zhing-zhong

English

Etymology

Dates back to the onset of Chinese trade with Zimbabweans at the turn of the 21st century. It stems from the way the Chinese language sounds to a Zimbabwean, ultimately etymologically connected to the racial slur ching chong.

Adjective

zhing-zhong (comparative more zhing-zhong, superlative most zhing-zhong)

1. (slang, derogatory, Zimbabwe) Of objects, cheap, Chinese and of inferior quality.
   • 2005 July 24, Michael Wines, “From Shoes to Aircraft to Investment, Zimbabwe Pursues a Made-in-China Future”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-02-09, Africa‎^[2]:

     Zimbabweans complain, sometimes bitterly, that their new Chinese buses break down with alarming regularity and that the Chinese goods that flood stores and roadside stalls are so shoddy as to be worthless. Indeed, they have coined a term for the phenomenon: zhing-zhong.
     "To call something zhing-zhong means that it is substandard," said Eldred Masunugure, the chairman of the political science department at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. "The resentment of the Chinese is not only widespread; it's deeply rooted. It's affecting even other Chinese-looking people, like the Japanese."
     Professor Masunugure and others say that Harare's few Japanese residents complain of being taunted and called zhing-zhong.

   • 2007, Petina Gappah, “An Elegy for Easterly”, in Jungfrau and Other Short Stories (The Caine Prize for African Writing, 7th Annual Collection), Oxford: New Internationalist Publications Ltd, →ISBN, page 109:

     On the other side of Mbare, among the zhing-zhong products from China, the shiny clothes spelling out cheerful poverty, the glittery tank-tops and body-stockings imported in striped carrier bags from Dubai, among the Gucchii bags and Prader shoes, […]

   • 2015, C. B. George, The Death of Rex Nhongo, London: Quercus Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 23:

     At a nearby table, a handsome man in shirtsleeves pushed to the elbow raised a hand and began to snap his fingers at the waitress. His watch was heavy on his wrist. It could have been a Rolex or Breitling. It could have been a zhing-zhong knock-off.

2. (slang, derogatory, Zimbabwe) Of a person, low-quality, unfit for their occupation or station in life.

Noun

zhing-zhong (uncountable)

1. (slang, derogatory, Zimbabwe) Cheap products of Chinese origin.

See also

• ching chong
• shanzhai

Further reading

• zhing-zhong at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• zhing-zhong, The Doubletongue Dictionary.
• Projectdiaspora.org: Blog reporting ban on saying, Zhing-zhong.