Overseas Chinese
Encyclopedia
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese
birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area (China
, Hong Kong
, Macau
and Taiwan
). People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese.
The term "Overseas Chinese" can refer narrowly to those of Han Chinese
ethnicity, or more broadly, to all 56 recognized ethnic groups in China; Chinese people in the sense of Zhonghua minzu
. For example, members of the Tibetan diaspora
may travel to China on passes granted to certain Overseas Chinese. In Southeast Asia
and particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, the state classifies the Peranakan
as Chinese despite partial assimilation into Malay culture.
One study on overseas Chinese defines several criteria for identifying non-Han overseas Chinese: there is evidence of descent from groups living within or originating from China, they still retain their culture, self-identify with Chinese culture or acknowledge Chinese origin, although they are not categorized as ethnic Han Chinese. Under this definition, "ethnic minority" overseas Chinese number about 7 million, or about 8.4% of the total overseas population.
has various terms equivalent to the English "Overseas Chinese" which refers to Chinese citizen
s residing in countries other than China: Huáqiáo or Hoan-kheh in Hokkien .
Huáyì refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/reference/panenc/huaqiao.html Another often-used term is 海外华人 (Hǎiwài Huárén), a more literal translation of Overseas Chinese; it is often used by the PRC government
to refer to people of Chinese ethnicities who live outside the PRC, regardless of citizenship.
Overseas Chinese who are ethnically Han Chinese, such as Cantonese
, Hokkien
, or Hakka
refer to Overseas Chinese as 唐人 (Tángrén), pronounced tòhng yàn in Cantonese, Tn̂g-lâng in Hokkien
, and tong nyin in Hakka. Literally, it means Tang people, a reference to Tang dynasty China
when it was ruling China proper. It should be noted that this term is commonly used by the Cantonese
, Hakka
and Hokkien as a colloquial reference to the Chinese people, and has little relevance to the ancient dynasty.
when Zheng He
(1371–1435) became the envoy of Ming. He sent people - many of them Cantonese
and Hokkien
- to explore and trade in the South China Sea
and in the Indian Ocean
.
, North America
, Oceania
, the Caribbean
, Latin America
, South Africa
and Russia
.
In the 19th century, the age of colonialism
was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora
began. Many colonies lacked a large pool of laborers. Meanwhile, in the provinces of Fujian
and Guangdong
in China, there was a surge in emigration as a result of the poverty and ruin caused by the Taiping rebellion
. The Qing Empire was forced to allow its subjects to work overseas under colonial powers. Many Hokkien chose to work in Southeast Asia (where they had earlier links starting from the Ming
era), as did the Cantonese. The city of Taishan
in Guangdong province was the source for many of the economic migrants. For the countries in North America
and Australasia
, great numbers of laborers were needed in the dangerous tasks of gold mining
and railway construction. Widespread famine in Guangdong impelled many Cantonese to work in these countries to improve the living conditions of their relatives. Some overseas Chinese were sold to South America
during the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
(1855–1867) in the Pearl River Delta
in Guangdong. After World War II
many people from the New Territories
in Hong Kong
emigrated to the UK (mainly England) and to the Netherlands to earn a better living.
From the mid-19th century onward, emigration has been directed primarily to Western countries such as the United States
, Canada
, Australia
, New Zealand
, Brazil
, and the nations of Western Europe
; as well as to Peru
where they are called tusán, Panama
, and to a lesser extent to Mexico
. Many of these emigrants who entered Western countries were themselves overseas Chinese or were from Taiwan or Hong Kong, particularly from the 1950s to the 1980s, a period during which the PRC placed severe restrictions on the movement of its citizens. In 1984, Britain agreed to transfer the sovereignty of Hong Kong
to the PRC; this triggered another wave of migration to the United Kingdom (mainly England), Australia, Canada, USA, Latin America and other parts of the world. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
further accelerated the migration. The wave calmed after Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty in 1997. In addition, many citizens of Hong Kong hold citizenships or have current visas in other countries so if the need arises, they can leave Hong Kong at short notice. In fact, after the Tiananmen Square incident, the lines for immigration visas increased at every consulate in Hong Kong. More recent Chinese presences have developed in Europe
, where they number nearly a million, and in Russia
, they number over 600,000, concentrated in Russian Far East
. Chinese who emigrated to Vietnam
beginning in the 18th century are referred to as Hoa.
It is estimated that only 26,700 of the old Chinese community
now remain in South Korea
. However, in recent years, immigration from mainland China has increased; 624,994 persons of Chinese
nationality have immigrated to South Korea, including 443,566 of ethnic Korean descent.
In recent years, the People's Republic of China
has built increasingly stronger ties with Africa
n nations. As of August 2007, there were an estimated 750,000 Chinese nationals working or living for extended periods in different African countries. An estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese live in South Africa
. In a 2007 New York Times article, Chad Chamber of Commerce Director estimated an "influx of at least 40,000 Chinese in coming years" to Chad
. as many as 40,000 Chinese lived in Namibia
, an estimated 80,000 Chinese in Zambia
and 50,000 Chinese in Nigeria
. As many as 100,000 Chinese live and work across Angola
. 35,000 Chinese migrant workers lived in Algeria
.
Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok
, once closed to foreigners, bristles with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. Experts predict that the Chinese diaspora in Russia
will increase to at least 10 million by 2010 and Chinese may become the dominant ethnic group in the Russian Far East region 20 to 30 years from now.
Other experts discount such stories estimating the numbers of Chinese in Russia at less than half a million, most of whom are temporary traders.
A growing Chinese community in Germany consists of around 76,000 people . An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 Chinese live in Austria, including a significant Chinese community in Vienna
.
, the arts
, and academia
.
.
In countries with small Chinese minorities, the economic disparity can be remarkable. For example, in 1998, ethnic Chinese made up just 1% of the population of the Philippines
and 3% of the population in Indonesia
, but controlled 40% of the Philippines private economy and 70% of the Indonesian private economy. The book World on Fire
, describing the Chinese as a "market-dominant minority
", notes that "Chinese market dominance and intense resentment amongst the indigenous majority is characteristic of virtually every country in Southeast Asia except Thailand and Singapore".
This asymmetrical economic position has incited anti-Chinese sentiment among the poorer majorities. Sometimes the anti-Chinese attitudes turn violent, such as the May 13 Incident
in Malaysia in 1969 and the Jakarta riots of May 1998
in Indonesia, in which more than 2,000 people died, mostly rioters burned to death in a shopping mall. During the colonial era, some genocides killed ten thousands of Chinese.
During the Indonesian killings of 1965–66
, in which more than 500,000 people died, ethnic Chinese were killed and their properties looted and burned as a result of anti-Chinese racism
on the excuse that Dipa "Amat" Aidit
had brought the PKI closer to China. The anti-Chinese legislation
was in the Indonesian constitution until 1998.
A major point of friction is the apparent tendency of overseas Chinese to segregate themselves into a subculture. For example, the anti-Chinese Kuala Lumpur Racial Riots of 13 May 1969
and Jakarta Riots of May 1998
were believed to have been motivated by these racially-biased perceptions. In 2006, rioters damaged shops owned by Chinese-Tonga
ns in Nukualofa
. Chinese migrants were evacuated from the riot-torn Solomon Islands
.
Ethnic politics can be found to motivate both sides of the debate. In Malaysia, Overseas Chinese tend to support equal and meritocratic treatment on the expectation that they would not be discriminated against in the resulting competition for government contracts, university places, etc., whereas many "Bumiputra
" ("native sons") Malays
oppose this on the grounds that their group needs such protections in order to retain their patrimony. These are carried out through affirmative actions. The question of to what extent ethnic Malays, Chinese, or others are "native" to Malaysia is a sensitive political one. It is currently a taboo for Chinese politicians to raise the issue of Bumiputra protections in parliament, as this would be deemed ethnic incitement.
Many of the overseas Chinese who worked on railways in North America in the 19th century suffered from racial discrimination in Canada
and the United States
. Although discriminatory laws have been repealed or are no longer enforced today, both countries had at one time introduced statutes that barred Chinese from entering the country, for example the United States Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (repealed 1943) or the Canadian Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
(repealed 1947).
