"Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees" is a racistplayground chant that has been used to mock children of Asian origin.
One rendering of the chant is "Chinese/Japanese/Dirty Knees/Look at these Chinese Japanese/Dirty Knees".[1] Other renderings give the chant as "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these," with a breast-related gesture accompanying the "look at these" phrase (such as pinching the front of one's shirt into mock breasts).[2][3] The reference to breasts alludes to promiscuity, according to Philip Nel, an English professor.[4]
Many Asian Americans recalled hearing the chant,[2] and in some cases being taunted or bullied with the chant, in their youth in the 20th century.[5] Children who sang it would sometimes pull their eyes into slits.[6]Gregory B. Lee, writing that "many a Chinese immigrant child over the past 100 years has had to endure" the chant, notes that "[t]he allusion to dirt in this ditty is not aleatory", linking it to the stereotype of unclean "Orientals".[7]
In 2020, the film Monster Hunter caused controversy on Chinese social media because of a pun that some critics said was a reference to the chant: In a scene, MC Jin's character jokingly says: "Look at my knees!", and to the question "What kind of knees are these?" replies "Chi-knees!". Although the filmmakers and actors denied that the line had anything to do with the chant, the film was removed from circulation, and Chinese authorities censored references to it online.[8]
^ abZaloom, Shafia (2003). "Dirty Knees". In Kane, Pearl Rock; Orsini, Alfonso J. (eds.). The Colors of Excellence: Hiring and Keeping Teachers of Color in Independent Schools. New York: Teachers College Press. p. 26. ISBN0-8077-4282-1. OCLC53093570.