Several abortive threads on this topic -- perhaps they could be merged?

Plenty of sources have a solid description of the piece (Kuntz's The Fiddler’s Companion, for example), but the name remains a mystery. As widely reported, "Chinese Breakdown" was first recorded by the "Dixie String Band" in 1925 under the title Atlanta Special (this latter bit of trivia is, for whatever reason, less widely circulated), followed by a recording in Atlanta in 1927 by the Scottdale String Band. After the 1927 recording, the tune was frequently and widely noted in newspapers at the time.

I did locate one reference of a song titled the Chinese Breakdown being played before 1927 by Guilford College's (Greensboro, NC) string quartet for a spring festival in 1925 (News and Record, March 30th, 1925, p. 3). And a newspaper from Kentucky in 1930 noted the number was "unusual (The Courier-Journal, May 2nd, 1930, p. 12). This is likely a case where it was known earlier by other names, but how and why exactly it came to be known as Chinese Breakdown remains a mystery to me at present.

Some alternate names for the song include "Beaver Valley Breakdown," "Georgia Bust-Down," "Georgia Breakdown," "Tiger Rag" (via Fiddler's Companion"), and Shanghai Rag ("I Remember Those Days, ...Way Back" - Union Grove Talking Machine Records – SS-5, 1971)


Here's the tune - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNducuQBc4Y