Jook-sing

Jook-sing is a Cantonese term used to describe an Overseas Chinese person who has grown up in a Western environment, such that he or she can not speak, read or write a Chinese dialect.

Etymology

Look up jook-sing or 竹升 in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Jook-sing" means a grain-measuring container made of bamboo (compare the term senk1 daw2 (升斗), daw2 being a kind of rice measurer). Bamboo is hollow and compartmentalized, thus water poured in one end does not flow out of the other end. The metaphor is that "jook-sing"s are not part of either culture: water within the jook-sing does not flow and connect to either end. It may or may not be derogatory. Use of the term predates World War II ^[1].

Alternatively, Jook-sing is another term for a bamboo stick in Cantonese. While the original Cantonese term jook-gon (竹竿, bamboo stick) sounds like 竹乾 (dry bamboo) or 竹降 (fallen bamboo) (which also means "unfortunate" to Cantonese people) Cantonese speakers use Jook-sing (rising bamboo) instead. The implication is that a person is Chinese outside, hollow inside.

Modern term

North American usage

In the United States and Canada, the term is pejorative and is used to describe fully Westernized American-born or Canadian-born Chinese. The term originates from Cantonese slang in the United States. Jook-sing are categorised as having Western-centric identities, values and culture. These traits may be viewed as positive or negative.

This term is also popularly used to describe similar Chinese individuals in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and New Zealand.

Related colloquialisms

• Banana (Mandarin Chinese: 香蕉人/香蕉仔; Jyutping: heong1 ziu1 yan1/heong1 ziu1 zay2) (referencing the yellow skin and white innings of the fruit) and Twinkie (based on the snack produced by American company Hostess): often pejorative.
• FOB (Fresh Off the Boat): antonym of Jook-sing

See also

• American-born Chinese
• Overseas Chinese: Chinese American, Chinese Canadian, Chinese Australians, Chinese New Zealander
• American-Born Confused Desi, a similar term for Indian Americans
• Ethnic slur

References

• Emma Woo Louie, Chinese American Names, McFarland & Company, 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0418-3
• Douglas W Lee, Chinese American history and historiography: The musings of a Jook-Sing, 1980.

External links

• Second Generation Chinese Americans at University of San Francisco
• Pilgrimage to China by Beth Boswell Jacks
• Strained Relations by Julie D. Soo
• Jook Sing Forum - Embrace your chinese side