# Another 'Oriental riff' sighting. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788 "2008-10-07T02:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/1 "2008-10-07T02:40:03Z")
[Earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=300466) Unfortunately, the guy who had the website documenting the history of this riff no longer has the site, at least under the old url. [Snippet from ‘Beach Party’ (1963)](http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm119/badger60/oriff/) ---
**Author:** ![yevgeny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/839c29/32.png) [@yevgeny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yevgeny)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/2 "2008-10-07T03:55:20Z")
Oh that’s too bad, that guy did an absolutely phenomenal job of investigating the question. The page can still be viewed here, albeit with some broken images: [The Musical Cliché Figure Signifying The Far East: Whence, Wherefore, Whither?](http://web.archive.org/web/20071024145834/http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/) ---
**Author:** ![asian\_riff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@asian\_riff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asian_riff)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/3 "2010-05-05T05:35:48Z")
Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but believe it or not, I’ve been waiting many years for there to be enough content on the internet to be able to find these things. The advent of youtube has made a huge difference. Great research. The first clip isn’t the exact “oriental riff”, but it has all the elements of the memory that seems to be in many people’s collective consciousness, including the woodblock sound. The second clip does have the exact melody. I am excited because I believe I have found the earliest instance of the exact “oriental riff” to date: “Chop Suey”; August 24th, 1930; produced by Paul Terry and directed by Frank Moser for Terrytoons Studios On youtube here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eczf92kKB4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eczf92kKB4) The riff occurs 47 seconds in, and is repeated with additional thematic material added. ---
**Author:** ![asian\_riff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@asian\_riff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asian_riff)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/4 "2010-05-05T05:40:43Z")
Website on the asian riff: [http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/](http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/5 "2010-05-05T13:57:07Z")
> [@asian\_riff](#): > > Sorry to dredge up an old thread Don’t be, that is one of my all-time favourite GQ questions. Good find. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/6 "2010-05-05T14:07:36Z")
Yes, this does seem to be the exact riff, albeit without the parallel fourths. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Buford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Big\_Buford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Buford)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/7 "2013-08-13T03:30:23Z")
I found this thread when I googled “oriental song” to try to find the name and origins of that widely used cliche music. The answer was pretty interesting but the really interesting thing was the extensive, juvenile arguing and name calling that went on and on and on in the thread that accompanies this one. I am going to have to locate other contributions from those individuals. They are very entertaining! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/8 "2017-08-12T03:46:10Z")
Chop Suey.Mambo, from 1954. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/9 "2017-08-12T04:30:02Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Chop Suey.Mambo, from 1954. > [Chop Suey Mambo : Alfredito and his Orchestra : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/78_chop-suey-mambo_alfredito-and-his-orchestra-al-lang_gbia0001871a) [Hear it, is on Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-g_BjwaQL4). Nice song. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/10 "2017-08-12T04:44:14Z")
> [@asian\_riff](#): > > Website on the asian riff: [http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/](http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/) This site mentions “A Nintendo game,” but doesn’t seem to specify which one. Did it perhaps mean [Super Mario Land](https://youtu.be/1GC0zncMifQ)? For added context, it’s the background music to Chai Kindom, a pastiche of China, even featuring [Jiangshi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi). Interestingly, Super Mario Land is a Japanese-made game. So apparently the riff is what East Asia associates with China specifically. So I guess it’s like how “Yankee” is a New Englander who eats pie for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/11 "2023-07-09T14:51:47Z")
OK, another sighting. The tune is not exactly the same, but the pattern is pretty close. This was published in 1913, so the melody would obviously have been pretty well established by then. This has a list of “stock music” for silent movies. The particular entry is “Chinese Music” and you hear it several seconds in. [Sam Fox Moving Picture Music, Folio I (1913)](https://www.mont-alto.com/photoplaymusic/SamFoxMovingPictureVol1/SamFoxV1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/12 "2023-07-09T16:15:16Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Interestingly, Super Mario Land is a Japanese-made game. So apparently the riff is what East Asia associates with China specifically Apparently so. I remember it being verbalized once in a series of short clips made in Japan for a Japanese audience. I was kind of surprised to find the right clip on the first try, until I noticed it is used in lots of the clips where [Ayaka](https://helloproject.fandom.com/wiki/Kimura_Ayaka) is wearing a cheongsam. https://www.youtube.com/embed/IfX7NFczSqw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=PLho4qQ1UfGVhd6tRfHVXTs-xHd2Djp91H ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/13 "2025-05-12T02:11:32Z")
Another very near sighting: In the Road Runner cartoon “War and Pieces” (1964), at the end they end up in China and a tune very similar to the stereotypical one is heard. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/14 "2025-07-01T17:22:24Z")
OK, not “the” stereotypical riff, but. . . Who would have thought that when you play “Entry of the Gladiators” (the stereotypical circus music) upside down, that it sounds similar? [Courtesy of Victor Borge.](https://www.facebook.com/reel/945521354328191) Only for the first few seconds, then he goes on to other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-oriental-riff-sighting/466788/15 "2026-06-24T08:15:03Z")
Here’s a good recent video with some clips of the riff, and a pretty good analysis. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yFtNbsfBQ-I/maxresdefault.jpg "Why this melody came to represent "China"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFtNbsfBQ-I)