Overseas Chinese vary widely as to their degree of assimilation, their interactions with the surrounding communities (see Chinatown
), and their relationship with China
. Thailand
has the largest overseas Chinese community and is also the most successful case of full assimilation. For over 400 years, Thai-Chinese have largely intermarried and assimilated with their compatriots. The present Thai monarch, Chakri Dynasty, is founded by King Rama I who himself is partly Chinese. His Predecessor, King Taksin of Thonburi dynastry, is the son of Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and is born with Chinese name. In Myanmar
, the Chinese rarely intermarry (even amongst different Chinese linguistic groups), but have largely adopted the Burmese culture whilst maintaining Chinese culture affinities. Between 1965 to 1993, the affairs of state once were prevent to those with Chinese name, yielded the number of people switched to the local term instead in Cambodia
. Indonesia
, and Myanmar
were among the countries that do not allow birth names to be registered in foreign languages, including Chinese. But since 2003, the Indonesia
n government has allowed overseas Chinese to use their Chinese name or using their Chinese family name on their birth certificate.
In Vietnam
, Chinese names are pronounced with Sino-Vietnamese readings. For example, the name of the Chinese president, (pinyin
: Hú Jǐntāo
), would be transcribed as "Hồ Cẩm Đào". In Western countries, the overseas Chinese generally use romanised versions of their Chinese names, and the use of local first names is also common.
On the other hand, in Malaysia, Singapore
and Brunei
, overseas Chinese have maintained a distinct communal identity, though the rate and state of being assimilated to the local, in this case a multicultural society, is currently on par with that of other Chinese communities (see Peranakan
). In the Philippines many younger Overseas Chinese are well assimilated, whereas the older ones tend to be considered as 'foreigners'. The Chinese have also brought a cultural influence to some other countries such as Vietnam, where many Chinese customs have been adopted by native Vietnamese.
, assimilation through generational changes, and official policies of their country of residence. The general trend is - increase of Mandarin-speaking Chinese among the new arrivals, making it the most common language of chinatowns.
, the language situation of overseas Chinese varies greatly even amongst neighboring nations.
, a nation with an ethnic Chinese majority population, Mandarin
is recognized as one of its official languages, along with simplified Chinese characters, in contrast to other overseas Chinese communities which almost exclusively used traditional Chinese characters until the 1990s, when nationals of the PRC began to emigrate in substantial numbers and brought with them the simplified Chinese characters. Although ethnic Chinese in Singapore are predominantly of Hokkien
descent, the government of Singapore discourages the usage of non-Mandarin Chinese languages through the Speak Mandarin Campaign
. The official policy in Singapore also has an impact on neighboring Johor
, in southern Peninsular Malaysia, where Mandarin is predominantly spoken among the Chinese communities there. As the Singapore government actively promotes English
as the common language of the multiracial society of Singapore, younger Chinese Singaporeans are mostly bilingual in Mandarin and English.
speak a wide variety of dialects and Mandarin, their prevalence being concentrated around particular metropolitan centres: the Penang
, Klang
, Kelantan
and Malacca
groups are predominantly Hokkien
-speaking (Penang has its own version of Hokkien, Kelantan has its own version of Hokkien too); the Kuala Lumpur
, Seremban
, Kuantan
and Ipoh
groups are predominantly Cantonese and Hakka-speaking; whereas in East Malaysia
(Malaysian Borneo
), Hakka and Mandarin are widely spoken, except in Sibu
, where the Fuzhou dialect
is predominant, and in Sandakan
, where Cantonese is spoken. Regardless of location, however, younger generations tend to speak Mandarin
, which is taught in schools. A significant number of Chinese are English
-educated, who speak mainly English. Most Chinese Malaysians can speak Malay
, the national language, and English, which is widely used in business.
and Thailand
had been subjected to official, and at times draconian, assimilation policies, and as a result many of them are no longer proficient in the Chinese language (particularly ethnic Chinese who lived in Java). Chinese who lived in Sumatra did not give up some of the dialects. Most of the ethnic Chinese in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, are still able to speak creole Hokkien within their community. This is due to the number of generations that have lived in Indonesia and their exposure to cultural assimilation. Most of the ethnic Chinese who live in Java have a long line (10 generations) of forefathers before them, where the ethnic Chinese who live in Sumatra have a relatively short generation of forefathers (4 or 5 generations). There is also a small population of Hakka
Chinese in Indonesia, most notably in Bangka Belitung province, Pontianak
and Singkawang
where they form a significant part of the local population, while in the areas from Pontianak to Kendawangan on the southern tip of West Kalimantan are populated by Teochew speakers much like Bangkok
, Thailand
. As to their identity, Chinese Indonesians are more Indonesians compared to Chinese.
live in cities such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and Nakhon Sawan. A large majority of them belong to the Teochew dialect group of Han Chinese. A small number of Chinese people, mainly belonging to the Yunnanese dialect group, also live in the northern part of Thailand which is in close proximity to their homeland in Yunnan province of China. Charoen Pokphand Group, founded by Thai-Chinese Chearavanont family, is currenly single largest foreign investors in China.
and constitute around 7% of the population. Chinese ethnics can be seen in all towns and many towns are exclusive to ethnic Chinese. Most Chinese Cambodians belong to the Hokkien
and Teochew dialect groups. Many Khmer people are taught Mandarin in school along side many Sino-Khmers and ethnic Vietnamese people
.
) and Cantonese. Mandarin is taught at all Chinese schools, and in most Chinese schools, the traditional Chinese script is usually taught.
. In the United States and Canada, Chinese is the third most spoken language. Cantonese has historically been the most prevalent variety due to immigrants being mostly from southern China from the 19th century up through the 1980s. However, Mandarin is becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the opening up of the PRC.
In New York City
at least, although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only ten percent of Chinese speakers, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them and is on its way to replace Cantonese as their lingua franca
. Although Min Chinese is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population there, it is not used as a lingua franca because speakers of other dialect groups do not learn Min.
In Richmond
(part of the Greater Vancouver
metropolitan area in Canada), 44% of the population is Chinese. Chinese words can be seen everywhere from local banks to grocery stores. In the broader Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area, 18% of the population is Chinese. Similarly in Toronto
, which is the largest city in Canada, Chinese people make up 11.4% of the local population with the percentages higher in the suburbs of Markham
, Mississauga and within the city in its east end of Scarborough
. In these regions Chinese people make up between 20-50% of their total populations respectively. Cantonese and Mandarin are the most popular Chinese languages.
China's economical growth brings greater immigration opportunities to mainland Chinese. A 2011 survey shown that 60% of Chinese millionaires plan to immigrate, mostly to the USA or Canada. The EB-5 Investment Visa allows many powerful Chinese to seek for a USA citizenship, and recent reports show that 75% of applicants to this visa in 2011 were Chinese.
and the Republic of China
maintain highly complex relationships with overseas Chinese populations. Both maintain cabinet level ministries to deal with overseas Chinese affairs, and many local governments within the PRC have overseas Chinese bureaus. Both the PRC and ROC have some legislative representation for overseas Chinese. In the case of the PRC, some seats in the National People's Congress
are allocated for returned overseas Chinese. In the ROC's Legislative Yuan
, there used to be eight seats allocated for overseas Chinese. These seats were apportioned to the political parties based on their vote totals on Taiwan, and then the parties assigned the seats to overseas Chinese party loyalists
. Now, political parties in the ROC are still allowed to assign overseas Chinese into the Legislative Yuan, but they are not required to. Most of these members elected to the Legislative Yuan hold dual citizenship, but must renounce their foreign citizenship before being sworn in.
Overseas Chinese have sometimes played an important role in Chinese politics. Most of the funding for the Chinese revolution of 1911
came from overseas Chinese.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the ROC tended to seek the support of overseas Chinese communities through branches of the Kuomintang
based on Sun Yat-sen
's use of expatriate
Chinese communities to raise money for his revolution. During this period, the People's Republic of China tended to view overseas Chinese with suspicion as possible capitalist
infiltrators and tended to value relationships with southeast Asian nations as more important than gaining support of overseas Chinese, and in the Bandung declaration explicitly stated that overseas Chinese owed primary loyalty to their home nation. On the other hand, overseas Chinese in their home nations were often persecuted for suspected or fabricated ties to "Communist China". This was used as a pretext for the massacres of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.
After the Deng Xiaoping
reforms, the attitude of the PRC toward overseas Chinese changed dramatically. Rather than being seen with suspicion, they were seen as people which could aid PRC development via their skills and capital. During the 1980s, the PRC actively attempted to court the support of overseas Chinese by among other things, returning properties that were confiscated after the 1949 revolution. More recently PRC policy has attempted to maintain the support of recently emigrated Chinese, who consist largely of Chinese seeking graduate education in the West. Many overseas Chinese are now investing in mainland China providing financial
resources, social and cultural networks, contacts and opportunities. However, some distrust between Chinese and overseas Chinese still remains.
