China bug

English

Noun

China bug (plural China bugs)

1. (US, ethnic slur, historical) A fresh off the boat Chinese-American immigrant.
   • 1977, Joe Fong, quotee, Unemployment and Crime: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, First and Second Sessions on Unemployment and Crime, page 820:

     The ABCs called us FOBs—Fresh Off the Boat—or China Bugs. Even the American-born Chinese referred to us as ‘Chinese’—as though they were not.

Usage notes

• Used by American-born Chinese Americans.

References

• Lorraine Dong, Marlon K. Hom (1980) “Chinatown Chinese: The San Francisco Dialect”, in Amerasia‎^[1]