Chinese or China- Confusing terms

Question

Without doubt, Chinese is an adjective while China is a noun.
Why we say China town instead of Chinese town?

It looks like to me that Chinese people and Chinese restaurant are the only correct terms. We won't say China people or China restaurant in correct English

But it looks like that some will say China bank and Chinese bank.

Which one is actually correct??

China bank
China's bank
Chinese bank

If all of them are correct, do they carry different meanings and when they are used??

----- Other confusing terms like
why Asia map but not Asian map??

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

kenny1999Why do we say China town instead of Chinese town?

A chinatown (one word) is an area of a city in the US where you can find many Chinese businesses and restaurants.
The name came from combining China + town, meaning a place where you think you could be in a small city (town) of China. There are many cities in the US that have chinatowns.

China Bank is a proper name given to a bank that may have much of its business in China, but located in London, for example. It comes from "Bank of China."
A Chinese bank is a general term for any bank located somewhere in China.

Nouns can modify other nouns. For example a brick house is a house (made) of bricks, a wool sweater is a sweater (made) of wool, and a flower garden is a garden of flowers.

Anonymous · Answer

Most nouns in English can be used as adjectives in certain situations.

All of the given examples are possible. Some examples of usage:

"He has a shop in Chinatown." (The word "Chinatown," means the Chinese section of a large American city. You cannot say "Chinesetown" here.)

"This is a Chinese town." (The meaning is that this town, which is located outside of China - usually somewhere in Asia or the Pacific, has a population that is all Chinese. You cannot use "China town" here.)

"My checking account is at China Bank." (This is the name of a bank. "Chinese Bank" would not be used as a name of a bank.)

"California First National Bank is actually a Chinese bank." (The bank is owned by China, or people from China, or Americans of Chinese ancestry. "China bank" would not be used here.)

"China Bank is China's bank." (China Bank is the number one bank in China. "Chinese's bank" cannot be used here.)

The words "Asia" and "Asian" also have specific usages. Some examples:

You would usually not say "Asia map." "Map of Asia" is what is used in English:

Librarian: "Can I help you?"
Man: "Yes, do you have a large map of Asia?"

"Asian map" would only be used in an unusual situation, for example:

Archeologist: "This is 16th century Asian map (the map was made in Asia in the 16th century) showing the land and sea trade routes with Europe."

Khoff · Answer

Anonymous"This is a Chinese town." (The meaning is that this town, which is located outside of China - usually somewhere in Asia or the Pacific, has a population that is all Chinese. You cannot use "China town" here.)

I think it would be much more common to use "Chinese town" to refer to a town in China, not outside of China.

Chinese or China- Confusing terms

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