As a student of Mandarin Chinese and a native English speaker, there are some things that fascinate me in comparing our two languages. One of these fascinations are the words that have no equivalent between the two languages. Some English words that don’t translate to Chinese are “serendipity” and “dying”. Likewise, in English, we don’t have a specific word that is equivalent to the Chinese 老乡 (lǎoxiāng), even though the word is quite useful, especially for those of us living in “migration” cities such as New York, Shanghai or London.

So, what is 老乡 (lǎoxiāng) anyway? The closest English equivalent we have would be something like “from the same town”, “fellow villager”, “hometowner”, “New Yorker” or “Londoner” but none of these are perfect fits for the translation.

Where does 老乡 (lǎoxiāng) come from and what does it mean?

老 (lǎo): old; decrepit; a prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family to indicate affection or familiarity.
乡 (xiāng): village; countryside; hometown.
老乡 (lǎoxiāng): people who come from the same town or village.

Examples:

Wǒ hé lì lì shì lǎoxiāng.
我  和 丽丽 是   老乡。
Lily and me are from the same hometown.

Jīntiān wǒ yào hé wǒ de lǎoxiāng qù chī wǎnfàn.
今天    我  要   和  我  的    老乡    去  吃    晚饭。
Today I will have dinner with my friend who come from my hometown.

The Chinese People Liberations Army used to refer to “commoners” in villages and rural areas with this term. It is not derogatory, and is in fact a sign of comradery and friendship.

When we use 老乡 (lǎoxiāng)... Read more