Everything about Oversea Chinese totally explained
Overseas Chinese are people of
Chinese birth or descent who live outside the
Greater China region, which includes territories administered by the rival governments of the
People's Republic of China (PRC) and the
Republic of China (ROC). In addition, the ROC had granted residents of Hong Kong and Macau "Overseas Chinese Status" prior to their respective handover to
Beijing rule, so the definition may be said to loosely extend to them. People of partial Chinese ancestry may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese.
The term Overseas Chinese is ambiguous as to whether it can refer to any of the ethnic groups that live in China (the broadly defined
Zhonghua minzu) or whether it refers specifically to the
Han Chinese ethnicity, narrowly defined.
Korean minorities from China who are living in
South Korea today are often included in calculations of overseas Chinese, because ethnic Koreans may also identify themselves as part of the
Chinese nation. 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's 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, and are not indigenous to their current land. Under this definition, minority overseas Chinese number about 7 million, or about 8.4% of the total overseas population.
Terminology
The
Chinese language has various terms equivalent to the English "Overseas Chinese".
Huáqiáo (Simplified:华侨; Traditional:華僑) refers to Chinese citizens residing in countries other than China.
Huáyì (Simplified:华裔; Traditional:華裔) refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China.
(External Link
) Another often-used term is 海外华人 (hǎiwài huárén), a more literal translation of
Overseas Chinese; it's 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
Cantonese,
Hokkien (
Taiwanese) or
Hakka refer to Overseas Chinese as 唐人 (tángrén), pronounced
tòhng yàn in
Cantonese,
tng lang 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 to refer to people of Chinese descent locally and not necessarily always as a reference to any relations between the Overseas Chinese people of today and the Tang dynasty.
History
The Chinese people have a long history of migrating overseas. One of the migrations dates back to the
Ming dynasty when
Zheng He became the envoy of Ming. He sent people to explore and trade in the
South China Sea and
Indian Ocean, and many of them were
Cantonese and
Hokkien.
Waves of immigration
There were different waves of immigration which led to subgroups among overseas Chinese such as the new and old immigrants in
Southeast Asia,
North America,
Oceania,
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 labor surplus due to the relative peace during the
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 with their 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
Australia, great numbers of laborers were needed in the dangerous tasks of
gold mining and
railway construction. With famine widespread in Guangdong, this attracted 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 in the
Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. Many people from the
New Territories in
Hong Kong emigrated to the UK (mainly England) and the Netherlands in the post-war period 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, and the nations of
Western Europe; as well as to
Peru where they're 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, 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 the 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 on a 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 Russia's Far East. Chinese who emigrated to
Vietnam beginning in the 18th century are referred to as
Hoa.
In recent years, the
People's Republic of China has built increasingly stronger ties with
African nations. As of August 2007, there were an estimated 750,000 Chinese nationals working or living for extended periods in different African countries.
Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of
Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling 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.
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
medicine,
the arts, and
academia.
Overseas Chinese experience
Discrimination
Overseas Chinese have sometimes experienced hostility and
discrimination (see
Sinophobia). Whether such treatment is reasonable, is a frequent point of contention between Overseas Chinese and nativist elements of their host societies. A major point of friction is the often disproportionate economic influence of the Overseas Chinese (who dominate almost all the economies of Southeast Asia), and their tendency to segregate themselves into a subculture. For example, the anti-Chinese
Jakarta Riots of May 1998 and
Kuala Lumpur Racial Riots of 13 May 1969 seem to have been motivated by these perceptions.
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 wouldn't 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. 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. Nevertheless, Chinese control at least 55 per cent of the Malaysian economy.
In Indonesia, ethnic Chinese are not allowed to educate their children in formal Chinese-medium schools. In some cases other cultural markers (such as Chinese calendars) are banned. Chinese-language signs were banned in Indonesia until 2004. Nevertheless, Chinese control at least 22 percent of the Indonesian economy.
In order to avoid discrimination, some overseas Chinese explicitly identify themselves only by nationality (for example, the state they're from or resident in).
