Ching chong

For the Hong Kong journalist for the Straits Times jailed in the People's Republic of China for espionage, see Ching Cheong.

Ching chong is an ethnic slur used to mock people of Chinese ancestry or other Asians who may look Chinese, and an onomatopoeia used to represent Chinese language speech patterns. Many public commentators on the recent usage of the term have deemed it derogatory, and referred to its derogatory usage in history.

Chinese Linguistics

See also: Romanization of Chinese and Standard Mandarin § Phonology

Because the Wade-Giles transliteration system in particular tends to substitute "c" and "ch" for many different-sounding Chinese consonants, the transliteration may appear that the Chinese language does indeed have many "ch"-starting sounds. In fact, in the Chinese language, only "q" in the Hanyu Pinyin transliteration system and "ch' " (but not "ch") in the Wade-Giles transliteration system approximates the sound usually represented as "ch" used in the English language.

The following table presents transliterations containing "c" or "ch" sounds in them, which are usually not equivalent to the "ch" sound in English but rather the "ts" and "ds" sounds in English as in nuts and beds. In contrast, words of English origin do not typically begin with the "ts" or "ds" sounds, while many do begin with similar "ch" sound.

Selected Transliterated Mandarin Chinese Consonants

Approximated English sound	cheen	jien	jione	juh	j-rr	chuh	chhh	tsuh	tsih	tsutututu
Wade-Giles transliteration	ch'in	chien	chiung	chê	chih	ch'ê	ch'ih	ts'ê	tz'ŭ	tz'ŭtz'ŭ
Hanyu Pinyin transliteration	qin	jian	jiong	zhe	zhi	che	chi	ce	ci

• Note 1: Wade-Giles is an older system that is currently used in Taiwan (ROC) and formerly in use in Mainland China, although it has now been replaced by Hanyu Pinyin there.
• Note 2: "Ts" is pronounced as in nuts, and "ds" as in beds. "Tz" has roughly the same pronunciation as "ts" but is simply more heavily pronounced than "ts."

Historical usage

The prevalent usage of this phrase began as an insult during the gold-rush eras of the 19th century in Ballarat, Australia, when the Chinese gold prospectors were of Ch'ing (Chinese: 清 ; also spelled "Qing" in Pinyin, with the same pronunciation) Dynasty origin.

While usually intended for ethnic Chinese, the slur has also been directed at other East Asians. Mary Paik Lee, a Korean immigrant who arrived with her family in San Francisco in 1906, writes in her autobiography that on her first day of school, girls circled and hit her, chanting:

Ching Chong, Chinaman,
Sitting on a wall.
Along came a white man,
And chopped his tail off.

A variation of this rhyme is repeated by a young boy in John Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row in mockery of a Chinese man. In this version, "Wall is replaced with "rail", and the word "off" is moved between "chopped" and "his".

In 1917, a ragtime piano song entitled "Ching Chong" was co-written by Lee S. Roberts and J. Will Callahan. Its lyrics had, e.g., the following words:

"Ching, Chong, Oh Mister Ching Chong,
You are the king of Chinatown.
Ching Chong, I love your sing-song,
When you have turned the lights all down;

Other versions of the same joke have a different object being dropped, and the length of the reply after the initial "Ching Chong" varies.

Ching Chong Chinese,
Hong Kong, money please!

In recent years, there has been a growing debate over the degree of offensiveness of the term "ching chong". Some non-speakers of Chinese adopted the term "ching chong" as a way to pretend to speak Chinese. Another form of the term is "chong chong chong," commonly used by many to mock anyone who looks Chinese.

Contemporary usage

• In the Lucky Luke episode L'Héritage de Ran Tan Plan (Ran Tan Plan's inheritance), when the Dalton brothers are hiding in the Chinatown of Virginia City, one of them, in order to "blend with the crowd", starts uttering phrases like "ching-chong-chang-cheng". The leader of the Chinese community there tells him he wouldn't use such raw language even in reference to his worst enemy.

