John Chinaman

English

Proper noun

John Chinaman

1. (now offensive) A Chinese man; the Chinese people generally.
   • 1840 March 25, The Colonist, Sydney, page 2, column 1:

     John Chinaman is playing the devil with us shipmasters of the English nation.

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 234:

     The simple cup of tea, and frugal meal of rice and salt fish, are the principal factors to " John Chinaman's " success wherever he goes.

   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 193:

     My head was full of stories about John Chinaman: opium, slavery, how they ate the hands of Christian babies.

Synonyms

• Johnny Chinaman