唐人街 (Chinatown) Chinese + people + town
The word 唐人街 (táng rén jiē) means “Chinatown,” referring to the Chinatowns of New York, San Francisco, etc. This is a Chinese compound that does not exist as such in Japanese.
The closest Japanese compound for “Chinatown” is 中国人街 (Chūgokujingai: China + country + people + town), but at least in San Francisco, people simply say チャイナタウン, Chainataun.
The hanzi 唐 means the “Tang dynasty” of China (618–907) or “Chinese.” In Japanese, 唐 (TŌ, kara) refers to those meanings or to foreign countries in general.
In one of my first JPod blogs, we glimpsed 唐 inside 唐揚げ, an alternate way of writing kara-age (foods such as chicken or potatoes that are fried without batter).
My favorite 唐 compound in Japanese is 毛唐人 (ketōjin, hair + China + person), a derogatory term that means both “foreigner” (when abbreviated as ketō) and “hairy barbarian”!
It’s strange to find anything about Chinese people inside “hairy barbarian”! This perception of the Chinese seems a tad distorted! But most likely the Japanese first used 唐人 to mean “Chinese people” and then “foreigner.” After meeting Westerners (such as the Portuguese) the Japanese probably tacked 毛 onto the front of the word, creating the greatest of insults: “hairy foreigner.”
