Comments About The Children's Mocking Rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about the children's mocking rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".

This post presents some comments from several online discussion threads about the children's rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/information-about-childrens-mocking.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Thats post presents information from several online sources about that rhyme.

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Click ___ for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video of two young Black American women demonstrating several hand clap rhymes that they remember from their childhood. One of those rhymes- "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" includes the  "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These" verse.

That post includes the transcription of that version of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" as well as a few comments from that video's discussion thread (including three comments that I wrote.) 

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html for the closely related pancocojams post "Offensive Children's Rhymes: " I Went To A Chinese Restaurant".

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WARNING- I consider this rhyme to be racist and don't recommend chanting it under any circumstances except for sociological or other educational purposes.

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COMMENTS ABOUT THIS MOCKING RHYME FROM SEVERAL ONLINE DISCUSSION THEADS

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. "I hadn't thought about this in years… In mid-to-late 1970s Southington, CT, every kid knew the "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty knees, Look at these" rhyme. (There were no Chinese kids in town until after I got to middle school almost ten years later, around 1986-1987. There were very few kids who were anything but European-American in town at all; mostly Italian-Americans, with significant numbers of Irish- and Polish-Americans among the remainder. The demographics haven't changed much in the last 30 years, though happily I no longer live there.) The rhyme was accompanied by the upward then downward pulling of the skin around the eyes, then stooping slightly to cup both knees with the hands, then grasping one's shirt over the nipples and pulling outward to simulate 'breasts' pointier than even a Gaultier bra. It never occurred to me before that "Look at these!" might refer to anything other than the (pretend) breasts.

Then again, it never occurred to me before today what "Dirty knees" was probably meant to refer to, since to my six-year-old mind it was a nonsense rhyme."
-Anonymous, June 18, 2010, http://playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/me-chinese-me-play-joke.html  

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2. About 5 years ago, I was fishing near Truckee. A family rolled up within earshot of where I was fishing in their Chevy Tahoe w Nevada plates, and decided to picnic there. The little girl, about 5 yrs of age, was playing in the water with her mom. The mom started chanting "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty knees, look at these" and the girl soon joined her. I looked over, and sure enough, the mom and daughter were looking at me (I'm Asian American). I was going to say something to the mom, about how inappropriate that is, and setting a bad example, etc, but realized that trying to have such a discussion with such a person would only result in my own anger.

I convinced myself that they were trying to get rid of me, so I refused to leave my spot. Maybe that was just my imagination…"
-Anonymous, July 29, 2011, http://playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/me-chinese-me-play-joke.html

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3. Chinese (slant eyes upward)

Japanese (slant eyes downward)

Dirty knees (touch hands to knees)

Look at these

Big, fat boobies! (pull shirt out)

 

We thought it was hysterically funny then and had absolutely no clue as to the offensive sexual connotations of dirty kneed Asian women. It was funny because it rhymed and because we said “boobies”. SMH

-Cathy, January 21, 2018, http://playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/me-chinese-me-play-joke.html
-snip-
"Long Island" is a large island that is part of New York City's metropolitan area

"boobies" = breast

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4. "from the akron, ohio area in the early 1990's.

I just asked a friend about a hand clapping rhyme, where all I remembered was "hot fudge sundae," which is the same rhyme discussed here. I don't think we did the first part of it, but this is what she told me:

I went to the Chinese bakery
To buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread
They asked me what I wanted
And this is what I said, said, said

My name is
Kay Lie Pickle-eye
Pickle-eye Kay Lie
Hot fudge Sunday
Covered in cherries
Chinese chopstick
Chow! (I think we just did a double hand clap here)

I learned, separately, the "dirty knees," rhyme. at "look at these," we would tuck our knees up into our shirts, to look like huge breasts.


there was another rhyme, similar to the dirty knees rhyme, that I learned as well. it makes fun of children with a parent who is Chinese and a parent who is Japanese, and ends with "and i'm a mixed up child---" complete with the squinting of the eyes. We had two Asian-American children at my school who had been adopted, and we had some kind of exchange student from China in the 3rd grade -- and somehow it never occurred to any of us (or teachers?!) that it was offensive."
-Anonymous,January17, 2018, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html [comment]

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5. I promise to God if I was Asian I wouldn't be a snowflake and get offended so easily.Like if you get offended from this you need help."

