1517.—"... in another place called Chincheo, where the people were much richer than in Canton (Cantão). From that city used every year, before our people came to Malaca, to come to Malaca 4 junks loaded with gold, silver, and silk, returning laden with wares from India."—Correa, ii. 529.
CHIN-CHIN. In the "pigeon English" of Chinese ports this signifies 'salutation, compliments,' or 'to salute,' and is much used by Englishmen as slang in such senses. It is a corruption of the Chinese phrase ts'ing-ts'ing, Pekingese ch'ing-ch'ing, a term of salutation answering to 'thank-you,' 'adieu.' In the same vulgar dialect chin-chin joss means religious worship of any kind (see [JOSS]). It is curious that the phrase occurs in a quaint story told to William of Rubruck by a Chinese priest whom he met at the Court of the Great Kaan (see below). And it is equally remarkable to find the same story related with singular closeness of correspondence out of "the Chinese books of Geography" by Francesco Carletti, 350 years later (in 1600). He calls the creatures Zinzin (Ragionamenti di F. C., pp. 138-9).
1253.—"One day there sate by me a certain priest of Cathay, dressed in a red cloth of exquisite colour, and when I asked him whence they got such a dye, he told me how in the eastern parts of Cathay there were lofty cliffs on which dwelt certain creatures in all things partaking of human form, except that their knees did not bend.... The huntsmen go thither, taking very strong beer with them, and make holes in the rocks which they fill with this beer.... Then they hide themselves and these creatures come out of their holes and taste the liquor, and call out 'Chin Chin.'"—Itinerarium, in Rec. de Voyages, &c., iv. 328.
Probably some form of this phrase is intended in the word used by Pinto in the following passage, which Cogan leaves untranslated:—
c. 1540.—"So after we had saluted one another after the manner of the Country, they went and anchored by the shore" (in orig. "despois de se fazerem as suas e as nossas salvas a Charachina como entre este gente se custuma.")—In Cogan, p. 56; in orig. ch. xlvii.
1795.—"The two junior members of the Chinese deputation came at the appointed hour.... On entering the door of the marquee they both made an abrupt stop, and resisted all solicitation to advance to chairs that had been prepared for them, until I should first be seated; in this dilemma, Dr. Buchanan, who had visited China, advised me what was to be done; I immediately seized on the foremost, whilst the Doctor himself grappled with the second; thus we soon fixed them in their seats, both parties during the struggle, repeating Chin Chin, Chin Chin, the Chinese term of salutation."—Symes, Embassy to Ava, 295.
1829.—"One of the Chinese servants came to me and said, 'Mr. Talbot chin-chin you come down.'"—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 20.
1880.—"But far from thinking it any shame to deface our beautiful language, the English seem to glory in its distortion, and will often ask one another to come to 'chow-chow' instead of dinner; and send their 'chin-chin,' even in letters, rather than their compliments; most of them ignorant of the fact that 'chow-chow' is no more Chinese than it is Hebrew; that 'chin-chin,' though an expression used by the Chinese, does not in its true meaning come near to the 'good-bye, old fellow,' for which it is often used, or the compliments for which it is frequently substituted."—W. Gill, River of Golden Sand, i. 156; [ed. 1883, p. 41].
CHINSURA, n.p. A town on the Hoogly River, 26 miles above Calcutta, on the west bank, which was the seat of a Dutch settlement and factory down to 1824, when it was ceded to us by the Treaty of London, under which the Dutch gave up Malacca and their settlements in continental India, whilst we withdrew from Sumatra. [The place gave its name to a kind of cloth, Chinechuras (see [PIECE-GOODS]).]
1684.—"This day between 3 and 6 o'clock in the Afternoon, Capt. Richardson and his Sergeant, came to my house in ye Chinchera, and brought me this following message from ye President...."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 166.