Crossword Genius

Treated like an old convict from East China, end badly (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

enchained

'treated like an old convict' is the definition.

'east china end badly' is the wordplay.
'east' becomes 'e' ('E' can be a synonym of 'east').
'badly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'china'+'end'='chinaend'
'chinaend' is an anagram of 'nchained'.
'e'+'nchained'='ENCHAINED'

'from' acts as a link.

(Another definition for enchained that I've seen is " Kept in shackles".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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