According to Article 5 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China
: "Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality". However the Nationality Law of the Republic of China
, which permits dual citizenship, considers these persons to be citizens of the ROC.
where they make up a majority of the population of Singapore
and significant minority populations in Thailand
, Malaysia, Indonesia
, Brunei
, the Philippines
, and Vietnam
. The overseas populations in those areas arrived between the 16th and 19th centuries mostly from the maritime provinces of Guangdong
and Fujian
, followed by Hainan
. There were incidences of earlier emigration from the 15th centuries in particular to Malacca
.
Urban areas with large Chinese populations include Bangkok
with 2,900,000 (2009 census, registered resident only), Singapore
with 2,800,000 (2010 census), Kuala Lumpur
with 612,277 (2000 census, city only), Penang
with 650,000 (2005), Jakarta
with 528,300 (2010 census), New York City Metropolitan Area with 665,714 and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area with 562,355 (2009), as well as the Greater Toronto Area
with 486,300 (2006 Census, metropolitan area).
Statistics compiled using local country statistics or best available estimates. Note that the percentages may not add up due to varying census and estimate dates.
and Burma, political and ethnic strife has cause a significant number of people of Chinese origins to re-emigrate.
Due to the growing economic strength and the influence on the world, many overseas Chinese have began to migrate back to China. The trend is expected to rise even more in the future.
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area (China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, 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...
, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and Taiwan
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
). People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese.
The term "Overseas Chinese" can refer narrowly to those of 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...
ethnicity, or more broadly, to all 56 recognized ethnic groups in China; Chinese people in the sense of Zhonghua minzu
Zhonghua minzu
Zhonghua minzu , usually translated as Chinese ethnic groups or Chinese nationality, refers to the modern notion of a Chinese nationality transcending ethnic divisions, with a central identity for China as a whole...
. For example, members of the Tibetan diaspora
Tibetan diaspora
The Tibetan diaspora is a term used to refer to the communities of Tibetan people living outside Tibet. Tibetan emigration happened in two waves: one in 1959 following the 14th Dalai Lama's self-exile in India, and the other in the 1980s when Tibet was opened to trade and tourism. The third wave...
may travel to China on passes granted to certain Overseas Chinese. In Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, the state classifies the Peranakan
Peranakan
Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....
as Chinese despite partial assimilation into Malay culture.
One study on overseas Chinese defines several criteria for identifying non-Han overseas Chinese: there is evidence of descent from groups living within or originating from China, they still retain their culture, self-identify with Chinese culture or acknowledge Chinese origin, although they are not categorized as ethnic Han Chinese. Under this definition, "ethnic minority" overseas Chinese number about 7 million, or about 8.4% of the total overseas population.
Terminology
The Chinese languageChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
has various terms equivalent to the English "Overseas Chinese" which refers to Chinese citizen
Chinese citizen
Chinese citizen can refer to*A citizen of the People's Republic of China **Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, the law which defines PRC citizenship**People's Republic of China passport, granted to PRC citizens...
s residing in countries other than China: Huáqiáo or Hoan-kheh in Hokkien .
Huáyì refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/reference/panenc/huaqiao.html Another often-used term is 海外华人 (Hǎiwài Huárén), a more literal translation of Overseas Chinese; it is often used by the PRC government
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
to refer to people of Chinese ethnicities who live outside the PRC, regardless of citizenship.
Overseas Chinese who are ethnically Han Chinese, such as Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
, Hokkien
Hoklo people
The Hoklo people are Han Chinese people whose traditional Ancestral homes are in southern Fujian of South China...
, or Hakka
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
refer to Overseas Chinese as 唐人 (Tángrén), pronounced tòhng yàn in Cantonese, Tn̂g-lâng in Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
, and tong nyin in Hakka. Literally, it means Tang people, a reference to Tang dynasty China
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
when it was ruling China proper. It should be noted that this term is commonly used by the Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
, Hakka
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
and Hokkien as a colloquial reference to the Chinese people, and has little relevance to the ancient dynasty.
History
The Chinese people have a long history of migrating overseas. One of the migrations dates back to the Ming dynastyMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
when Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
(1371–1435) became the envoy of Ming. He sent people - many of them Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
and Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
- to explore and trade in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
and in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
Waves of immigration
Different waves of immigration led to subgroups among overseas Chinese such as the new and old immigrants in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, 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...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
In the 19th century, the age of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora
Chinese migration
Waves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. The mass emigration known as the Chinese Diaspora, which occurred from the 19th century to 1949, was mainly caused by wars and starvation in mainland China, as well as the problems resulting from political corruption...
began. Many colonies lacked a large pool of laborers. Meanwhile, in the provinces of Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
in China, there was a surge in emigration as a result of the poverty and ruin caused by the Taiping rebellion
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...
. The Qing Empire was forced to allow its subjects to work overseas under colonial powers. Many Hokkien chose to work in Southeast Asia (where they had earlier links starting from the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
era), as did the Cantonese. The city of Taishan
Taishan
Taishan is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is part of the Greater Taishan Region....
in Guangdong province was the source for many of the economic migrants. For the countries in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, great numbers of laborers were needed in the dangerous tasks of gold mining
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
and railway construction. Widespread famine in Guangdong impelled many Cantonese to work in these countries to improve the living conditions of their relatives. Some overseas Chinese were sold to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
during the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
Punti–Hakka Clan Wars or Hakka–Punti Clan Wars refer to the conflict between the Hakka and Punti in Guangdong, China between 1855 and 1867. The wars were particularly fierce in around the Pearl River Delta, especially in Taishan of the Sze Yup counties...
(1855–1867) in the Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta , Zhujiang Delta or Zhusanjiao in Guangdong province, People's Republic of China is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea...
in Guangdong. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
many people from the New Territories
New Territories
New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...
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...
emigrated to the UK (mainly England) and to the Netherlands to earn a better living.
From the mid-19th century onward, emigration has been directed primarily to Western countries such as the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 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...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 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...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and the nations of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
; as well as to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
where they are called tusán, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, and to a lesser extent to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Many of these emigrants who entered Western countries were themselves overseas Chinese or were from Taiwan or Hong Kong, particularly from the 1950s to the 1980s, a period during which the PRC placed severe restrictions on the movement of its citizens. In 1984, Britain agreed to transfer the sovereignty of 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...
to the PRC; this triggered another wave of migration to the United Kingdom (mainly England), Australia, Canada, USA, Latin America and other parts of the world. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
further accelerated the migration. The wave calmed after Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty in 1997. In addition, many citizens of Hong Kong hold citizenships or have current visas in other countries so if the need arises, they can leave Hong Kong at short notice. In fact, after the Tiananmen Square incident, the lines for immigration visas increased at every consulate in Hong Kong. More recent Chinese presences have developed in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where they number nearly a million, and in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, they number over 600,000, concentrated in Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
. Chinese who emigrated to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
beginning in the 18th century are referred to as Hoa.
It is estimated that only 26,700 of the old Chinese community
Ethnic Chinese in Korea
There has been a recognisable community of Chinese people in Korea since the 1880s. Most early migrants came from Shandong province on the east coast of China; many of them and their descendants have emigrated...
now remain in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. However, in recent years, immigration from mainland China has increased; 624,994 persons of Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
nationality have immigrated to South Korea, including 443,566 of ethnic Korean descent.
In recent years, the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
has built increasingly stronger ties with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n nations. As of August 2007, there were an estimated 750,000 Chinese nationals working or living for extended periods in different African countries. An estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese live in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. In a 2007 New York Times article, Chad Chamber of Commerce Director estimated an "influx of at least 40,000 Chinese in coming years" to Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
. as many as 40,000 Chinese lived in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, an estimated 80,000 Chinese in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and 50,000 Chinese in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. As many as 100,000 Chinese live and work across Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. 35,000 Chinese migrant workers lived in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, once closed to foreigners, bristles with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. Experts predict that the Chinese diaspora in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
will increase to at least 10 million by 2010 and Chinese may become the dominant ethnic group in the Russian Far East region 20 to 30 years from now.
Other experts discount such stories estimating the numbers of Chinese in Russia at less than half a million, most of whom are temporary traders.
A growing Chinese community in Germany consists of around 76,000 people . An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 Chinese live in Austria, including a significant Chinese community in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Occupations
The Chinese in Southeast Asian countries have established themselves in commerce and finance. In North America, Europe and Oceania, occupations are diverse and impossible to generalize; ranging from catering to significant ranks in medicineMedicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
, and academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
.
