Everyone in Hong Kong is used to calling foreigners "gweilo”: court told

Everyone in Hong Kong is used to calling foreigners “gweilo”, a colleague of a British-Australian former manager at Leighton Contractors (Asia) testified in court.  

Francis Haden, a former director for explosive projects, is suing Leighton Contractors for discrimination after his sacking. He said he was discriminated against by his colleagues who called him "gweilo" and excluded him from meetings because he does not speak Cantonese. 

The Chinese slang ”gweilo“ literally translates as "ghost man". 

On the second day of hearing before Judge Herbert Au-yeung Ho-wing at District Court on Tuesday, a colleague of Haden testified that he did not find the term “gweilo” problematic.  

Darren Grant, a project manager at Leighton Contractors (Asia), said he always hear people call foreigners “gweilo”. 

In the 12 years he has worked in Hong Kong, he did not have any issue with the term. Everyone is used to it, and it is convenient to use, he said.

Haden did not complain about the term at that time, he added. 

Grant recalled he received an email from management which used the term “foreigner” to refer to expat engineers. He was surprised at the time and thought it did not fit the circumstances.  

Haden is seeking HK$200,000 compensation for damage to his feelings plus loss of income since he was fired in February 2017 by Leighton Asia, which is commissioned for many of the city's infrastructure projects, including railways. 

He said the contractor breached the Race Discrimination Ordinance. He also demanded a public statement and apology from Leighton. 

Haden worked for Leighton Asia from 2010 to 2017, responsible for blasting during construction of the Express Rail Link. 

In August 2016, he oversaw blasting work for building the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel, a joint venture between Leighton Asia and China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong). He was dismissed from the post in February 2017.