My Hong Kong | Is ‘gweilo’ offensive? Word at centre of court case has been embraced by many Hong Kong expats
- Francis William Haden claimed he was a victim of prejudice when colleagues at Leighton Contractors (Asia) used the term when referring to him
- Haden’s discrimination claim was dismissed, and rightly so – the word is used by people in Hong Kong, especially expats, in a fun, self-deprecating way
There’s a perennial argument in Hong Kong over whether the Cantonese slang term gweilo is racist or not. Its usage has finally got some legal recognition that will hopefully put a stop to critics’ attacks.
Haden, who was employed as a blasting specialist by Leighton Contractors (Asia), had filed a lawsuit seeking a payout of over HK$1 million after being laid off in 2017.
During a joint project with China State Construction Engineering Cooperation, he claimed that the team excluded him on the basis of his ethnicity and that China State took issue with the large number of gweilos employed at Leighton.
However, further investigation and witness statements from former colleagues – who are also gweilos – suggested that Haden was dismissed because of poor attitude and refusal to cooperate with China State.
In fact, one of his former colleagues asserted that Haden’s suit was simply “an afterthought to harass Leighton”.