Overseas Chinese experience
The Chinese usually identify a person by ethnic origin instead of nationality. As long as the person is of Chinese descent, that person is considered Chinese, and if that person lives outside of China, that person is overseas Chinese. The majority of PRC Chinese do not understand the overseas Chinese experience of being a minority, as ethnic Han Chinese comprise approximately 92% of the population.Discrimination
Overseas Chinese have sometimes experienced hostility and discriminationDiscrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
.
In countries with small Chinese minorities, the economic disparity can be remarkable. For example, in 1998, ethnic Chinese made up just 1% of the population of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and 3% of the population in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, but controlled 40% of the Philippines private economy and 70% of the Indonesian private economy. The book World on Fire
World on Fire
World On Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability is a 2002 book published by Yale Law School professor Amy Chua...
, describing the Chinese as a "market-dominant minority
Dominant minority
A dominant minority, also known as alien elites if they are recent immigrants, is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population...
", notes that "Chinese market dominance and intense resentment amongst the indigenous majority is characteristic of virtually every country in Southeast Asia except Thailand and Singapore".
This asymmetrical economic position has incited anti-Chinese sentiment among the poorer majorities. Sometimes the anti-Chinese attitudes turn violent, such as the May 13 Incident
May 13 Incident
The 13 May Incident is a term for the Sino-Malay sectarian violences in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia, which began on 13 May 1969...
in Malaysia in 1969 and the Jakarta riots of May 1998
Jakarta Riots of May 1998
The May 1998 Riots of Indonesia were incidents of mass violence that occurred throughout Indonesia, mainly in Medan in the province of North Sumatra , the capital city of Jakarta , and Surakarta in the province of Central Java...
in Indonesia, in which more than 2,000 people died, mostly rioters burned to death in a shopping mall. During the colonial era, some genocides killed ten thousands of Chinese.
During the Indonesian killings of 1965–66
Indonesian killings of 1965–66
The Indonesian killings of 1965–1966 were an anti-communist purge following a failed coup in Indonesia. The most widely accepted estimates are that over half a million people were killed...
, in which more than 500,000 people died, ethnic Chinese were killed and their properties looted and burned as a result of anti-Chinese racism
Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians
Discrimination against people of Chinese descent in Indonesia has been recorded since at least 1740, when the Dutch Colonial Government killed up to 10,000 people of Chinese descent during the Chinezenmoord. In the period since then, discrimination and violence have been recorded both foreign and...
on the excuse that Dipa "Amat" Aidit
Dipa Nusantara Aidit
Dipa Nusantara Aidit was a senior leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia . Born Ahmad Aidit on Bangka Island, he was nicknamed "Amat". Aidit was educated in the Dutch colonial system...
had brought the PKI closer to China. The anti-Chinese legislation
Anti-Chinese legislation in Indonesia
Indonesian law affecting Chinese-Indonesians were conducted through a series of laws, directives, or constitutions enacted by the Government of Indonesia that affected the lives of Chinese Indonesians or Chinese nationals living in Indonesia since the nation's independence. The laws were considered...
was in the Indonesian constitution until 1998.
A major point of friction is the apparent tendency of overseas Chinese to segregate themselves into a subculture. For example, the anti-Chinese Kuala Lumpur Racial Riots of 13 May 1969
May 13 Incident
The 13 May Incident is a term for the Sino-Malay sectarian violences in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia, which began on 13 May 1969...
and Jakarta Riots of May 1998
Jakarta Riots of May 1998
The May 1998 Riots of Indonesia were incidents of mass violence that occurred throughout Indonesia, mainly in Medan in the province of North Sumatra , the capital city of Jakarta , and Surakarta in the province of Central Java...
were believed to have been motivated by these racially-biased perceptions. In 2006, rioters damaged shops owned by Chinese-Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
ns in Nukualofa
Nukuʻalofa
Nukualofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the southern most island group of Tonga.-Mythological origins:...
. Chinese migrants were evacuated from the riot-torn Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
Ethnic politics can be found to motivate both sides of the debate. In Malaysia, Overseas Chinese tend to support equal and meritocratic treatment on the expectation that they would not be discriminated against in the resulting competition for government contracts, university places, etc., whereas many "Bumiputra
Bumiputra
Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago. The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land"...
" ("native sons") Malays
Malaysian Malay
In Malaysia, the Malay population is defined by Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution as someone born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore...
oppose this on the grounds that their group needs such protections in order to retain their patrimony. These are carried out through affirmative actions. The question of to what extent ethnic Malays, Chinese, or others are "native" to Malaysia is a sensitive political one. It is currently a taboo for Chinese politicians to raise the issue of Bumiputra protections in parliament, as this would be deemed ethnic incitement.
Many of the overseas Chinese who worked on railways in North America in the 19th century suffered from racial discrimination in 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...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Although discriminatory laws have been repealed or are no longer enforced today, both countries had at one time introduced statutes that barred Chinese from entering the country, for example the United States Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (repealed 1943) or the Canadian Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, known in the Chinese Canadian community as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was an act passed by the Parliament of Canada, banning most forms of Chinese immigration to Canada...
(repealed 1947).
Assimilation
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
), and their relationship with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. 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...
has the largest overseas Chinese community and is also the most successful case of full assimilation. For over 400 years, Thai-Chinese have largely intermarried and assimilated with their compatriots. The present Thai monarch, Chakri Dynasty, is founded by King Rama I who himself is partly Chinese. His Predecessor, King Taksin of Thonburi dynastry, is the son of Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and is born with Chinese name. In Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, the Chinese rarely intermarry (even amongst different Chinese linguistic groups), but have largely adopted the Burmese culture whilst maintaining Chinese culture affinities. Between 1965 to 1993, the affairs of state once were prevent to those with Chinese name, yielded the number of people switched to the local term instead in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
were among the countries that do not allow birth names to be registered in foreign languages, including Chinese. But since 2003, the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n government has allowed overseas Chinese to use their Chinese name or using their Chinese family name on their birth certificate.
In Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Chinese names are pronounced with Sino-Vietnamese readings. For example, the name of the Chinese president, (pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Hú Jǐntāo
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
), would be transcribed as "Hồ Cẩm Đào". In Western countries, the overseas Chinese generally use romanised versions of their Chinese names, and the use of local first names is also common.
On the other hand, in Malaysia, 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...
and Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, overseas Chinese have maintained a distinct communal identity, though the rate and state of being assimilated to the local, in this case a multicultural society, is currently on par with that of other Chinese communities (see Peranakan
Peranakan
Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....
). In the Philippines many younger Overseas Chinese are well assimilated, whereas the older ones tend to be considered as 'foreigners'. The Chinese have also brought a cultural influence to some other countries such as Vietnam, where many Chinese customs have been adopted by native Vietnamese.
Language
The usage of Chinese languages by overseas Chinese has been determined by a large number of factors, including their ancestry, their migrant ancestors' "regime of origin"Country of origin
Country of origin , is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from...
, assimilation through generational changes, and official policies of their country of residence. The general trend is - increase of Mandarin-speaking Chinese among the new arrivals, making it the most common language of chinatowns.
Southeast Asia
Within Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, the language situation of overseas Chinese varies greatly even amongst neighboring nations.
Singapore
In 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...
, a nation with an ethnic Chinese majority population, Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
is recognized as one of its official languages, along with simplified Chinese characters, in contrast to other overseas Chinese communities which almost exclusively used traditional Chinese characters until the 1990s, when nationals of the PRC began to emigrate in substantial numbers and brought with them the simplified Chinese characters. Although ethnic Chinese in Singapore are predominantly of Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
descent, the government of Singapore discourages the usage of non-Mandarin Chinese languages through the Speak Mandarin Campaign
Speak Mandarin Campaign
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore...
. The official policy in Singapore also has an impact on neighboring Johor
Johor
Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...
, in southern Peninsular Malaysia, where Mandarin is predominantly spoken among the Chinese communities there. As the Singapore government actively promotes English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as the common language of the multiracial society of Singapore, younger Chinese Singaporeans are mostly bilingual in Mandarin and English.
Malaysia
Chinese MalaysiansMalaysian Chinese
Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...
speak a wide variety of dialects and Mandarin, their prevalence being concentrated around particular metropolitan centres: the Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Klang
Klang
Klang , formerly known as Kelang, is the royal city and former capital of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. It is located within the Klang District in Klang Valley. It is located about 32 km to the west of Kuala Lumpur and 6 km east of Port Klang...
, Kelantan
Kelantan
Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....
and Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
groups are predominantly Hokkien
Penang Hokkien
Penang Hokkien is a local variant of Hokkien spoken in Penang, Malaysia. It is the lingua franca among the majority Chinese population in Penang as well as other northern states of Malaysia surrounding it, and is characterised by the pronunciation of words according to the Zhangzhou dialect,...
