Is "long time no see" Chinese origin?

I always thought it was a cruel imitation of the English pidgin of the Native American of 200 years ago, Jobb.

I think so.

This is a literal translation of "ho noi mou gin" (Cantonese).

I am not sure which opinion is more acceptable.

Me neither, Jobb.

ho - very
noi - long time
mou - no
gin - see

That said, I may very well be wrong about the origin of the phrase.

My dictionary (OED) says it comes from an imitative speech of an native American. The oldest use in literature was recorded in 1901 in "31 Years on Plain" by W. F. Drannan. When we rode up to him (an American Indian), he said: "Good mornin. Long time no see you".

paco

Really! Well, I can't wait to tell my Chinese friends about this. They will be "nicely" surprised!

Thanks!

Edited to add:

Even some online dictionaries got it wrong.

Look at dictionary.com:
long time no see

It's been a long time since we met, as in Hi Bob! Long time no see. This jocular imitation of broken English originated in the pidgin E

1b00long time no see02b02br
02br
00It's been a long time since we met, as in 01i00Hi Bob! Long time no see02i00. This jocular imitation of broken English originated in the pidgin English used in Chinese and Western exchange. 00[Late 1800s]02br
02br
02br
02br
00based on this page:02br
02br

0 01blockquote

01cite10Jobb12cite10I hear someone said "long time no see" is Chinese origin but now is widely used in English-speaking countries. 12br
10Is it true?12blockquote

10Yes. We still use it on our daily greetings with someone whom we haven't seen for a while and therefore missed so much.02br
02br

0Hao Jiu Bu Jian00!!! ("Long time no see")02br
00It's Chinese and part of a lengthy list of famous four-word phrases: each meaing more than the words simply imply.02br
02br
00The native american greeting was simply "Hao", and is not associated with the phrase "Long time, no see"0-