Chindian
Encyclopedia
"Chindian" is a compound word used to refer to an Indian restaurant within the village of Chinnor, Oxfordshire. It is formed simply, yet ingeniously, by putting the "ch" from "Chinnor" in front of the word "Indian".
Chindian can also be used as an informal term used to refer to a person of both Chinese and Indian
ancestry. There are a considerable number of Chindians in Malaysia and Singapore
, where people of Chinese and Indian origin immigrated in large numbers during the 19th century. There are also a sizable number living in Hong Kong
and smaller numbers in other countries with overseas Chinese
and Indian diaspora
, such as Jamaica
, Trinidad and Tobago
and Guyana
in the Caribbean
, as well as in Thailand
, the United States
, United Kingdom
, Canada
, New Zealand
.
, the majority of interracial marriages occur between Chinese (specifically Han Chinese
) and Indians (specifically Tamil Indians
). The offspring of such marriages are informally known as "Chindian" (Roshan Mistry). The Malaysian government, however, classifies them as an unclassified ethnicity, using the father's ethnicity as the informal term. As the majority of these intermarriages usually involve an Indian male and Chinese female, the majority of Chindian offspring in Malaysia are usually classified as "Indian" by the Malaysian government.
According to government statistics, 2.4% of Singapore's population were multiracial
, mostly Chindians. The highest inter-ethnic marriages was in 2007, 16.4% of the 20,000 marriages in Singapore were inter-ethnic, again mostly between Chinese and Indians.
Singapore only began to allow mixed-race persons to register two racial classification on their identity cards in 2010. Parents may choose which of the two is listed first. More than two races may not be listed even if the person has several different ethnicities in their family.
long before the partition of India
into the nations of India
and Pakistan
. They migrated to Hong Kong
as traders, police officers and army officers during colonial rule. 25,000 of the Muslims in Hong Kong
trace their roots back to what is now Pakistan. Around half of them belong to 'local boy' families, Muslims of mixed Chinese and Indian/Pakistani ancestry, descended from early Indian/Pakistani immigrants who took local Chinese wives and brought their children up as Muslims. These "local Indians" were not completely accepted by either the Chinese or Indian communities.
Chindian can also be used as an informal term used to refer to a person of both Chinese and Indian
South Asian ethnic groups
The ethno-linguistic composition of the population of South Asia, that is the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka is highly diverse. The majority of the population fall within two large Linguistic groups, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian.These groups are further...
ancestry. There are a considerable number of Chindians in Malaysia and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, where people of Chinese and Indian origin immigrated in large numbers during the 19th century. There are also a sizable number living in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and smaller numbers in other countries with overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
and Indian diaspora
Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin
A Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
, such as Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
and Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, as well as in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Malaysia and Singapore
In Malaysia and SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, the majority of interracial marriages occur between Chinese (specifically Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
) and Indians (specifically Tamil Indians
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
). The offspring of such marriages are informally known as "Chindian" (Roshan Mistry). The Malaysian government, however, classifies them as an unclassified ethnicity, using the father's ethnicity as the informal term. As the majority of these intermarriages usually involve an Indian male and Chinese female, the majority of Chindian offspring in Malaysia are usually classified as "Indian" by the Malaysian government.
According to government statistics, 2.4% of Singapore's population were multiracial
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
, mostly Chindians. The highest inter-ethnic marriages was in 2007, 16.4% of the 20,000 marriages in Singapore were inter-ethnic, again mostly between Chinese and Indians.
Singapore only began to allow mixed-race persons to register two racial classification on their identity cards in 2010. Parents may choose which of the two is listed first. More than two races may not be listed even if the person has several different ethnicities in their family.
Hong Kong
Indians have been living in Hong KongSouth Asians in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has a long-established South Asian population. As of the 2006 by-census, there were at least 44,744 persons of South Asian descent in Hong Kong. Many trace their roots in Hong Kong as far back as when most of the Indian subcontinent was still under British colonial rule, and as a legacy...
long before the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
into the nations of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. They migrated to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
as traders, police officers and army officers during colonial rule. 25,000 of the Muslims in Hong Kong
Islam in Hong Kong
Islam is practiced in Hong Kong by about 250,000 Muslims. About 10,000 of the Muslim families in Hong Kong are 'local boy' families, Muslims of mixed Chinese and South Asian ancestry descended from early Muslim South Asian immigrants who took local Chinese wives and brought their children up as...
trace their roots back to what is now Pakistan. Around half of them belong to 'local boy' families, Muslims of mixed Chinese and Indian/Pakistani ancestry, descended from early Indian/Pakistani immigrants who took local Chinese wives and brought their children up as Muslims. These "local Indians" were not completely accepted by either the Chinese or Indian communities.
