羅 or 罗 "bird net; gauze". Benedict noted that, "a leading Chinese linguist has remarked that the name 'Lolo' is offensive only when written with the 'dog' radical. Guoluo 猓玀 or 猓猡 was an alternate Chinese slur for the Lolo/Yi people, with a character used in zhuluo 猪玀 "pig; swine".
This simian luo 猓 character was further used in an uncomplimentary exonym for the Lahu people. Luohei 猓黑, "with the pejorative character 黑 'black' as the second element" was replaced by Lahu 拉祜, using the graphs for la 拉 "pull; drag" and hu 祜 "favor or protection from heaven".
Some additional "dog/beast radical" ethnophaulisms were Gelao 犵狫 or 仡佬 "Gelao people", Xunyu 獯鬻 "Xunyu people", and Xianyun 獫狁 "Xianyun people" (with 獫 "long-snouted dog"). Anciently, there were the Quanrong 犬戎 "dog barbarians".
A few denigrating exonyms have graphic significs besides the "dog/beast radical". The "sheep radical" 羊 is seen in Qiang 羌 "shepherd; Qiang people" and Jie 羯 "castrated; Jie people"; the "insect/reptile radical" 虫 is in both Man 蠻 "southern barbarians" and Min 閩 "southeastern barbarians" (see Fujian#History); and the "cat/beast radical" 豸 is seen in Mo 貊 "leopard; northeastern barbarians" (modern Huimo 濊貊 "Yemaek people"). Few ethnonymic characters have the neutral "people/human radical", for instance, Bo 僰 "Bo people."
Read more about this topic: Ethnic Issues In The People's Republic Of China