What's wrong with the word Chinaman?

Question

Is there something shameful about being a man from China?

JOJO : spot on mate!
Kenneth : what work pal?

Sorry Allan, can't agree with you. Chinese is an Adjective, like English. We don't say "He's an English." We say "He's an Englishman". So why not Chinaman?

As for you, Yozora, when you do die, at least you'll die politically correct!

Answer 1

Nothing. Chinaman has been around a long time. What I don't get is why the media started saying Beijing. The name of the city was and is Peking.....And everybody just speaks the way the media wants them to. Like a bunch of sheep! It's Peking people and also ***** or Black - but not African-American. Makes them sound like some kind of hybrid car for God's sake............Who in their right mind cares about being politically correct? ......... A SHEEP !!!

Answer 2

Though 'Chinaman' may sound as normal as saying 'Englishman', it is considered derogatory because of what it used to imply and mean.
When I hear or read the word 'Chinaman', images of old racist cartoons in the newspapers come up in my mind. The stereotypical Chinaman image was of a skeleton-like man with high cheekbones, buck teeth and slit eyes.
Have you ever heard of the phrase "a Chinaman's chance"? It means to have a very slim chance at something.

Wikipedia states:

One explanation of the phrase is "the California Gold Rush 1849. The news of the gold rush spread in China very slowly, and when the Chinese prospectors arrived, all rich mines were already taken, and the Chinese had to suffice only those lands which had already been exploited or which were rejected by others. Hence "Chinaman's Chance" for attempting to find gold where no one else would bother to try; attempting to succeed in a situation where the odds are almost impossible."

So as you can see, the word is racist because of the history behind it and how it was used. There is nothing at all shameful about being a man from China.

Answer 3

The term Chinaman brings visions to my mind of Oriental men wearing those cone-shaped hats, with sticking out teeth and no brains....

I'm just too old! You lot are too young to realise how much racist 'comedy' was on TV in the 'old days'!! You've probably heard of the Black & White minstrel show though, and that was just as insulting. Not just to the Black people, but to the idiotic White actors who couldn't get a proper job and ended up painting their faces with shoe polish!!

No, things like 'Minstrels' and 'Chinamen' with buck teeth are, fortunately, a thing of the past. Lets keep it that way!! In a few more decades us old gits will all be dead and gone, and then you young-uns can re-invent the old words to have a positive meaning!
: )

Answer 4

As a word, nothing. Everyone knows what it means. However it's not a word I would choose to use. It's a word I imagine an uneducated, nineteenth century sailor to use. Chinese means the same thing, can be used for both sexes and children, is probably more politically correct and contains fewer syllables.

Answer 5

The history of that work is derogatory in North America.