greenleaf1348 Posted December 29, 2008 at 05:48 AM Report Posted December 29, 2008 at 05:48 AM what is a waidiren? Is a multi millionnaire businessman from Changsha living in Beijing a waidiren? Is an computer engineer from Hubei working in Beijing a waidiren? Is the Fujian wife of a Shanghai gvt official a waidiren? I don't know....kind of get the feeling "waidiren" is like "rogue trader", you never hear about those [rogue traders] who illegally earned millions for their employers... Quote
ABCinChina Posted December 29, 2008 at 06:50 AM Report Posted December 29, 2008 at 06:50 AM (edited) 外地人 - A "wài dì rén" is someone who is from another part of the country and not 本地人. Almost like an "outsider" but is used to distinguish rather than criticize. Edited December 30, 2008 at 02:45 AM by ABCinChina Quote
Lu Posted December 29, 2008 at 01:54 PM Report Posted December 29, 2008 at 01:54 PM IMO a waidiren is anyone not from the place itself. No matter how rich they are, or whether they are married to a bendiren. But I guess if you talk about waidiren as a group, people would think of poorer migrants rather than rich businessmen. (I haven't lived in China for quite a while though, so I might be wrong.) Quote
Hanlink Posted January 1, 2009 at 04:48 AM Report Posted January 1, 2009 at 04:48 AM 外地人 (wài dì rén) is not necessarily a pejorative term, but it sounds as though the people whom you have heard say it were using it pejoratively. As in all languages, some terms are obviously pejorative, other terms, though, are not, but the tone used to say them may well be pejorative. Quote
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