Ang mo

Ang mo or ang moh (Chinese: 紅毛; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: âng-mô͘ / âng-mn̂g; lit. 'red hair') is a descriptor used to refer to white people. It is used mainly in Malaysia and Singapore, and sometimes in Thailand and Taiwan. It literally means "red-haired" and originates from Hokkien, a variety of Southern Min.

Other similar terms include ang mo kow (紅毛猴; 'red-haired monkey'), ang mo kui (紅毛鬼; 'red-haired devil'), ang mo lang (紅毛儂 / 紅毛人; 'red-haired people'). Although the term has historically had some derogatory connotations, it has entered common parlance as a neutral term in Singapore and Malaysia, where it refers to a white person or, when used as an adjective, Western culture in general.

Etymology and history

The earliest origin for the term ang mo could be traced to the contact between Hokkien (Southern Min) speakers in southern Fujian with the Portuguese Empire and Dutch East India Company during the Haijin ("Sea Ban") period in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the earliest known uses of the term in writing is found in the early 1600s Selden Map, which labels the Maluku Islands of Indonesia with ang mo, likely referring to the Dutch presence there. In the late 1500s, Ming Ministry of Justice official Wang Linheng submitted a memorial reporting on the arrival of "red-haired devils" on China's southern coast, while in 1755 Zhejiang provincial authorities reported on the arrival of "red hair" seafarers under British merchant James Flint.

During the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company failed in its attempt to force their way into Fujian to trade in the 1620s during the Sino-Dutch conflicts and were called ang mo by the locals.