Dictionary

Paris of the East en · NOUN

Etymology

Usually a calque of French Paris de l'Orient, praising a location for its supposed resemblance to the glamor and nightlife of 19th-century Paris.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A major city that is considered as magnificent or culturally significant as Paris.
   • "You know, of course," noted another officer, "there are any number of Parises of the East, from Warsaw to Bucharest." 2004, Cornelia Golna, City of Man's Desire: A novel of Constantinople, Go-Bos Press, translation of original in Dutch, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 318:

Forms

Paris of the East en · PROPN

Etymology

Usually a calque of French Paris de l'Orient, praising a location for its supposed resemblance to the glamor and nightlife of 19th-century Paris.

Meanings

1. (dated) Former nickname for Bucharest: the capital and largest city of Romania.
2. (dated) Former nickname for Casablanca: a major city in Morocco.
3. (obsolete) Former nickname for Lahore: a major city in modern Pakistan; in use during the time of the British Raj.
4. (dated) Former nickname for Phnom Penh: the capital and largest city of Cambodia.
5. (dated) Former nickname for Hanoi: a major city in Vietnam.
6. (dated) Former nickname for Shanghai: a major port city and direct-administered municipality of China.
   • The Paris of the East, it was called. Cosmopolitan, bustling, exotic, mysterious, Shanghai was a cultural crossroads and the quintessential liberty town for sailors. 1996, James R. Schultz, “Paris Of The East”, in The Long Way Home: A Pacific Odyssey of World War II, Creative Arts Book Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 95:
   • 1934 — Anon., All About Shanghai: A Standard Guidebook, The University Press, Shanghai. 1983 reed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, →ISBN. p. 73; What odds whether Shanghai is the Paris of the East or Paris the Shanghai of the Occident ?

Forms

Translations (3)

ko 동방(東方)의 파리 (Paris of the East) · hi पूर्व का पेरिस (Paris of the East) · fr Paris de l'Orient (Paris of the East)