Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 27, 2026

Chankoro

Chankoro is a Sinophobic ethnic slur used by the Japanese since the end of the Qing dynasty and it was also an expression of insult to the Chinese people.

Last revised
Jul 27, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
393 w
Citations
10
Source
A picture of courtesans playing a chankoro game in Okinawa prefecture (Iha Fuyū, 1893). The slur is used to stress the subjugated position of Okinawan women1 source ↗

Chankoro (Japanese: ちゃんころ or チャンコロ, etymology is unclear,23 Ogata4 suggests "pigtailed fellow" while Shih states that it means "Qing slave"5) is a Sinophobic ethnic slur6 used by the Japanese since the end of the Qing dynasty2 and it was also an expression of insult to the Chinese people.7

In the English subtitles of the multilingual Chinese movie Devils on the Doorstep, the term is mostly translated as "Chinese pig(s)"" or "mongrel(s)".3

In Korean

After Japan annexed Korea, the Japanese word chankoro entered the Korean language as jjangkkolla (Korean짱꼴라), which evolved into the current jjangkkae (Korean짱깨), which has become a representative derogatory term for Chinese people in Korea.8

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Barske 2013, p. 72.
  2. "チャンコロとは、中国人の蔑称。". 日本語俗語辞書. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  3. Takeda 2013, p. 101.
  4. Ogata 2022, p. 85.
  5. Shih 2022, p. 327.
  6. Tahmasbi et al. 2021.
  7. 黃英哲 (2015-10-15). "【說書】臺灣作家筆下的「抗戰」". 故事 StoryStudio. Archived from the original on 2025-07-26.
  8. "Translation of "チャンコロ" into Korean". Glosbe. Retrieved 5 September 2025. 짱깨; jjangkkae; ちゃんころ · チャンコロ · ポコペン · 支那人 · 不コ本
Sources

Sources