Chapter CHINA-BEER to CHIN-CHIN of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

ng the grant of Sri Ranga Raja is said to have been kept by the English for more than a century, till its loss in 1746 at the capture of Madras by the French.—(Wheeler, Early Rec., 49).]

1780.—“The Nawaub sent him to Cheena Pattun (Madras) under the escort of a small party of light Cavalry.”—H. of Hydur Naik, 395.

CHINCHEW, CHINCHEO, n.p. A port of Fuhkien in China. Some ambiguity exists as to the application of the name. In English charts the name is now attached to the ancient and famous port of Chwan- chau-fu (Thsiouan-chéou-fou of French writers), the Zayton of Marco Polo and other medieval travellers. But the Chincheo of the Spaniards and Portuguese to this day, and the Chinchew of older English books, is, as Mr. G. Phillips pointed out some years ago, not Chwan-chau-fu, but Chang-chau-fu, distant from the former some 80 m. in a direct line, and about 140 by navigation. The province of Fuhkien is often called Chincheo by the early Jesuit writers. Changehau and its dependencies seem to have constituted the ports of Fuhkien with which Macao and Manilla communicated, and hence apparently they applied the same name to the port and the province, though Chang-chau was never the official capital of Fukhien (see Encyc. Britann., 9th ed. s.v. and references there). Chincheos is used for “people of Fuhkien” in a quotation under COMPOUND.

1517.—“…in another place called Chincheo, where the people were much richer than in Canton (Cantão). From that city used every year, before our people came to Malaca, to come to Malaca 4 junks loaded with gold, silver, and silk, returning laden with wares from India.”—Correa, ii. 529.

CHIN-CHIN. In the “pigeon English” of Chinese ports this signifies ‘salutation, compliments,’ or ‘to salute,’ and is much used by Englishmen as slang in such senses. It is a corruption of the Chinese phrase ts’ing- ts’ing, Pekingese ch’ing-ch’ing, a term of salutation answering to ‘thank-you,’ ‘adieu.’ In the same vulgar dialect chin-chin joss means religious worship of any kind (see JOSS). It is curious that the phrase occurs in a quaint story told to William of Rubruck by a Chinese priest whom he met at the Court of the Great Kaan (see below). And it is equally remarkable to find the same story related with singular closeness of correspondence out of “the Chinese books of Geography” by Francesco Carletti, 350 years later (in 1600). He calls the creatures Zinzin (Ragionamenti di F. C., pp. 138-9).

1253.—“One day there sate by me a certain priest of Cathay, dressed in a red cloth of exquisite colour, and when I asked him whence they got such a dye, he told me how in the eastern parts of Cathay there were lofty cliffs on which dwelt certain creatures in all things partaking of human form, except that their knees did not bend.…The huntsmen go thither, taking very strong beer with them, and make holes in the rocks which they fill with this beer.…Then they hide themselves and these creatures come out of their holes and taste the liquor, and call out ‘Chin Chin.’”—Itinerarium, in Rec. de Voyages, &c., iv. 328.

Probably some form of this phrase is intended in the word used by Pinto in the following passage, which Cogan leaves untranslated:—

c. 1540.—“So after we had saluted one another after the manner of the Country, they went and anchored by the shore” (in orig. “despois de se fazerem as suas e as nossas salvas a Charachina como entre este gente se custuma.”)—In Cogan, p. 56; in orig. ch. xlvii.

1795.—“The two junior members of the Chinese deputation came at the appointed hour.…On entering the door of the marquee they both made an abrupt stop, and resisted all solicitation to advance to chairs that had been prepared for them, until I should first be seated; in this dilemma, Dr. Buchanan, who had visited China, advised me what was to be done; I immediately seized on the foremost, whilst the Doctor himself grappled with the second; thus we soon fixed them in their seats, both parties during the struggle, repeating Chin Chin, Chin Chin, the Chinese term of salutation.”—Symes, Embassy to Ava, 295.

1829.—“One of the Chinese servants came to me and said, ‘Mr. Talbot chin-chin you come down.’”—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 20.

1880.—“But far from thinking it any shame to deface our beautiful language, the English seem to glory in its distortion, and will often ask one another to come to ‘chow-chow’ instead of dinner; and send their ‘chin- chin,’ even in letters, rather than their compliments; most of them ignorant of the fact that ‘chow-chow’ is no more Chinese than it is Hebrew; that ‘chin-chin,’ though an expression used by the Chinese, does not