Fan-kwei or "foreign devils"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Here is an interesting scrap showing familiarity with this Chinese term in
>NYC in 1846:
>
>         At the first "Bee" last night at Mrs. William Samuel
> Johnson's.  Not very different from any other party so far as I could
> see: about sixty people on hand, including a few outside barbarians --
> Fan-kwei or "foreign devils" who don't belong to "the Bee" but were
> specially invoked for this occasion.
>George Templeton Strong, Diary, ed. Allan Nevins & Milton Halsey Thomas.
>New York: Macmillan, 1952, vol. 1, p. 275, entry of February 28, 1846.

Review of MoA shows the term usually "fanqui" in the 1840's, largely
replaced later by the spelling "fan kwei" or so.

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"Cleveland's Voyages",  _North American Review_ 55(116):144-200 (1842), p. 165:

<<Both old and young, of either sex, came off to see the Fanquis, as they
called us.>>

"Capt. Cunynghame's Recollections of Service", _The Living Age_
2(24):722-725 (1844): p. 723:

<<This gentleman wore a wig, but which, for the sake of coolness, he had
placed in his pocket: this operation of shaving, so common in China, was
speedily and quickly executed, the barber seeming to be delighted with the
honor of shaving one of the illustrious strangers. Previously to his
leaving the shop, and while the man's attention was called in some other
direction, my friend replaced his wig upon his head, little thinking of the
result of this simple process: no sooner, however, had the barber turned
round and observed him, whom he had so lately cleared of every vestige of
hair, suddenly covered with a most luxuriant growth, than taking one steady
gaze at him, to make sure he was not deceived, he let fall the razor,
cleared his counter at a bound, and running madly through the crowd which
was speedily collected, cried out, that he was visited by the devil. No
entreaties could induce him to return, until every Fanqui had left the
neighborhood: so palpable a miracle as this being, in his opinion, quite
beyond the powers of all the gods or demons in the Bhuddist calendar.>>

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The term is not italicized nor translated/interpreted in these cases.

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"China and Its Prospective Trade", _United States Democratic Review_
18(95):382-388 (1846): p. 385:

<<They still denominate distant countries _kewei fang_, "devils' regions,"
and strangers _fan kawei_, "foreign devils'" ....>>

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Later, in the 1850's, the term is usually translated "foreign devil[s]". In
1859, a book was published with the catchy title "Fankwei".

I have myself heard "fan kuei" or equivalent, but I cannot remember where:
quoted as a quaint archaism by a college friend from Hong Kong, perhaps?

-- Doug Wilson