Definition of "Celestial"

However, with true Celestial pertinacity, `John' has stuck to his work.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 256

Kharbin […] It is quite a modern Russian town having been founded in 1899 as a centre for the administration of the East China Railyway and the civil and military control of Manchuria. The Celestials call it Ha-êrh-pin. The city was officially opened to international trade on the 14th January 1907, in accordance with the terms of the Chino-Japanese treaty of the 22nd December 1905.

1912, Northern China, The Valley of the Blue River, Korea‎, Hachette & Company, page 255‎

The Celestial was a smart old coot, too. I recall a cowboy who had a violent toothache, went in to try and fool him and told ‘Doc’ Hay he was plenty sick, […]

1952 January 25, “HISTORY: Ing ‘Doc’ Hay is dead”, in Blue Mountain Eagle‎