-@yvesisalreadydead, 2022,https://youtube.com/shorts/ZPXjQw7Uhio?si=ss9PRjEy86MWTta4 "Chinese Japanese dirty knees look at these",  published by@janmariewarbus630, Aug 12, 2019

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6."Chinese,japanese,dirty knees..

Used to say this In kindergarten"
-@kainkilian4819,2024,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGe1J9-oujY, "Chinese,japanese,dirty knees".
published by random guy, Jun 16, 2021

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7. "Omg lol I remember this joke from elementary school! 😂

It caught on pretty fast at my school to the point where the faculty was forced to address it 😂

They called an assembly and the principal gave us all a lecture about racial and cultural sensitivity and whatnot (which I thought was funny 'cos the Asian kids at my school made the joke as much as everyone else did)... all things a roomful of 1st-thru-5th graders were SURELY gonna take seriously 🙄

In the end he told us all that anyone caught making the joke again would get after-school detention for the 1st time, Saturday school for the 2nd time, and 3 days' suspension for the 3rd time. 😅"
-illuminocalypse5210, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGe1J9-oujY, "Chinese,japanese,dirty knees"

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Reply
8. "Well.. There goes my academic career!!"
-@Marsh55116, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGe1J9-oujY, "Chinese,japanese,dirty knees"

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Pancocojams Editor's Notes:
Comments #9- #17 are from https://youtube.com/shorts/ZPXjQw7Uhio?si=ss9PRjEy86MWTta4 "Chinese Japanese dirty knees look at these", published by@janmariewarbus630, Aug 12, 2019

The caption under this YouTube video short is "Silly goofy auntie". That video shows an older woman getting up from her couch in her living room to chant this in front of other people who aren't shown in that cluttered room.

9. "Can you explain this. I used to say this as a kid because everyone did. Is it racist because of the Chinese Japanese or because it says dirty knees. I don't understand the dirty knees part can you explain"
-@jummyjello9326, 2021

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Reply
10. "@jummyjello9326
Combination of the two and the hand gestures making slanted eyes. I suppose dirty knees mean kneeling down culture.

If you still don't understand why it is disrespectful, Imagine people mocking you for having (or not) common features that you share with your group.

It is this disrespectful because they are mocking and pointing at the racial differences and it creates a separation between people.

When you are in a minority group in that society, those separations mean isolation."

Not to mention that they are focusing on differences in the entire group not the person itself. I would say this way of viewing people's identity from the entire group is very totalitarian and leads a lot of errors in judging.

I grew up in Korea and I never had to deal with any of these but I know that this is very wrong.
- @elapseintime, 2022

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11. "how trashy and shameless. kids grow up in that environment?"
@elapseintime, 2022

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Reply
12. "You know they're asain right?"
-@chazbhox7051, 2022

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Reply
13. "@chazbhox7051  no they are not"
-@elapseintime, 2022

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Reply
14. "It’s not trashy and shameless. They are just having fun"
-@kaydod3190, 2022

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Reply
15."@kaydod3190  do you do that to have fun in front of your children?

What's your race?"
-@elapseintime, 2022
-snip-
@kaydod3190 didn't write a responce to this question

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Reply
16. Reply
"@elapseintime  His race is formula 1."
-@chazbhox7051, 2022

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17. "THATS RACIST"
-@fluffymacaw933, 2023

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18.  Ludi Lin. https://x.com/ludi_lin/status/1335326280498126848?lang=en

"@ludi_lin, [December 5, 2020]

The joke is:

A: Look at my knees

B: What kind of knees are these?

A: Chi-neese

 

“Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these.”  Was a rhyme used with slant eye gestures to make fun of Asians.

The lesson is:

When you make movies for The World, know The World is watching you.

Quote

ComicBook.com

@ComicBook

Dec 4, 2020

The #MonsterHunter premiere has reportedly been cancelled in China due to backlash over a racist joke in the movie:

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/mo

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Information About The Children's Mocking Rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series about the children's mocking rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".

This post presents information from several online sources about that rhyme.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/comments-about-childrens-mocking-rhyme.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some comments from several online discussion threads about the children's rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".

**
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/two-young-black-american-women-remember.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video of two young Black American women demonstrating several hand clap rhymes that they remember from their childhood. One of those rhymes- "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" includes the  "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These" verse.

