yellow peril

noun

, Disparaging and Offensive.

1. (in historical contexts) the alleged danger that predominantly white Western civilizations and populations could be overwhelmed by Asian peoples.
2. the Asian peoples regarded as presenting such a danger.

yellow peril

noun

1. the power or alleged power of Asiatic peoples, esp the Chinese, to threaten or destroy the supremacy of White or Western civilization

Yellow Peril

1. A supposed threat to the United States posed by Japan and China . The phrase arose in the late nineteenth century, at a time when Japanese and Chinese immigration to America was meeting resistance and when Japan was growing as a military power. ( See internment of Japanese Americans .)

Sensitive Note

See yellow.

Word History and Origins

Origin of yellow peril¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Later chapters in this old story include the Know-Nothings, all manner of panic over the Irish, the Yellow Peril and of course “replacement theory.”

From Los Angeles Times

Along the way, they reveal the intersection of real-life figures like Russell and Ezra Pound in Sino-British relations, the early British film industry’s lucrative “yellow peril films” and much more.

From Los Angeles Times

Conservatives have been known to privately describe Lib Dems as the 'yellow peril', a backhanded compliment to their by-election savvy, energy and ruthlessness.

From BBC

Conservatives have been known to privately describe Lib Dems as the 'yellow peril', a backhanded compliment to their by-election savvy, energy and ruthlessness.

From BBC

Racist conspiracy theories helped rationalize these systems: whispered rumors of Indigenous uprisings and slave rebellions justified eruptions of racist violence, fears of “Negro rule” fueled pogroms and insurrections across the late 19th century South, and in the 1910s, stories like Jack London’s “The Unparalleled Invasion” and J. Allen Dunn’s “The Peril of the Pacific” spread “yellow peril” talk of an imminent attack from places like China and Japan.

From New York Times