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jook sing
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:jook-sing, Juk Sing;
n. — Ethnicities, derogatory slang, extremely offensive
a person, or persons, of Chinese descent born and raised in Canada.
Type: 5. Frequency — Literally translating to "hollow bamboo", jook sing in Canadian English refers to people of Chinese ancestry who were born or raised in Canada. Much like the slang term banana, jook sing carries negative connotations that imply the target of such an epithet lacks knowledge or association with native Chinese culture. Unlike banana, however, jook sing is not an accusation of total assimilation into Western society, but rather of a lack of any culture at all (see the 1979 and 1992 quotations). In print media the term appears most often as an alternative alongside "banana" or "CBC". The term is culturally relevant because it reflects Canada's large and growing Chinese-heritage population and history of perceived social distinctions as a result of Chinese immigration over five or six generations.
International domain search results indicate that the term is most prevalent in Canada and dominant in the North American context (see Chart 1).
International domain search results indicate that the term is most prevalent in Canada and dominant in the North American context (see Chart 1).
The term is included for reasons of historical accuracy and completeness. It is not intended, as clearly indicated in the usage labels "derogatory" and "extremely offensive", as a term for current use or a term, meaning or usage that is in any way condoned.
Quotations
1979
However, to the chagrin of some of these students, they have found themselves labelled as "Juk Sing" by the recent immigrants from Hong Kong. "Juk Sing" literally means the space between two pieces of bamboo and implies that a person belongs to neither the Chinese culture nor the Canadian culture. [...] The parents of the "Juk Sings" tend to have come from a rural county of Kwangtung province where the Toi San dialect is spoken.
1992
Language too has changed. "Toi-san," a county dialect of the early settlers, was replaced by Cantonese. Because they did not understand the legacy of the Chinese in Canada, new immigrants referred to them as "jook-sing" - a hollow piece of bamboo, with roots in neither Canada nor Asia.
2005
It's based on a metaphor that compares Canadian-born Chinese to a cross-section of a bamboo - hollow on one end, hollow on the other, empty through and through. In the eyes of "real" Canadians and "pure" Chinese (whatever that means), jook-sing have no consistent culture, no substance, no essence. They stand between two groups, not quite Canadian, and certainly not Chinese, marginal and maybe kind of messed up, belonging to and accepted by neither.
2010
The term “jook-sing”, meaning hollow bamboo, is used to describe an American- or Canadian-born Chinese person who has grown up in a western environment, such that he or she is unable to, or has difficulty speaking, reading, or writing in Chinese. This description fits me pretty well. I was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario; both my parents immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in the early 80’s in hopes of raising a family in a place that would offer better opportunities for their children.
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