-speaking (Penang has its own version of Hokkien, Kelantan has its own version of Hokkien too); the Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Seremban
Seremban
Seremban is the capital of the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, located within the district of Seremban, one of the seven districts of Negeri Sembilan. The town's administration is run by the Seremban Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran Seremban...
, Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
and Ipoh
Ipoh
Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....
groups are predominantly Cantonese and Hakka-speaking; whereas in East Malaysia
East Malaysia
East Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It lies to the east from Peninsular Malaysia , which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are...
(Malaysian Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
), Hakka and Mandarin are widely spoken, except in Sibu
Sibu
Sibu may refer to:*Sibu, Sarawak in Eastern Malaysia*Sibu Division*Sibu , an impact crater on Mars*Pulau Sibu, an island off the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia*Sibu , name of a goddess in the Bribri tribe, in Costa Rica...
, where the Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...
is predominant, and in Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
, where Cantonese is spoken. Regardless of location, however, younger generations tend to speak Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, which is taught in schools. A significant number of Chinese are English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-educated, who speak mainly English. Most Chinese Malaysians can speak Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
, the national language, and English, which is widely used in business.
Indonesia
Ethnic Chinese in IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Thailand
Thai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
had been subjected to official, and at times draconian, assimilation policies, and as a result many of them are no longer proficient in the Chinese language (particularly ethnic Chinese who lived in Java). Chinese who lived in Sumatra did not give up some of the dialects. Most of the ethnic Chinese in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, are still able to speak creole Hokkien within their community. This is due to the number of generations that have lived in Indonesia and their exposure to cultural assimilation. Most of the ethnic Chinese who live in Java have a long line (10 generations) of forefathers before them, where the ethnic Chinese who live in Sumatra have a relatively short generation of forefathers (4 or 5 generations). There is also a small population of Hakka
Hakka
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
Chinese in Indonesia, most notably in Bangka Belitung province, Pontianak
Pontianak, Indonesia
Pontianak is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. It is a medium-size industrial city on the island of Borneo. Pontianak occupies an area of 107.82 km² in the delta of the Kapuas River...
and Singkawang
Singkawang
Singkawang is located at the province of West Kalimantan or Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia. It is located at about 145 km north of Pontianak, the provincial capital, and is surrounded by the Pasi, Poteng, and Sakok mountain...
where they form a significant part of the local population, while in the areas from Pontianak to Kendawangan on the southern tip of West Kalimantan are populated by Teochew speakers much like Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, 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...
. As to their identity, Chinese Indonesians are more Indonesians compared to Chinese.
Thailand
Thailand is home to the largest and most integrated Overseas Chinese community. The present Thai monarch, Chakri Dynastry, is founded by King Rama I who himself is partly Chinese. His Predecessor, King Taksin of Thonburi dynastry, is the son of Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and is born with Chinese name. Majority of Prime Ministers in Thailand are of Chinese descent. Most ethnic Chinese in ThailandThai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
live in cities such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and Nakhon Sawan. A large majority of them belong to the Teochew dialect group of Han Chinese. A small number of Chinese people, mainly belonging to the Yunnanese dialect group, also live in the northern part of Thailand which is in close proximity to their homeland in Yunnan province of China. Charoen Pokphand Group, founded by Thai-Chinese Chearavanont family, is currenly single largest foreign investors in China.
Vietnam
A large number of Chinese people live in Saigon city and most of them belong to the Cantonese dialect group of Han Chinese, tracing their ancestral homeland to the southern part of Guangdong province in China.Cambodia
Chinese are a visible ethnic group of CambodiaCambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and constitute around 7% of the population. Chinese ethnics can be seen in all towns and many towns are exclusive to ethnic Chinese. Most Chinese Cambodians belong to the Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
and Teochew dialect groups. Many Khmer people are taught Mandarin in school along side many Sino-Khmers and ethnic Vietnamese people
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
.
Brunei
A variety of Chinese dialects are spoken in Brunei. Mandarin and Hokkien are the most commonly spoken dialects in the country.Philippines
The most widely spoken dialects are Hokkien (there is a native form of Hokkien called Lan-nang-oeLan-nang
Lan-nang is the Philippine variant of Hokkien. It is a subdialect of the Amoy dialect of Xiamen, Fujian, China. Lan-nang is spoken among the Chinese and Filipino residents of the Philippines. It is characterized by loanwords from Tagalog, Spanish, and Cantonese, as well as its emphasis on...
) and Cantonese. Mandarin is taught at all Chinese schools, and in most Chinese schools, the traditional Chinese script is usually taught.
North America
Many overseas Chinese populations in North America speak some variety of ChineseVarieties of Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
. In the United States and Canada, Chinese is the third most spoken language. Cantonese has historically been the most prevalent variety due to immigrants being mostly from southern China from the 19th century up through the 1980s. However, Mandarin is becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the opening up of the PRC.
In New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at least, although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only ten percent of Chinese speakers, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them and is on its way to replace Cantonese as their lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
. Although Min Chinese is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population there, it is not used as a lingua franca because speakers of other dialect groups do not learn Min.
In Richmond
Richmond, British Columbia
Richmond is a coastal city, incorporated in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Part of Metro Vancouver, its neighbouring communities are Vancouver and Burnaby to the north, New Westminster to the east, and Delta to the south, while the Strait of Georgia forms its western border...
(part of the Greater Vancouver
Greater Vancouver
Greater Vancouver is the metropolitan area centred on the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, roughly coterminous with the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which is governed by a body known as Metro Vancouver...
metropolitan area in Canada), 44% of the population is Chinese. Chinese words can be seen everywhere from local banks to grocery stores. In the broader Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area, 18% of the population is Chinese. Similarly in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, which is the largest city in Canada, Chinese people make up 11.4% of the local population with the percentages higher in the suburbs of Markham
Markham
-Biology:* Markham's storm-petrel , a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia* Markham's grass mouse , a rodent subspecies found on Wellington Island and the nearby Southern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile* Ulmus americana 'Markham', an American elm cultivar-Companies:* Markham & Co., an...
, Mississauga and within the city in its east end of Scarborough
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
. In these regions Chinese people make up between 20-50% of their total populations respectively. Cantonese and Mandarin are the most popular Chinese languages.
China's economical growth brings greater immigration opportunities to mainland Chinese. A 2011 survey shown that 60% of Chinese millionaires plan to immigrate, mostly to the USA or Canada. The EB-5 Investment Visa allows many powerful Chinese to seek for a USA citizenship, and recent reports show that 75% of applicants to this visa in 2011 were Chinese.
Relationship with China
Both the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
maintain highly complex relationships with overseas Chinese populations. Both maintain cabinet level ministries to deal with overseas Chinese affairs, and many local governments within the PRC have overseas Chinese bureaus. Both the PRC and ROC have some legislative representation for overseas Chinese. In the case of the PRC, some seats in the National People's Congress
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
are allocated for returned overseas Chinese. In the ROC's Legislative Yuan
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China .The Legislative Yuan is one of the five branches of government stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of China, which follows Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People...
, there used to be eight seats allocated for overseas Chinese. These seats were apportioned to the political parties based on their vote totals on Taiwan, and then the parties assigned the seats to overseas Chinese party loyalists
Loyalty
Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause There are many aspects to...
. Now, political parties in the ROC are still allowed to assign overseas Chinese into the Legislative Yuan, but they are not required to. Most of these members elected to the Legislative Yuan hold dual citizenship, but must renounce their foreign citizenship before being sworn in.
Overseas Chinese have sometimes played an important role in Chinese politics. Most of the funding for the Chinese revolution of 1911
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
came from overseas Chinese.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the ROC tended to seek the support of overseas Chinese communities through branches of the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
based on Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
's use of expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
Chinese communities to raise money for his revolution. During this period, the People's Republic of China tended to view overseas Chinese with suspicion as possible capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
infiltrators and tended to value relationships with southeast Asian nations as more important than gaining support of overseas Chinese, and in the Bandung declaration explicitly stated that overseas Chinese owed primary loyalty to their home nation. On the other hand, overseas Chinese in their home nations were often persecuted for suspected or fabricated ties to "Communist China". This was used as a pretext for the massacres of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.
