Why respond to a barb with another barb? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could defuse confrontations peaceably and instead respond with a kind word?

Miyamoto, may I suggest that you have too many friends in low places? The people I hang out with don’t refer to other human beings as (fill in the blank).

i have heard people say , this is my british gf several times. same with 3rd party intros like, this is dave, he's from england. both have same context and meaning. by saying it you also save the other person from having to ask the obvious question. if me american and i have abc gf, then i just say, this is my gf, she says this is dave my english bf. it is not racist. i think you are getting your knickers in a twist.

Do you think it OK to raise racist, thinly veiled criticism of Chinese culture on a Website, that is no doubt monitored, and could cause trouble for the Website?

Look, MM, people do these things, yes. There's no point in continuing to do them. Nobody's saying that racism and nationalism don't exist, but to focus on them antagonistically, to the degree that nothing else can be seen, through one's PERSONAL behaviour often merely exaggerates them. Being aware of something abstracted from a larger social environment does not necessarily automatically produce a practical means of opposing it - categorical responses are fine for categorical idealistic responses, but actual situations should be dealt with in their particularity, and some over-wrought sense of one's imagined need to protect oneself doesn't help. I really don't think you are in any particular individual danger. I'm not saying you have to blind yourself and submit to being pushed around, I'm just saying that responses ought to be prioritized, without fear or aggression, according to what the actual results are likely to be.

As with all aspects of language, insults can be very nuanced and requires an understanding of the culture and context, unless you are a very advanced speaker is very unlikely to fully grasp its true meaning.

Back you your point, insults are by design, meant to be offensive and dehumanizing, otherwise there would be no power in insults. Can you give examples of insults that do not categorize the recipient of the insult as non-human in some way, shape, or form?

So let's recap, you are often confronted by people who insults you on such a frequency that is has become an annoyance. You are so bothered by it that you feel a need to discuss this issue on a forum with strangers while at the same time, seeking advice on a comeback that thus far has eluded you. A comeback that would put the aggressor in his place but at the same time, not escalate the confrontation into a physical one in which you have no confidence that you will win.

Where I come from, we have a name for people like that, PUSSY.

Query, was the preceding insult dehumanizing, or just misogynistic?

Addition to my last word confusion: I also think that, from any usable common sense perspective, that getting along with people in Kunming is just not that damn hard - you don't have to be provoked all the time, and you shouldn't feel the need to do any provoking.

It’s misleading to start a thread about insults and then post links to poltically motivated commentary.

I did see a post on the Beijinger a while back about how much a mainlander hated Hong Kong. It’s sad stuff.

But politics and economics aside, often people are looking for reasons to hate. Ie they are already filled with hatred, so when a political issue comes up, then they use this to justify their hatred and hide their evil black heArts behind a political issue.

And also, don’t forget media is constantly trying to manipulate people too .. who wrote this song about locusts? He was hired by a politician who didn’t get elected? Cry me a river.