• The film Cannonball Run II had a scene where Jackie Chan was called 'Ching-Chong' by a motorcycle thug - Chan's character beats the entire motorcycle gang up.

• On October 21, 2000, an episode of Saturday Night Live featured a skit called Ching Chang's Pet Chicken Shop. In it, guest host (and former cast member) Dana Carvey portrayed an Asian-American stereotype named "Ching Chang" whose only goal in life was to put the chickens from his shop in their own musical on Broadway.

• The final episode of TV Funhouse that aired on January 24, 2001 had Chinese New Year as its episode theme. In that episode, host Doug Dale, dressed in a changshan while also wearing a fake Fu Manchu moustache, used the slur twice. The first instance had him sing an altered verse from Auld Lang Syne as "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, ching-ching-chong, chong-chong, ching-chong". The second instance occurred later in the episode when he greeted the television audience with, "Howdy ... I mean, ching chang!" prior to introducing the Chinese calendar.

• Chappelle's Show, an American sketch comedy show starring comedian Dave Chappelle, featured two sketches using the saying. On the debut episode that first aired on January 22, 2003, the final sketch featured Chappelle portraying a character named Clayton Bigsby, a white supremacist who is unaware of the fact that he is black because he is blind. One scene in the sketch features Bigsby delivering a rant against Chinese Americans, saying, "Let's talk about Chinese people! With their kung-fu and their silly ching chang chong talk! We can't understand you! Go back to your country! White power!" On the premiere episode of season 2 that first aired on January 21, 2004, Chappelle portrayed a younger version of Rick James in a flashback sketch about Charlie Murphy's encounters with James during the 1980's. One scene in the sketch features James uttering the slur to Murphy (portrayed by himself) while at a New York City lounge called the China Club, saying, "Welcome to the China Club! A ching-a chang chang! A chang-a chong chong chang!"

• In December 2003, the term gained international notoriety when NBA star Shaquille O'Neal directed it, apparently in jest, at fellow NBA star and Chinese Yao Ming, during an interview on Fox Sports Radio. O'Neal was quoted as saying, "You tell Yao Ming, 'Ching chong yang, wah, ah soh.'" Yao, himself, stated that he did not find it offensive, but could see how others might interpret the remark as a racist comment. Yao joked back that "Chinese is a hard language to learn." O'Neal's supporters said it was a reaction to Yao being over promoted by marketers and the media. Some blame this hype for allowing Yao to edge O'Neal in fan voting for the starting position of center at the All-Star Game. After a public outcry, O'Neal apologized for making the comment, insisting that no prejudice or malice had been intended.

• The 2005 rap single "Ass Like That" by Eminem contains the lyrics "I sing song that go ringy chong / Ching chong chong chong ching / Psyche, I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid / If I offend, I'm sorry please please forgive".

• A MADtv sketch that aired on November 12, 2005 featured Frank Caliendo portraying then-U.S. President George W. Bush as the host of a late night talk show entitled Goodnight America Late Night Tonight Show Show [ sic ]. Then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, portrayed by Bobby Lee, is an audience member on the show. When Bush presented Koizumi with a picture of Laura Bush and asked if he knew who she was, Koizumi correctly identified her as the First Lady of the United States, only to be told by Bush that the correct answer was that she was his wife. Believing that Koizumi's response was incorrect, Bush then added, "Ching chong's a ding dong!"

• On January 24, 2006, comedian Dave Dameshek created an audio parody of the Asian Excellence Awards for The Adam Carolla Show. The premise of the parody was using the words "ching" and "chong" to mimic the awards show. The awards honor Asian Americans in media who have made a difference in the United States and were conducted in English. Branding the segment as demeaning and racist, several Asian American organizations threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology. On February 22, 2006, Carolla read a brief apology for the segment. On April 26, 2006, Carolla invited the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki, to further explain that when he aired the bit, he had no idea that "ching chong" was a racial slur.