In Thailand, ethnic Chinese are forced to adopt Thai names. Nevertheless, Chinese control at least 44 per cent of the Thai economy.
Also, Chinese control at least 22 percent of the Vietnamese economy and 11 percent of the Filipino economy.
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
Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States or the Canadian
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923. .
Assimilation
Overseas Chinese vary widely as to their degree of
assimilation, their interactions with the surrounding communities (see
Chinatown), and their relationship with
China. In
Thailand, overseas Chinese have largely intermarried and assimilated with their compatriots. In
Myanmar, the Chinese rarely intermarry (even amongst different Chinese linguistic groups), but have largely adopted the Burmese culture whilst maintaining Chinese culture affinities.
Indonesia, and
Myanmar were among the countries that don't allow birth names to be registered in foreign languages, including Chinese. But since 2003, the
Indonesian 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, (
pinyin:
Hú Jǐntāo) would become "Hồ Cẩm Đào". Very often, there's no distinction between Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese. 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 and
Singapore, 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'. More recent overseas Chinese immigrants have been despised by many Filipinos due to incidences of some selling illegal drugs, as well as being high profile smugglers. 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. A large number of Chinese people stayed in Vietnam and never returned to China.
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", assimilation through generational changes, and official policies of their country of residence.
Southeast Asia
Within
Southeast Asia, the language situation of overseas Chinese vary greatly even amongst neighboring nations. On one hand, ethnic Chinese in
Indonesia 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 Chinese ethnic who lived in Java). Chinese who lived in Sumatra didn't give up some of the dialects. Most of the Chinese ethnic in Medan is still able to speak
Hokkien within their circle. This is due to the amount of the generation who lived in Indonesia and exposed to the cultural assimilation. Most of the Chinese ethnic who lived in Java have a long generation of forefathers before them (10 generations), where the Chinese ethnic who lived in Sumatra have a relatively short generation of forefathers (4 or 5 generations).
On the other end,
Malaysian Chinese speak a wide variety of dialects, their prevalance being concentrated around particular metropolitan centers: the
Penang,
Klang and
Malacca groups are predominantly
Hokkien-speaking; the
Kuala Lumpur,
Seremban &
Ipoh group is predominantly
Cantonese and
Hakka-speaking; whereas in
East Malaysia (Malaysian
Borneo), Hakka and Mandarin is widely spoken, except in
Sibu, Fuzhou and in
Sandakan, Cantonese.
In
Singapore, 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 PRC nationals began to emigrate in substantial numbers. The official policy in Singapore also has an impact to the neighboring
Johor, in the south of Peninsular Malaysia, where
Mandarin is predominantly spoken among the Chinese communities there.
North America
Many overseas Chinese populations in North America speak some variety of
spoken Chinese. 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. Although
Min Chinese is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population there, it isn't used as a lingua franca because speakers of other dialect groups don't learn Min. However the
Nationality Law of the Republic of China (
Taiwan), 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 Asia where they make up a majority of the population of
Singapore and significant minority populations in
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Thailand, 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 10th to 15th centuries in particular to
Malacca and Southeast Asia.