That post includes the transcription of that version of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" as well as a few comments from that video's discussion thread (including three comments that I wrote.) 

****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
WARNING- I consider this rhyme to be racist and don't recommend chanting it under any circumstances except for sociological or other educational purposes. 

****

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RHYME
These quotes are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

QUOTE #1
From https://www.rd.com/list/childrens-nursery-rhymes-that-are-actually-racist  "8 Children’s Nursery Rhymes That Are Actually Racist" By Eisa Nefertari Ulen. Updated on Apr. 25, 2024
"Can a catchy little rhyme really be that problematic? Yes—and it’s one way racism was inextricably woven into American life. Get ready to cringe at these childhood favorites.

Nursery rhymes that are anything but innocent

It’s no longer enough to say, “I’m not racist.” We need to be anti-racist, and that’s harder. To be anti-racist, we must look at our everyday routines, our communities, and our own families—eliminating even some of the things that have brought us joy as children so the next generation can be healthier and stronger. One of those things is nursery rhymes, many of which are deeply embedded with racism.

According to the New York Times, by age four, children recognize basic racial stereotypes. Often, these stereotypes are so normalized, it’s easy to misidentify them and thus dismiss them as historical or eliminated when, in fact, they continue to circulate in new forms in children’s culture. As Robin Bernstein, author of Racial Innocence, puts it, racist tropes often “hide in plain sight.” In children’s nursery rhymes, an obviously racist, sexist, or anti-Semitic term might have been replaced with a word considered less offensive, but the new term can be just as triggering to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) as the original epithet.

While it’s important to build your library with excellent children’s books it’s equally important to protect your child’s developing mind from racist narratives like the eight listed below.

[...]

5/10

Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look at These

Through policies like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Japanese internment camps during World War II, Asian Americans have been perpetually marginalized in this country. Here, we have an expression and glorification of that subjugated status in sing-song form. Often, the young person reciting the lines would move the corners of their eyes up on the word Chinese and down on Japanese, before touching their knees and then grabbing or even exposing their own breasts. This popular rhyme, and the gestures that accompanied it, were considered benign through the early 2000s. This chant, however, is neither innocent nor fun.

“It’s racist for many reasons,” Nel says, “one of which is that its performance depends upon caricature—the performer’s fingers make upward-slanting eyes for Chinese and downward-slanting for Japanese. Another is that it associates Asians with either poor hygiene or subservience. Dirty knees could indicate a need to wash, but they also suggest that the person kneels a lot.” Plus, he adds, exposing one’s breasts in the “look at these” line also alludes to promiscuity.

History has also effectively erased the contributions of non-White people. For example, here are amazing Asian Americans you didn’t learn about in school."
-snip-
Read my comment in this pancocojams post's comment section for a list of the other seven rhymes that this article's author considers to be racist. (Full disclosure- I agree with that author.)
  
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QUOTE #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese,_Japanese,_dirty_knees
" "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees" is a racist playground 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]"
-snip-
Here's the meaning of the word "aleatory" from AI Overview:

My question: "What does aleatory mean in English?

"AI Overview

Aleatory means dependent on chance or random, rather than on a fixed plan or outcome. The term originates from the Latin word for "dice" and is often used in formal contexts, legal agreements (aleatory contracts like insurance), and the arts (aleatory music where chance is part of the composition)"

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QUOTE #3
"AI Overview 

The phrase "dirty knees" in the rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these" is a derogatory and racist taunt with several negative connotations. The rhyme is often accompanied by offensive gestures, including pulling the corners of the eyes and making a motion toward the knees.

The "dirty knees" reference can suggest:

Poor hygiene: The allusion to "dirt" plays into a historical and racist stereotype that associates Asian people with being unclean.

Servility: It can imply that the person "kneels a lot," which has been interpreted as a reference to subservience.

Promiscuity: In the longer version of the chant, the phrase is often followed by "look at these" with an accompanying gesture toward the chest. This was used to suggest promiscuity, particularly in reference to Asian women.

The rhyme is now widely recognized as a racist chant that bullies and marginalizes people of Asian descent. While it was sometimes dismissed as a harmless children's rhyme in the past, its harmful, racist nature is now understood and acknowledged."
-snip-
I received this write-up as result of my Google Search question "What does "dirty knees" mean in the rhyme “Chinese Japanese dirty knees, look at these" - on  Oct 12, 2025 

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.