Gaoli bangzi

[2] The term gaoli (高麗) refers to the ancient Korean dynasty Goryeo, while bangzi (棒子) means 'Stick'.

Huang Puji of the Nanjing University Department of History argues that the term originated as the Chinese language near-homophone "幫子" which means "helper", referring to the nobi servants that accompanied Korean diplomatic missions to China in large numbers during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,[3][4] but this mistakenly became corrupted as "棒子", a term which differs only in tone.

These poverty-stricken servants had apparently gained a reputation for petty crimes such as smuggling, according to the diary of Korean scholar Kim Chang-eop (Hanja: 金昌業).

[7] In the First Volume of the Qianlong period court document Huangqing Zhigongtu (Chinese: 皇清職貢圖, literally "Portraits of Periodical Offering of the Qing"), the entry regarding Koreans includes the statement: "朝鮮國民人，俗呼為高麗棒子。" (Joseon commoners, colloquially referred to as Goryeo bangzi) [8] Terry Gou, the president of Foxconn referred to Koreans as gaoli bangzi in the general meeting of shareholders on 18 June 2012.

In the Chinese animated series Year Hare Affair where countries are depicted as anthropomorphic characters, both South Korea and North Korea are depicted as anthropomorphic sticks (bangzi) with South differentiated with US-style combat helmet and North with Communist-style red star cap.