Can we shorten "a Chinese person" as "a Chinese"?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
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Department History
"I send you herewith a deposit check for $12,000 as a contribution to the fund for Chinese Learning in your university." This letter, signed by "Dean Lung, a Chinese person", was written to Columbia President Seth Low by the valet of University Trustee General Horace Walpole Carpentier in 1901. Dean Lung's remarkable generosity prompted Carpentier to give additional donations totaling $200,000 in honor of his friend and employee for the endowment of Chinese studies at the University. Thus was founded what would become the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. In 1902 the University appointed its first professor of Chinese, Friedrich Hirth, previously of the University of Munich. Hirth began with the intention of using his own books to support the study of China at Columbia, but in the same year the University received a substantial donation of books from the government of imperial China, founding the University's Chinese book collection, which would form the basis of what is now the C.V. Starr East Asian Library. Later holders of the founding Dean Lung Professorship have included L. Carrington Goodrich, Hans Bielenstein, and its current occupant Madeleine Zelin.

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Type: Question • Score: 15 • Views: 2,399 • Replies: 47

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Today it would be rare to use an expression such as 'a Chinese person.' We don't tend to say a French person or a Spanish person. Chinese is quite enough.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

That was likely the correct form for 1901.

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@oristarA,

Why do you want shorter Chinese people? I'm easily confused.

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@oristarA,

I suggest you keep "a Chinese person". It's the same as saying "Bob Smith, a minor child. . . ., or "Susan Jones, an emancipated person, . . . ."

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

Today it would be rare to use an expression such as 'a Chinese person.'

From that: I dissent.
Omitting the noun raises the question of:
"a Chinese WHAT ?? "

Lustig Andrei wrote:

We don't tend to say a French person or a Spanish person. Chinese is quite enough.

We say: a Frenchman, or a Spaniard.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

This is more complicated than that.

"Italian" is both noun and adjective. "Chinese" is not. For the corresponding noun, we would say chinaman or chinese person, formally speaking.

But it is certainly used as a shortened form in colloquial speech, same as with japanese.

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Only those that enjoy a smattering of English comprehension would know that one does not change what appears within quotation marks.

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

This is more complicated than that.

"Italian" is both noun and adjective. "Chinese" is not.
For the corresponding noun, we would say chinaman or chinese person, formally speaking.

Agreed; yes.

Does it mean: a Chinese singer,
a Chinese historian, a Chinese acrobat, a Chinese refugee,
a Chinese rug, a Chinese vase, a Chinese poem ?

McTag wrote:

But it is certainly used as a shortened form in colloquial speech, same as with japanese.

Carpenters "certainly" hit their hands with hammers on-the-job,
in common experience, but its not advisable.

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chink would be shorter still by 50%, go with that.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Tasteless, insulting and xenophobic remarks not welcome.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Tasteless, insulting and xenophobic remarks not welcome.

humor is so highly policed these days, nobody can take a ******* joke anymore.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Quote:

"Italian" is both noun and adjective. "Chinese" is not. For the corresponding noun, we would say chinaman or chinese person, formally speaking.

But it is certainly used as a shortened form in colloquial speech, same as with japanese.

McTag, you are correct for the most part; however, "Chinaman" is considered offensive, just as "Jap" for Japanese is considered racially offensive. It is perfectly fine to use just "Chinese" when referring to a native or national of China, or a person of Chinese descent.

2 Replies

"Chinese", more often than not in Britain, refers to a Chinese meal.

If you ask "Fancy a Chinese?", your average Brit will generally assume that the question is food related, and answer accordingly. He or she may even answer "I'd prefer an Indian", as the word "Indian" is also commonly used when referring to Indian cuisine.
I can't think of any other country/nationality (possibly Thai?) that this happens with in Britain, and can only assume that it is due to the fact that Chinese and Indian were the first exotic food restaurants to flourish here.
Since the 60's when they arrived in numbers, through to the present day when there must be at least one or t'other (usually both) in every High Street, the take away "Chinese" or "Indian" has been a daily part of our lives and language.

I would never use only the word "Chinese" to refer to a person though. It just wouldn't sound right. To me it would sound rude, and it has nothing to do with the modern PC stuff, as I have always thought that it was rude, even when I was a child. I'm not aware of having heard anyone else speak that way, either.
It would always be Chinese guy/man/woman/lady/person etc.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

nobody can take a ******* joke anymore.

It depends which dago, kike, wop, chink, jap or nigger happens to hear the "joke".

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@Moment-in-Time,

Quote:

"Chinaman" is considered offensive,

Not hereabouts it's not. You live and learn.

Btw it's also used in the game of cricket here, as a term for a a particular type of delivery from the bowler (pitcher).

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@Moment-in-Time,

Quote:

"Italian" is both noun and adjective. "Chinese" is not.
For the corresponding noun, we would say chinaman or chinese person, formally speaking.

But it is certainly used as a shortened form in colloquial speech, same as with japanese.

Moment-in-Time wrote:

McTag, you are correct for the most part; however, "Chinaman" is considered offensive,
just as "Jap" for Japanese is considered racially offensive.

An abbreviation is not an offense.
It is only offensive if u add derogatory
adjectives to those nouns, e.g. sneaky Jap.
A Chinaman is a man of China,
without attributing any other qualities to him.

Moment-in-Time wrote:

It is perfectly fine to use just "Chinese" when referring
to a native or national of China, or a person of Chinese descent.

No. Its an incompent
way to speak; it makes u sound goofy & dum, not logical.

David

0 Replies

I'm Chinese, but if someone calls me Chinaman, I won't take offence.

3 Replies

@WBYeats,

That is good logic.

David

0 Replies

@WBYeats,

Quote:

I'm Chinese, but if someone calls me Chinaman, I won't take offence.

_______
Chi·na·man [chahy-nuh-muhn] Show IPA
noun, plural Chi·na·men.
1. Usually Offensive. a Chinese or a person of Chinese descent.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Chinaman?s=t

Of course, WBYeats, much depend on the individual's personal take on this, but in public, not ALL Chinese will accept being called "Chinaman" so easily especially in racist America. According to the dictionary, it's not politically correct to use the noun "Chinaman" unless among friends whom one understands will not take offense.
______
Jap [jap] Show IPA
adjective, noun Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
Japanese.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Jap?s=t&ld=1134

0 Replies

Can we shorten "a Chinese person" as "a Chinese"?

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