Pekin, Illinois is the seat of Tazewell County, adjacent southeast to Peoria County, of which the seat is the eponymous city. Pekin and Peoria are not far northeast of the 'dead center' of Illinois and roughly equidistant from Indiana to the east and Missouri to the west. The founders of Pekin chose the name based on a mistaken and uncorroborated belief they were on the exact opposite end of the world from Peking, now Beijing, China. In turn, the same erroneous belief was the reason the founders of Pekin Community High School (PCHS, est.1867) chose the nickname 'Chinks'; decades later when roller skating became popular the local skating venue adapted the name 'Chink Rink'.

This all came to an end in 1981. Long before Daniel Snyder, owner of the then Washington Redskins, caved and had them merely renamed the 'Football Team', the PCHS board finally bowed down to roughly five years of politically correct pressure about cultural insensitivity and changed the school's nickname from 'chink' to dragon. However, a dragon was almost always a co-mascot with an illustrated Chinese man for PCHS.

More Info: en.m.wikipedia.org