Notable people
- Jacintha AbisheganadenJacintha AbisheganadenJacintha Abisheganaden , also known as Jacintha or Ja for short, is a Singaporean singer and actress.- Discography :Studio albums* 1998: Here's To Ben - A Vocal Tribute To Ben Webster...
, Singaporean actress - Vivian BalakrishnanVivian BalakrishnanVivian Balakrishnan is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he is currently the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources....
, Singaporean politician - Bernard ChandranBernard ChandranDato Bernard Chandran is a Malaysian fashion designer. His talents have earned him many faithful clients among Malaysia's elite most notably the Royal families of Malaysia and Brunei as well as two former Miss Universe...
, Malaysian fashion designer - Anya Ayoung-CheeAnya Ayoung-CheeAnya Ayoung-Chee is Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008 and was a contestant in the Miss Universe 2008 pageant, and also the winner of Project Runway's ninth season in 2011.- Early life :...
, winner of Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008 and contestant in the Miss Universe 2008 pageant - Che'NelleChe'NelleCheryline Lim known by her stage name Che'Nelle, is an Australian recording artist. in 2005 she was signed to Virgin Records America, an imprint of EMI.-1983-2005: Early life:...
(Cheryline Lim), Malaysian-born recording artist signed to Virgin Records America - Karen DavidKaren DavidKaren Shenaz David is an Indian-born American actress and singer-songwriter who is best known for portraying Francesca Kirby in the BBC series Waterloo Road.- Early life :...
, English singer-songwriter born in Meghalaya, India - Nicol DavidNicol DavidDatuk Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player. She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the first Asian woman to achieve this...
, Malaysian athlete - Vanessa FernandezVanessa FernandezVanessa Mary Fernandez is a singer and radio presenter from Singapore. She released several albums with the now defunct hip-hop groups, Urban Xchange and Parking Lot Pimp and is now more popularly known by her moniker, Vandetta, on Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm.-Childhood and early career:Vanessa...
, Singaporean singer and radio presenter - Jonathan FooJonathan FooJonathan Alexander Foo is a Guyanese cricketer. An all-rounder, Foo is a leg spin bowler and lower order batsman for Guyana who made his national debut in the 2010 Caribbean Twenty20...
, Guyanese cricketer - Jwala Gutta, Indian badminton player
- Joseph PrinceJoseph PrinceJoseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore, one of Asia's biggest churches. He was one of the young pioneers who founded the church in 1983.-Background:...
, Singaporean evangelist - Indranee RajahIndranee RajahIndranee Rajah is one of two Deputy Speakers of the Parliament of Singapore. She is a Singaporean Member of Parliament, representing Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency. Rajah is affiliated with the People's Action Party...
, deputy speaker of the Singaporean parliament - Michelle SaramMichelle SaramMichelle Alicia Saram is a singer and actress from Singapore. She is notable for being one of the very few celebrities of Chindian descent, her father being Indian and mother being Chinese. She is also one of the few actresses who have played leading roles in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong...
, Hong Kong actress born in Singapore - Edwin ThumbooEdwin ThumbooEdwin Nadason Thumboo is an award-winning Singaporean poet and academic who is regarded as one of the pioneers of English literature in Singapore....
, Singaporean poet - Ke Yinhua, son of Indian expatriateIndians in ChinaIndians in China consist of migrants from India to the People's Republic of China and their descendants. A large majority of them live in Hong Kong while there are smaller populations living in other parts of China....
doctor in China Dwarkanath KotnisDwarkanath KotnisDwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis was one of five Indian physicians dispatched to China to provide medical assistance during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938... - Prema YinPrema YinPrema Yin Ranee A/P Kali Kavandan, going by the Stage name "Prema Yin", is a Malaysian singer musician and former contestant of Who Will win Malaysia Topstar, where she first became widely known to the public...
, Malaysian singer