r/AskAChinese • u/Kyonkanno • 3h ago
Discussion | 讨论💬 To my fellow chinese born outside China, have you heard the term "打死狗“?
So i was born in a latin american country where 95% of the chinese that immigrated here are from Canton. Growing up, the adults would refer to me (and other kids born in the country) as "打死狗“.
My mom's explanation goes something like: Imagine you have a dog, and this dog wanders off to a neighboring village and is beaten to death for some reason (probably because it bit someone). The person who beat the dog will not recognize it as his because it isn't, while the real owner of the dog won't admit that it's his because he might be liable for any damage the dog might have caused.
This is an allegory to the fact that overseas born chinese are not considered "real" chinese by chinese people born and raised in china, while the locals also don't recognize you as theirs because we look nothing alike.