After the Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
reforms, the attitude of the PRC toward overseas Chinese changed dramatically. Rather than being seen with suspicion, they were seen as people which could aid PRC development via their skills and capital. During the 1980s, the PRC actively attempted to court the support of overseas Chinese by among other things, returning properties that were confiscated after the 1949 revolution. More recently PRC policy has attempted to maintain the support of recently emigrated Chinese, who consist largely of Chinese seeking graduate education in the West. Many overseas Chinese are now investing in mainland China providing financial
FINANCIAL
FINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...
resources, social and cultural networks, contacts and opportunities. However, some distrust between Chinese and overseas Chinese still remains.
According to Article 5 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China
Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China
The Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China regulates citizenship in the People's Republic of China . Such citizenship is obtained by birth when at least one parent is of Chinese nationality or by naturalization....
: "Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality". However the Nationality Law of the Republic of China
Nationality Law of the Republic of China
The Nationality Law of the Republic of China defines and regulates nationality of the Republic of China . It was first promulgated by the Nationalist Government on February 5, 1929 and revised by the Taipei-based Legislative Yuan in 2000, 2001, and 2006.The Act, like the Constitution of the...
, which permits dual citizenship, considers these persons to be citizens of the ROC.
Current numbers
There are over 40 million overseas Chinese, mostly living in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
where they make up a majority of the population of 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...
and significant minority populations 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...
, Malaysia, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The overseas populations in those areas arrived between the 16th and 19th centuries mostly from the maritime provinces of Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
and Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, followed by Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
. There were incidences of earlier emigration from the 15th centuries in particular to Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
.
Urban areas with large Chinese populations include Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
with 2,900,000 (2009 census, registered resident only), 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...
with 2,800,000 (2010 census), Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
with 612,277 (2000 census, city only), Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
with 650,000 (2005), Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
with 528,300 (2010 census), New York City Metropolitan Area with 665,714 and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area with 562,355 (2009), as well as the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
with 486,300 (2006 Census, metropolitan area).
Statistics
| Continent/Country | Articles about Chinese population | Overseas Chinese Population | Yearof the data | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population... |
31,279,797 | 2006 | ||
 Thailand |
Thai Chinese Thai Chinese The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people... |
7,053,240 | 2005 | |
 Malaysia |
Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to... , Peranakan Peranakan Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era.... |
6,390,900 | 2010 | |
 Indonesia |
Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians, also called the Indonesian Chinese, are an overseas Chinese group whose ancestors emigrated from China to Indonesia, formerly a colony of the Netherlands known as the Dutch East Indies... /Tionghoa |
7,000,000 | 2008 | |
 Singapore |
Chinese Singaporean | 2,794,000 | 2010 | |
 Vietnam |
Hoa, Ngái Ngái The Ngái are an Hakka ethnic group in Vietnam and other nearby countries of mainland Southeast Asia and China. The Ngái are Chinese-speaking but are classified separately from the urban ethnic Chinese or Hoa. According a official data, Ngai population is 4,841 in 1999 and down to 1.035 in 2009... , San Diu |
1,200,000 | 2005 | |
 Cambodia |
Chinese Cambodian Chinese Cambodian Chinese Cambodians are Cambodian citizens of Chinese descent. "Khmer-Chen", is used for peoples of either mixed Cambodian & Chinese descent or people of whom are Cambodian born citizens with Chinese ancestry;... , Cambodian Hokkien Cambodian Hokkien Cambodian Hokkien（柬埔寨福建人） commonly known as Khmer Hokkien is the term used to described the descendants of Hokkien Chinese who settled in Cambodia since the earlier part of 12th century... |
1,180,000 | 2008 | |
 Philippines |
Chinese Filipino Chinese Filipino A Chinese Filipino derived from two words: "Tsino" and "Pinoy" ) is a Philippine national of Chinese ethnicity but born/raised in the Philippines.... , Tornatras Tornatras Tornatrás is an outdated term used in Spain to describe a person of mixed European and albino ancestry or a descendant of mestizos and specific characteristics of one of the original races... , Sangley Sangley Sangley , is an archaic term used in the Philippines to describe and classify a person of pure Chinese ancestry, while mestizo de sangley was used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and indigenous ancestry Sangley (Sangleye, Sangley Mestizo, Mestisong Sangley, Mestizo de Sangley or Chinese... |
1,100,000 | 2005 | |
 Myanmar |
Burmese Chinese Burmese Chinese The Burmese Chinese or Chinese Burmese are a group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Burma . Although the Chinese officially make up three percent of the population, the actual figure is believed to be much higher... , Panthay Panthay Panthays form a group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. Some people refer to Panthays as the oldest group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. However, because of intermixing and cultural diffusion the Panthays are not as distinct a group as they once were.-Etymology:... |
1,100,000 | 2005 | |
 Japan |
Chinese in Japan | 655,377 | 2008 | |
 South Korea |
Chinese in South Korea | 624,994 | 2009 | |
 Kazakhstan |
Chinese in Kazakhstan Chinese people in Kazakhstan The number of Chinese people in Kazakhstan is not very clear. There have been various migrations of ethnic minorities from China to Kazakhstan in the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as that of the Dungan people fleeing Qing Dynasty forces after a failed 1862–1877 rebellion in northwest China,... |
300,000 | 2009 | |
 India |
Chinese in India | 189,470 | 2005 | |
 Laos |
Laotian Chinese Laotian Chinese The Laotian Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Laos. At present they constitute an estimated 2% of the population. Most Laotian Chinese are descendants of older generations who moved down from the Southern China provinces from the 19th century and present.Most have ancestry from... |
185,765 | 2005 | |
 United Arab Emirates |
Chinese people in the United Arab Emirates | 180,000 | 2009 | |
 Brunei |
Ethnic Chinese in Brunei Ethnic Chinese in Brunei Ethnic Chinese in Brunei form roughly 15% of Brunei's population. As of 1986, it was estimated that over 90% were unable to obtain Bruneian citizenship despite generations of residence in the country.... |
43,000 | 2006 | |
 Israel |
Chinese people in Israel | 23,000 | 2001 | |
 North Korea |
Chinese in North Korea | 10,000 | 2009 | |
 Pakistan |
Chinese people in Pakistan | 10,000 | 2009 | |
 Sri Lanka |
Chinese people in Sri Lanka Chinese people in Sri Lanka There have been Chinese people in Sri Lanka since the 1700s. Though their numbers dwindled in the decades after independence, in the 1990s and 2000s a new wave of Chinese international students, migrant workers, and businesspeople have been coming to Sri Lanka.... |
3,500 | ? | |
 Iran |
Chinese people in Iran Chinese people in Iran Chinese people in Iran form one of the smaller groups of overseas Chinese; Iran's total Chinese population is estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000 people.-History:... |
3,000 | ||
 Kyrgyzstan |
Chinese people in Kyrgyzstan Chinese people in Kyrgyzstan Chinese people in Kyrgyzstan have been growing in numbers since the late 1980s. 2008 police statistics showed 60,000 Chinese nationals living in the country... |
1,813 | 2009 | |
 Mongolia |
Ethnic Chinese in Mongolia | 1,323 | 2000 | |
 Bangladesh |
Chinese in Bangladesh Chinese people in Bangladesh There are over a thousand Chinese citizens and nationals who live in Bangladesh. Both China and Bangladesh lie in close geographical proximity, separated only by the narrow Siliguri Corridor of India and immigration is common between the two countries. Most Chinese expatriates are based in Dhaka... |
1,200 | 2011 | |
| Americas Americas The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily... |
6,059,240 | 2008 | ||
 United States |
Chinese American Chinese American Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans... , American-born Chinese American-born Chinese An American-born Chinese or "ABC" is a stereotype that describes a person born in the United States of Chinese ethnic descent, a category of Chinese American. Many are second-generation born after the U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 were free from limits on immigration from East Asia... |
3,500,000 | 2007 | |
 Canada |
Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadians are Canadians of Chinese descent. They constitute the second-largest visible minority group in Canada, after South Asian Canadians... , Canadian-born Chinese |
