Chinese As Butts of "Put Down" Stereotypes and "Humor"

Chinese not only suffered physical threats and harm to life, limb, and property but also endured harassment and bullying. Like many other minority groups, they were targets of jokes that belittled them and made them the butt of put-down, or worse, jokes, negative stereotypes, and "humor." Some of these jokes are quite racist in tone and harmful to the target group (consider also  "Newfie"and "Polak"jokes).

The "heathen Chinee" was one of the most offensive and well known negative views of Chinese that came from a poem, Plain Language from Truthful James, written in 1870 by Bret Harte, who ironically was sympathetic toward the Chinese and his poem was an attempt to show the hypocrisy that whites had in their attitudes toward Chinese. In the poem two miners, Bill Nye and Truthful James play euche, a card game, with Ah Sin, a Chinaman who they assume doesn't know how to play and they expect to easily win the game especially since they cheat in dealing the cards. Much to their surprise Ah Sin, more adept at having cards "up his sleeves," emerges as the winner. In retaliation, they assault Ah Sin once they discover his cheating despite the fact that they also cheated.

The opening verse goes:

WHICH I wish to remark,

  And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark
  And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar,
   Which the same I would rise to explain

This negative image and the violence toward the cheating "heathen Chinee" added to the hostility toward Chinese during the great depression of the 1870s  because of their cheap labor, as Bill Nye exclaims in the poem,

"Can this be?
We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor,—"



Terry Abrahams, an anthropologist in Idaho, collected examples of negative jokes against Chinese for many years and analyzed them in a 2003 paper:

No Tickee No Washee'[1]: Sympathetic Representations of the Chinese in American Humor.

Put down jokes about Chinese and other minorities (ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, women) abound even today.  Here is  a sample of contemporary one-liner put-downs of Chinese from:

https://funniest-jokes.weebly.com/china.html

Funny jokes about China and the Chinese

A real Chinese has to make three things in his life: sneakers, jeans and iPhone.
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The Great Wall is among 7 wonders of the world because it is the only Chinese product which lasted for more than 4 weeks.
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Q: Why is there no Disneyland in China? 
A: No one's tall enough to go on the good rides. 
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Q: What do you call a Chinese Billionaire? 
A: Cha Ching! 
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Q: How does every Chinese joke start? 
A: By looking over your shoulder. 
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Q: What do you call a Chinese rapist? 
A: Rai Ping Yu 
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Q: What has 2 wings and a halo? 
A: A Chinese telephone, Wing-wing, halo? 
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Q: What happens when a Mexican and an China man make a baby? 
A: A car thief who can't actually drive is born. Everything is made in China. Except for babies, they're made in VaChina. 
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Q: Did you hear about the new American Express Card they are issuing in Red China? 
A: You never leave home. 
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Q: Heard about the new German-Chinese restaurant? 
A: The food is great, but an hour later, you're hungry for power. The opening verse goes:
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Q: What do you call a surprised Chinese man? 
A: Ho Lee Fuk 
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Interestingly, the "Chinaman" is not always the loser in ethnic jokes....  For example, in the following joke posted by Abraham, the "Chinaman" could be said to have had the last laugh with his come back to his tormentors.

The boys on the ranch decide for New Year's resolutions that they will not tease the Chinee cook anymore, and troop into the kitchen to apologize to him for all the tricks they have played on him all year. 

"No pull China-boy's pigtail anymore?" he asks incredulously, "No, John, we're going to treat you right, from now on," they assure him. 
"No put rattlesnake in pants?" "No more rattlesnakes, John." 
"No mo' dead frog in shoe?" "No, John, we're really going to treat you right, from now on." 

"Velly good. China-boy no piss in coffee anymore."

But, consider that the riposte by the Chinese cook did not actually come out of his mouth, or mind!  The come back punchline must have been written by a white person, perhaps someone somewhat sympathetic to the Chinese.