Why is India called Asan?

According to the Shanghai Proverbs published in 1930s, most Indians patrolling in Shanghai are Sikhs. Although they are white, their faces are dark and they are used to wearing red headscarves, so Shanghainese call them "red-headed black charcoal" (Shanghainese generally call people with dark skin "black charcoal"), and later misinterpret them as "red-headed three". There is also a saying that "Mr" is usually said as Sir in English and pronounced as "three" in Shanghai dialect, which is a monosyllabic word. Shanghai dialect (including most Jiangnan dialects) is generally used for monosyllabic words with "a" in front (or followed by "zi" and "head").

Therefore, in Pidgin English, "Mr" is called "A Sir", which is pronounced like "A San", which is a courtesy title for the police, while "Yin Bu" is called "A San with red head" because it is a red scarf. It is more reasonable to think that today's Hong Kong people also call the police "sir". There is another explanation: the Indian police conduct exercises under the command of the chief every day. They often shout in unison, "Yes, sir!" At first, Shanghainese didn't understand the meaning of "yes, sir", so they called the patrol "A San". Some people think that Indian policemen who just came to Shanghai can't speak Shanghainese, and they often have to deal with Shanghai residents when performing their duties. Because of the language barrier, it is difficult for Shuangwan to speak. Indian police often say "I say" as a language pause, while Shanghainese call them "three red heads" when they see that they always say "I say".

There is also a saying that at that time, in the concession, the status of Indian prisoners was lower than that of western prisoners and Han prisoners, mainly to maintain traffic order, which is equivalent to the people who wear red armbands and whistle on the road now, and Shanghainese disdain to call them Ah San.