1,300,000 | 2006 | |
 Peru |
Chinese-Peruvian Chinese-Peruvian Chinese Peruvians, also known as tusán , are people of Overseas Chinese ancestry born in Peru, or who have made Peru their adopted homeland.... |
1,300,000 | 2005 | |
 Brazil |
Chinese Brazilian Chinese Brazilian Chinese Brazilians are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to Brazil. The Chinese Brazilian population was estimated to be approximately 151,649.... |
151,649 | 2005 | |
 Panama |
Chinese-Panamanian Ethnic Chinese in Panama Ethnic Chinese in Panama, also variously referred to as Chinese-Panamanian, Panamanian-Chinese, Panama Chinese, or in Spanish as Chino-Panameño, are Panamanian citizens and residents of Chinese origin or descent.... |
135,000 | 2003 | |
 Cuba |
Chinese Cuban Chinese Cuban A Chinese Cuban is a Cuban of Chinese ancestry who was born in or has immigrated to Cuba. They are part of the ethnic Chinese diaspora .-History:... |
114,240 | 2008 | |
 Argentina |
Chinese Argentine Chinese Argentine Chinese Argentines are citizens of Argentina of Chinese ancestry. As of 2008, there are about 100,000 Argentines of Chinese origin .-History:The Chinese in Argentina came mostly in two waves. The first wave of immigrants arrived from Taiwan in the 1980s and over the years, they have become... |
100,000 | 2008 | |
 Mexico |
Chinese Mexican Chinese immigration to Mexico The history of Chinese immigration to Mexico spans the decades between the 1880s and the 1980s. Between the years 1880 and 1910, during the term of President Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican government was trying to modernize the country, especially in building railroads and developing the sparsely... |
23,000 | 2003 | |
 Nicaragua |
Chinese Nicaraguan Chinese Nicaraguan Chinese Nicaraguans are Nicaraguans of Chinese ancestry who immigrated to or born in Nicaragua... |
12,000 | ||
 Suriname |
Chinese-Surinamese Chinese Surinamese Chinese Surinamese are residents of Suriname with a Chinese background. Chinese Surinamese are a small part of the Surinamese people. The majority of the Chinese Surinamese consider Hakka, Dongguan or Meixian as their ancestral homes.... |
40,000 | 2011 | |
 Jamaica |
Chinese Jamaican Chinese Jamaican Chinese Jamaicans are the descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another wave of migration in the 1980s and 1990s... |
70,000 | ||
 Dominican Republic |
Ethnic Chinese in the Dominican Republic Ethnic Chinese in the Dominican Republic The Chinese community in the Dominican Republic forms one of the largest Chinese communities in Latin America. Although no official census has been made, there are estimates of about 15,000 people of Chinese origin living in the country.-19th Century:... |
15,000 | ||
 Costa Rica |
Chinese-Costa Rican Chinese-Costa Rican Chinese people in Costa Rica form a small part of the Chinese diaspora in Latin America.-History:The first Chinese migrants arrived in Costa Rica in 1855; they were a group of 77 originally from Guangzhou, who had come to Central America to work on the Panama Railway... |
7,873 | 2009 | |
 Chile |
Chinese people in Chile | 5,000 | ||
| |Chinese Trinidadian and Tobagonian | 3,800 | 2000 | ||
 Guyana |
Chinese Guyanese Chinese Guyanese The Chinese community of Guyana consists mainly of descendants of Chinese laborers who were taken to British Guiana in the 19th century.-History:... |
2,722 | 1921 | |
 Belize |
1,716 | 2000 | ||
| Chinese-Puerto Rican Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico Large scale Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean began during the 19th century. Unlike their European counterparts, Chinese immigrants had to face various obstacles which prohibited or restricted their entry in Puerto Rico.... |
||||
 Haiti |
Chinese Haitian Chinese Haitian Chinese Haitians are Haitians of Chinese ancestry who immigrated to or born in Haiti... |
230 | ||
| Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting... |
1,716,233 | 2006 | ||
 Russia |
Chinese people in Russia Chinese people in Russia Ethnic Chinese in Russia officially numbered 34,578 according to the 2002 census. However, this figure is contested, with the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the Republic of China on Taiwan claiming 998,000 in 2004 and 2005, and Russian demographers generally accepting estimates in the... , Dungan people |
998,000 | 2005 | |
 Early Modern France |
Chinese diaspora in France, Chinois (Réunion) | 700,000 | 2010 | |
 United Kingdom |
British Chinese British Chinese British Chinese , including British-born Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese... |
500,000 | 2008 | |
 Italy |
Chinese people in Italy Chinese people in Italy The community of Chinese people in Italy has grown rapidly in the past ten years. Official statistics indicate there are at least 144,885 Chinese citizens in Italy, although these figures do not account for illegal immigration, former Chinese citizens who have acquired Italian nationality, or... |
201,000 | 2011 | |
 Spain |
Chinese people in Spain Chinese people in Spain Chinese people in Spain form the ninth-largest non-European Union foreign community in Spain. , official figures showed 145,425 Chinese citizens residing in Spain; however, this figure does not include people with origins in other Overseas Chinese communities, nor Spanish citizens of Chinese origin... |
128,022 | 2008 | |
 Netherlands |
Chinese people in the Netherlands Chinese people in the Netherlands Chinese people in the Netherlands form one of the largest overseas Chinese populations in continental Europe. , official statistics showed 67,772 people originating from the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China on Taiwan , or people with at least one such parent... |
76,960 | 2011 | |
 Germany |
Chinese people in Germany Chinese people in Germany Chinese people in Germany form one of the smaller and less-studied groups of overseas Chinese in Europe. 2005 figures from Germany's Federal Statistical Office showed 71,639 People's Republic of China nationals living in Germany, making them the second-largest group of immigrants from Asia... |
71,639 | 2004 | |
 Serbia |
Chinese people in Serbia Chinese people in Serbia The number of Chinese people in Serbia is estimated at around 20,000 people. The community resides mainly in Serbia's capital, Belgrade. Most have their origin in two provinces south of the Shanghai region... |
20,000 | 2008 | |
 Republic of Ireland |
||||
| 16,533 | 2006 | |||
 Denmark |
Chinese people in Denmark Chinese people in Denmark Chinese people in Denmark form one of the smaller and less-studied Chinese diaspora communities of Europe.-Migration history:The earliest Chinese migrants in Denmark are believed to have been 34 men from Guangdong who came to the famous Tivoli Gardens amusement park in 1902 as travelling performers... |
10,247 | 2009 | |
 Kingdom of Bulgaria |
Chinese people in Bulgaria Chinese people in Bulgaria Chinese people in Bulgaria form a small part of the Overseas Chinese community. According to estimates by members of the community, the Chinese in Bulgaria number around 5,000, although Bulgarian researchers put the figure at around 10,000 and the boldest estimates claim up to 100,000.Chinese are... |
10,000 | 2005 | |
 Portugal |
Chinese people in Portugal Chinese people in Portugal Chinese people in Portugal form the country's largest Asian community, but only the twelfth-largest foreign community overall.-Migration history:There are records of Chinese slaves in Lisbon as early as 1540... |
9,689 | 2007 | |
 Sweden |
||||
| 14,134 | 2010 | |||
 Finland |
||||
| 7,546 | 2010 | |||
 Czech Republic |
Chinese people in the Czech Republic Chinese people in the Czech Republic -Migration history:A few Chinese settled in Czechoslovakia prior to World War II. They consisted largely of overland migrants from Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Most were Catholics. They came largely as travelling salesmen to the Bohemia region; some married local women and settled down. Up to the 1940s, a... |
4,986 | 2007 | |
 Kingdom of Romania |
Chinese of Romania Chinese of Romania The Chinese of Romania are one of the smaller minorities of Romania.-Migration history:China and Romania have a history of several decades of economic and cultural exchanges as part of the Communist bloc. Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin lived in Romania for some time and speaks the language... |
2,249 | 2002 | |
 Turkey |
Chinese people in Turkey Chinese people in Turkey There is a small community of Chinese people in Turkey, mostly temporary expatriates. A few hundred Chinese students are enrolled in various Turkish universities. Turkey has a sizeable number of Muslim Uyghur people who hail from the Xinjiang region of China... |
1,000 | 2009 | |
| Oceania Oceania Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago... |
1,021,019 | 2003 | ||
 Australia |
Chinese Australian Chinese Australian Chinese Australian is an Australian of Chinese heritage. In the 2006 Australian Census, 669,890 Australian residents identified themselves as having Chinese ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.... |
669,896 | 2006 | |
 New Zealand |
Chinese New Zealander Chinese New Zealander A Chinese New Zealander is a New Zealander of Chinese heritage. They are part of the ethnic Chinese diaspora . Chinese New Zealanders are the fifth largest ethnic group in New Zealand.... |
147,570 | 2006 | |
 Samoa |
Chinese in Samoa Chinese in Samoa The majority of Chinese nationals currently residing in Samoa are expatriate businessmen Samoa, and there are at least 3000 people in Samoa who are of mixed Samoan and Chinese descent, although they are classified as ethnic Samoans in official census. Around the world, about 25% of all Samoans... |
30,000 | ||
 Papua New Guinea |