Statistics
| Continent/Country |
rticles about Chinese population |
verseas Chinese Population |
of local
population |
of Global Overseas
Chinese population |
| Asia |
|
30,976,784 (2006) |
0.8% |
78.7% |
| Thailand |
Thai Chinese |
8.5 million (2006) |
14% |
11.7% |
| Indonesia |
Chinese Indonesian |
7.3 million (2003) |
3.1% |
11.7% |
| Malaysia |
Malaysian Chinese, Peranakan |
7.0 million (2006) |
24.5% |
12.1% |
| Singapore |
Chinese in Singapore |
2.7 million (2005) |
75.6% |
4.3% |
| Vietnam |
Hoa, Ngái, San Diu |
2.3 million (2006) |
3% |
2%-3% |
| Philippines |
Chinese Filipino, Tornatras, Sangley |
1.5 million (2004) |
2% |
2.4% |
| Myanmar |
Burmese Chinese, Panthay |
1.3 million (2003) |
3% |
2.1% |
| India |
Chinese community in Kolkata |
186,461 (2005) |
0.02% |
0.5% |
| Japan |
Chinese in Japan |
175,000 (2003) |
0.1% |
0.3% |
| Cambodia |
Chinese Cambodian |
150,000 (2003) |
1.2% |
0.2% |
| South Korea |
Ethnic Chinese in Korea |
85,000 (2003) |
0.2% |
0.16% |
| Brunei |
Ethnic Chinese in Brunei |
56,000 (2006) |
15% |
0.1% |
| Laos |
Laotian Chinese |
50,000 (2003) |
1% |
0.1% |
| North Korea |
Ethnic Chinese in Korea |
50,000 (2003) |
0.2% |
0.1% |
| Israel |
Chinese in Israel |
23,000 |
0.3% |
0.1% |
| Mongolia |
Han Chinese in Mongolia |
11,323 |
0.4% |
0.03% |
| Americas |
|
5,945,000 (2008) |
0.6% |
14.5% |
| United States |
Chinese American, American-born Chinese |
3 million (2005) |
1% |
6.8% |
| Canada |
Chinese Canadian, Canadian-born Chinese |
1.3 million (2004) |
3.69% |
3.4% |
| Brazil |
Chinese Brazilian |
360,000 (2006) |
0.10% |
0.4% |
| Peru |
Chinese-Peruvian |
250,000 |
2.08% |
0.4% |
| Panama |
Ethnic Chinese in Panama |
150,000 |
5% |
0.4% |
| Argentina |
Asian Argentine |
60,000 |
0.16% |
0.1% |
| Dominican Republic |
Asian Dominican |
25,000 |
0.27% |
0.1% |
| Nicaragua |
Chinese Nicaraguan |
12,000 |
-- |
-- |
| Jamaica |
Chinese Jamaican |
Unknown |
-- |
-- |
| Suriname |
-- |
9,400 |
2.00% |
-- |
| Cuba |
Chinese Cuban |
Unknown |
-- |
-- |
| Trinidad & Tobago |
Chinese Trinidadian |
3,800 |
-- |
-- |
| Europe |
|
1,700,000 (2006) |
0.2% |
4.1% |
| Russia |
Chinese people in Russia, Dungan |
680,000 |
0.5% |
1.9% |
| France |
Chinese French, Sino-Réunionnaise |
300,000 |
0.5% |
0.9% |
United Kingdom
England |
British Chinese |
500,000 (2008)
347,000 (2005) |
0.8%
0.7% |
1.3%
0.8% |
| Italy |
Chinese in Italy |
111,712 |
0.19% |
0.2% |
| Spain |
Chinese people in Spain |
99,000 (2006) |
0.22% |
0.16% |
| Germany |
-- |
71,639 (2004) |
0.1% |
0.1% |
| The Netherlands |
-- |
144,928 (2006) |
0.7% |
0.1% |
| Ireland |
-- |
16,533 (2006) |
0.39% |
|
| Romania |
Chinese of Romania |
2,249 |
-- |
-- |
| Oceania |
|
1,000,000(2003) |
1.9% |
1.7% |
| Australia |
Chinese Australian |
974,689(2006) |
4.8% |
1.3% |
| New Zealand |
Chinese New Zealander |
147,570 (2006) |
3.5% |
0.3% |
| Fiji |
Chinese in Fiji |
6,000 (2000) |
0.5% |
0.01% |
| Tonga |
Chinese in Tonga |
3,000 to 4,000 (2001) |
3 or 4% |
-- |
| Africa |
|
103,000 (2003) |
0.02% |
0.3% |
| Cape Verde |
Chinese in Cape Verde |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
| South Africa |
South African Chinese |
100,000 (2003) |
0.2% |
0.3% |
| Mauritius |
Sino-Mauritian |
Unknown |
3% |
Unknown |
| Total |
-- |
39,379,784 |
0.6% |
100% |
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.
Further Information
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