• On December 5, 2006, comedian and co-host of The View, Rosie O'Donnell, used a series of ching chongs to imitate newscasters in China. O'Donnell made a comment in reference to the November 29, 2006 appearance by Danny DeVito, she was amazed that it was an international news media item, and joked that it was being talked about as far away as China.[57] "You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching-chong, ching-chong. Danny DeVito. Ching-chong, ching-chong-chong. Drunk. The View. Ching-chong.'"[58] Some, including the Asian American Journalists Association, interpreted her comments as a "mockery of the Chinese language She later apologized on The View, saying "To say 'ching chong' to someone is very offensive, and some Asian people have told me it's as bad as the n-word. Which I was like, 'Really? I didn't know that.' I'm sorry for those people who felt hurt or were teased on the playground. But I'm also gonna give you a fair warning that there's a good chance I'll do something like that again, probably in the next week, not on purpose. Only 'cause it's how my brain works."

• In November 2006, Bryn Mawr College cancelled a performance by the independent band Ching Chong Song, both of whose members are white, after protests from various campus groups, including the Asian Students Association. The situation escalated one month later when a band member wrote an inflammatory letter to the student newspaper, claiming that the university had mistreated them while lobbing profanities at the student body. Some critics considered the outrage to be inconsistent, because in January 2005 two Asian comedians hired by the college, joked during the university's comedy night that the Chinese language sounds like "ching chong." However neither comedian was Chinese and the performance was considered controversial.

• On February 14, 2007, Ching Chong Song performed at New York University. Members of NYU's Asian Heritage Club demonstrated, and the band agreed to change its name to Church of Lurch. They have since decided to retain the name Ching Chong Song and the band performs regularly without incident.

• On The Colbert Report, one of the recurring characters that Stephen Colbert plays is a character named "Ching-chong Ding-dong", whose mannerisms are that of a stereotypical Asian who "roves" tea. The character Colbert claims that he is immune to accusations of racism, as the caricature is merely a fictional character. Like much of the show, this satirises certain attitudes by having them being voiced through the character of Stephen Colbert, an ignorant and conceited parody of some aspects of the American right.

• In 2008, the play Ching Chong Chinaman, written by Chinese-American playwright Lauren Yee, debuted at Impact Theatre in Berkeley, California. The comedy centers around an ultra-assimilated Asian-American family whose daughter dreams of nothing more than a Princeton acceptance letter, and whose World of Warcraft-playing son purchases an indentured servant from China to help him with homework. The play has won numerous awards and was most recently performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Mu Performing Arts Organization.

• On January 30, 2009, it was reported by the blog angry asian man that Amy Sedaris autographed a copy of her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence for a Chinese-American fan with an apparently "quirky" caricature and racial slur. Sedaris has yet to comment on this allegedly racist incident.

• The second episode of the second season of Extras begins with a scene from fictional television sitcom When the Whistle Blows in which two characters put on some "traditional Japanese entertainment" for visiting Japanese businessmen. The characters enter in stereotypical Japanese garments with tape slanting their eyes, singing "ching chang Chinaman milking a cow, ching chang Chinaman don't know how, ching chang Chinaman pull the wrong tit, ching chang Chinaman covered in shit!"

See also

• List of ethnic slurs
• Asian riff

External links

• "Group wants sincere apology, diversity in NBA", ESPN.com, January 17, 2002.
• "Shaq's Apology Not Good Enough", The San Francisco Chronicle, January 14, 2002.
• "Shaq says mock accent was used jokingly", ESPN.com, January 10, 2002.
• "apology demanded from adam corolla", Hyphen Magazine, February 1, 2006
• "rosie mocks asians with ching chong joke", racialicious.com, December 7, 2006.
• "The Rosie O'Donnell Ching Chong Song", by Bobby and the Yellow Perils (satirical song about the Rosie O'Donnell 'Ching Chong' incident).