Chinese people in Papua New Guinea Chinese people in Papua New Guinea Chinese people in Papua New Guinea form a very diverse community. , only about 1,000 of the "old Chinese"—locally-born descendents of late 19th and early 20th-century immigrants—remain in the country; most have moved to Australia... |
20,000 | 2008 | |
 Fiji |
Chinese in Fiji Chinese in Fiji The Chinese diaspora in Fiji consists a small, but influential, community in the multiracial society that makes up modern day Fiji. In the early 2000s their numbers were estimated at around 6,000, or a little over half of one percent of Fiji's population. The most recent estimation puts the... |
6,000 | 2000 | |
 Tonga |
Chinese in Tonga Chinese in Tonga A significant Chinese presence in Tonga is relatively recent. There were approximately three or four thousand Chinese people living in Tonga in 2001, thus comprising 3 or 4% of the total Tongan population. This figure includes Tongan citizens of Chinese ethnicity, and marks a sharp increase from... |
3,000 | 2001 | |
 Palau |
Chinese in Palau Chinese in Palau Ethnic Chinese have been settling in Palau in small numbers since the 19th century. The early settlers consisted of traders and labourers, and often intermarried with Palauan women. Their offspring quickly assimilated with the local populace and generally identify themselves as Palauan... |
1,019 | 2001 | |
| Africa Africa Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area... |
734,000 | 2009 | ||
 South Africa |
Chinese South Africans | 350,000 | 2009 | |
 Angola |
Chinese people in Angola Chinese people in Angola Chinese people in Angola are a recent group of residents, having arrived in Angola in the past few decades.-Construction:Thousands of Chinese construction workers, engineers, planners, and support staff that includes doctors and cooks reside in Angola, making the construction sector a large magnet... |
100,000 | 2007 | |
 Egypt |
Chinese people in Egypt Chinese people in Egypt Chinese people in Egypt form one of the smaller groups of overseas Chinese; however, they are a very diverse community with a history reaching back for over a century.-Students:... |
100,000 | 2010 | |
 Madagascar |
Chinese people in Madagascar Chinese people in Madagascar Chinese people in Madagascar form Africa's third largest overseas Chinese population. , roughly 40,000 to 60,000 lived on the island. They constitute a minority ethnic group of Madagascar.-History:... |
60,000 | 2007 | |
 Nigeria |
Chinese people in Nigeria Chinese people in Nigeria There is a large population of Chinese people in Nigeria, possibly the largest overseas Chinese population in Africa.-Migration history:In 1930, colonial Nigeria's census showed four Chinese people living there. Hong Kong investors began opening factories in Nigeria as early as the 1950s. By 1965... |
50,000 | 2008 | |
 Ethiopia |
Chinese people in Ethiopia Chinese people in Ethiopia The number of Chinese residents in Ethiopia has risen considerably in the past decade numbering over 40,000.-Integration and community:A landmark incident in Chinese perceptions of Ethiopia was the 2007 Abole oil field raid in which 74 workers including 9 from China were killed... |
45,000 | 2010 | |
 Mauritius |
Sino-Mauritian Sino-Mauritian Sino-Mauritians, also referred to as Chinese Mauritians or Mauritian Chinese, are Mauritians of Chinese descent. They form about 3% of the local population.-Migration history:... |
30,000 | 2007 | |
 Réunion |
Chinois | 25,000 | 1999 | |
 Zambia |
Chinese people in Zambia Chinese people in Zambia -Trade:Trade relations took off in the 2000s with the amount of trade growing from $100m in 2000 to $2.8 billion in 2010. Among Chinese businesses are large enterprises in mining and infrastructure, but also small businesses... |
20,000 | 2003 | |
 Mozambique |
Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique once numbered around five thousand individuals, but their population fell significantly during the Mozambican Civil War... |
12,000 | 2007 | |
 Kenya |
Chinese people in Kenya Chinese people in Kenya There may have been minor settlement of Chinese people in Kenya as early as the 15th century; however, modern migration from the People's Republic of China to Kenya only dates to the late 1990s and early 2000s. There are estimated to be anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 Chinese people in the... |
10,000 | 2007 | |
 Tanzania |
Chinese people in Tanzania Chinese people in Tanzania There were Chinese people in Tanzania as early as 1891. However, most of the Chinese in the country trace their roots to three distinct waves of migration: 1930s settlement on Zanzibar, workers sent by the Chinese government in the 1960s and 1970s as part of development assistance to Tanzania, and... |
10,000 | 2008 | |
 Ghana |
Chinese people in Ghana Chinese people in Ghana Migration of Chinese people in Ghana dates back to the 1940s. Originally, most came from Hong Kong; migration from mainland China began only in the 1980s. The number who live in the country remains unclear, with estimates ranging from a few hundred to as many as seven thousand.-Migration... |
7,000 | 2008 | |
 Botswana |
Chinese people in Botswana Chinese people in Botswana There were estimated to be roughly five to six thousand Chinese people in Botswana .-Employment:, Chinese formed the largest group of self-employment permit holders in Botswana, though Zimbabwean expatriates were the largest group of foreign workers overall. Statistics for that year also showed... |
6,000 | 2009 | |
 Cameroon |
Chinese people in Cameroon Chinese people in Cameroon There were estimated to be more than two thousand Chinese people in Cameroon .-Migration history:In the early stages of Cameroon-China relations, established in 1971, there were only a few dozen Chinese people in the country. Large-scale migration of Chinese businesspeople began around 1995... |
2,000 | 2008 | |
 Senegal |
Chinese people in Senegal Chinese people in Senegal There is a small but growing population of Chinese people in Senegal, largely consisting of expatriates from the People's Republic of China who began arriving in the country in the 1980s.-Migration history:... |
2,000 | 2008 | |
 Seychelles |
Sino-Seychellois Sino-Seychellois Sino-Seychellois are overseas Chinese who reside in Seychelles. As of 1999, their population was estimated at roughly 1,000 individuals, making them one of Africa's smaller Chinese communities.-History:The first Chinese immigrants to Seychelles arrived... |
1,000 | 1999 | |
| Total | ||||
| 40,382,279 |
Statistics compiled using local country statistics or best available estimates. Note that the percentages may not add up due to varying census and estimate dates.
Returning
In the case of IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Burma, political and ethnic strife has cause a significant number of people of Chinese origins to re-emigrate.
Due to the growing economic strength and the influence on the world, many overseas Chinese have began to migrate back to China. The trend is expected to rise even more in the future.
See also
- Anti-Chinese legislation in IndonesiaAnti-Chinese legislation in IndonesiaIndonesian law affecting Chinese-Indonesians were conducted through a series of laws, directives, or constitutions enacted by the Government of Indonesia that affected the lives of Chinese Indonesians or Chinese nationals living in Indonesia since the nation's independence. The laws were considered...
- Asian Latin American
- BumiputraBumiputraBumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago. The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land"...
- Chinese migrationChinese migrationWaves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. The mass emigration known as the Chinese Diaspora, which occurred from the 19th century to 1949, was mainly caused by wars and starvation in mainland China, as well as the problems resulting from political corruption...
- ChinatownChinatownA Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
, the article, and :Category:Chinatowns the international category list - Chinese Clan Association
- Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
- Hong Kongers
- List of overseas Chinese
- Overseas Chinese banksOverseas Chinese BanksOverseas Chinese banks excelled in commerce, finance, and many other industries. They created many banks originally to remit money back to China but now they cater to the people of their adopted countries. These overseas Chinese banks contributed to a large extent to the development of the...
- Overseas Chinese Affairs OfficeOverseas Chinese Affairs OfficeThe Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China is the administrative office responsible for liaising with overseas Chinese residing abroad or returning to China...
- Third culture kidThird culture kidThird culture kid is a term coined in the early 1950s by American sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem "to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society". Other terms, such as trans-culture kid, are also used by some. More recently, American sociologist David C...
Further reading
- Pan, Lynn. The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, Landmark Books, Singapore, 1998. ISBN 981-4155-90-X
- Chin, Ung Ho. The Chinese of South East Asia, London: Minority Rights Group, 2000. ISBN 1-897693-28-1
- López-Calvo, Ignacio. Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture, Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2008. ISBN 0-8130-3240-7
- Fitzgerald, John. "Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia", UNSW Press, Sydney, 2007. ISBN 978-0868408-70-5
External links
- Andrewkidz Collections Library - The Overseas Chinese Biographies
- Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
- Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, R.O.C.
- Ohio University Study on Distribution of the Overseas Chinese Population
- The Distribution of the Overseas Chinese in the Contemporary World
- Museum of Chinese in the Americas
- The Overseas Chinese returnees movement
- Chinese in Africa