Chen Pao

A form of Chen Pao Island

Meanings

proper noun
  1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Chen Pao Island; alternative form of Zhenbao.

    On 2 March, Chinese border guards with the help of regular PLA forces skillfully ambushed Strelnikov's unit on the ice near Chen Pao, killing him and 30 Soviets in the subsequent skirmish.

    1970 April 28, “Chen Pao Battle and Subsequent Threat Campaign”, in The Evolution of Soviet Policy in the Sino-Soviet Border Dispute, Directorate of Intelligence, published 2007, →OCLC, page 34
    5 more examples

    Chen Pao was originally a peninsula jutting out from the Chinese side of the Ussuri River. In the course of time, the river’s shifting currents changed it into an island, which both nations then claimed.

    1971, Norman Barrymaine, The Time Bomb: A Veteran Journalist Assesses Today's China from the Inside, New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 191

    This question is directed at residents of North America; not that others are excluded, anybody anywhere in the world will probably have to make some geographical adjustments to the wording, but that's okay too, don't be afraid to mark up the book if you happen to live in Kabul, say, or Pinsk, or on Chen Pao Island. Sorry, make that Damanski. Chen Pao. Damanski! Chen Pao! Warmonger! Revisionist! Liar! Sellout! Yellow madman! White-eyed running dog!

    1971, Richard A. Lupoff, “Is Dis Da Way to Fleegle Street?”, in Sacred Locomotive Flies, published 2015, →ISBN, →OCLC, page https://books.google.com/books?id=vyFACwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70

    At the time of the Chen Pao incident, Kosygin called us. He asked the operator to find Chairman Mao. (Prime Minister Chou laughs) Without orders, the operator, unauthorized, answered him, "You are a revisionist, therefore I will not connect you."

    1972 February 23, Chou En-lai, quotee, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1969-1972, published 2006, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 741

    Later on, when he had loosened up considerably, he told an amusing story that he said took place during a Sino-Soviet border flare-up in 1969. "We had a hot line between the Soviet Union and ourselves then," he said, "but it had already become cold because the Kremlin never used it. At the time of the Chen Pao border incident, however, Kosygin picked it up and called us. When our operator answered, he said, 'This is Premier Kosygin. I would like to speak to Chairman Mao.' The operator, completely on his own, said, 'You are a revisionist, and therefore I will not connect you.' So Kosygin said, 'Well, if you will not try to reach the Chairman, will you please connect me with Prime Minister Chou.' But the operator gave the same unauthorized reply and broke the connection."

    1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 568

    Nixon told a story he said he had never told before— about Syngman Rhee, the former president of South Korea.[..]Chou won the never-been-told-before contest with a story about the Chen Pao incident. Chen Pao was an island in the Ussuri River, the northeastern boundary between China and the Soviet Union, where troops of the two countries fought each other in 1969.

    2001, Richard Reeves, “February 22, 1972”, in President Nixon: Alone in the White House, Simon & Schuster, published 2002, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 448

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

From Mandarin 珍寶/珍宝 (Zhēn Bǎo) Wade–Giles romanization: Chên¹ Pao³.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Chen Pao. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chen%20Pao

MLA

“Chen Pao.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chen%20Pao. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chen Pao,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chen%20Pao.

Source: Chen Pao on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.