Information about Overseas Chinese

Overseas Chinese (海外華人/海外华人  or  外籍华人)
Total population
39,379,784
Regions with significant populations
Majority populations  Singapore 2,684,936 [1]  Christmas Island, Australia 1,045 [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kt.html] Minority populations  Indonesia 7,566,200 [2]  Thailand 7,153,240 [3]  Malaysia 7,070,500 [4]  United States 3,376,031 [5]  Canada 1,612,173 [6]  Peru 1,300,000 [7]  Vietnam 1,263,570 [8]  Philippines 1,146,250 [9]  Myanmar 1,101,314 [10]  Russia 998,000 [11]  Australia 614,694 [12]  Japan 519,561 [13]  Cambodia 343,855 [14]  United Kingdom 296,623 [15]  France 230,515 [16]  India 189,470 [17]  Laos 185,765 [18]  Cuba 170,000  Brazil 151,649 [20]  New Zealand 147,570 [21]  Netherlands 144,928 [22]  South Korea 137,790 [23]  Panama +100,000
Languages
various
Religions
Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. Small but significant Christian and Muslim minorities.

Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China region, which includes Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. This includes territories administered by both rival governments; 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 these ethnic Koreans 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 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, 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.^[1]

Terminology

The Chinese language has various terms equivalent to the English "Overseas Chinese". Huáqiáo (Simplified:华侨; Traditional:華僑) refers to Chinese residing in countries other than China. Huáyì (Simplified:华裔; Traditional:華裔) refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China. [24] 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 Cantonese or Hokkien (Taiwanese) refer to Overseas Chinese as 唐人 (tángrén), pronounced tòhng yàn in Cantonese and teng lang in Hokkien. 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

Main article: Chinese Migration

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, many of them were Cantonese and Hokkien.

Waves of immigration

Often there are different waves of immigration leading 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 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, 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. 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.^[2]

Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses.^[3] 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.^[4][5][6]

Occupations

The Chinese in Southeast Asian countries have established themselves in commerce and finance.^[7] 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

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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 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 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 (race-blind) treatment on the expectation that they would do well 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 Bhumiputra protections in parliament, as this would be deemed ethnic incitement.^[8]

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.

In order to avoid discrimination, some overseas Chinese explicitly identify themselves only by nationality (i.e., the state they are from or resident in).

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 most 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. :See also: .

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 do not allow birth names to be registered in foreign languages, including Chinese. But since 2003, Indonesia government allowed overseas Chinese to use their Chinese name or using their Chinese family name on their birth certificate.

In Vietnam, Chinese names are transliterated naturally into Vietnamese. For example, 胡锦涛 (pinyin: Hú Jǐntāo) would become "Hồ Cẩm Đào". Very often, there is 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.^[9]

Relationship with China

Both the People's Republic of China 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 are eight seats allocated for overseas Chinese. These seats are apportioned to the political parties based on their vote totals on Taiwan, and then the parties assign the seats to overseas Chinese party loyalists. Most of these members elected to the Legislative Yuan hold dual citizenship, but must renounce their foreign citizenship (at the American Institute in Taiwan for American citizens) 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.

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.

Article 5 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China states:

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.^[10]

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	Articles about Chinese population	Overseas 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)[11]	24.5%	12.1%
Singapore	Chinese in Singapore	2.7 million (2005)[12]	75.6%	4.3%
Vietnam	Hoa, Ngái, San Diu	2.3 million (2006)[13]	3%	2%-3%
Philippines	Chinese Filipino	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		5,920,000 (2005)	0.6%	14.4%
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	Demographics section of the Panama article	150,000	5%	0.4%
Argentina	Asian Argentine	60,000	0.16%	0.1%
Nicaragua	Chinese Nicaraguan	12,000[14]	--	--
Jamaica	Chinese Jamaican	10,000 (2004)	0.3%	0.02
Cuba	Chinese Cuban	170,000	1%	--
Trinidad & Tobago	Chinese Trinidadian	3,800	Less than 1%	--
Europe		1,700,000 (2006)	0.2%	4.1%
Russia	Chinese people in Russia, Dungan	680,000	0.5%	1.9%
France	Chinese French	300,000	0.5%	0.9%
United Kingdom	British Chinese	247,403 (2001)[15]	0.4%	0.7%
Republic of Ireland	--	16,533 (2006)[16]	0.39%
Italy	Chinese in Italy	111,712	0.19%	0.2%
Spain	Chinese in Spain	99,000 (2006)[17]	0.22%	0.16%
Germany	--	71,639 (2004)[18]	0.1%	0.1%
The Netherlands	--	144,928 (2006)[19]	0.7%	0.1%
Romania	Chinese of Romania	2,249	--	--
Oceania		1,000,000(2003)	1.9%	1.7%
Australia	Chinese Australian	~700,000(2006)[20]	2.5%	1.3%
New Zealand	Chinese New Zealander	147,570 (2006)	2.8%	0.3%
Fiji	Chinese in Fiji	6,000 (2000)	0.5%	0.01%
Africa		103,000 (2003)	0.02%	0.3%
South Africa	South African Chinese	100,000 (2003)	0.2%	0.3%
Mauritius	Sino-Mauritian	Unknown	Unknown	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.

Top 20 Overseas Chinese populations

Statistics as compiled by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the Republic of China, for 2005 [25].

Country	2005 Population	Rank
Indonesia	7,566,200	1
Thailand	7,053,240	2
Malaysia	6,187,400	3
United States	3,376,031	4
Singapore	2,684,900	5
Canada	1,612,173	6
Peru	1,300,000	7
Vietnam	1,263,570	8
Philippines	1,146,250	9
Myanmar	1,101,314	10
Russia	998,000	11
Australia	614,694	12
Japan	519,561	13
Cambodia	343,855	14
United Kingdom	296,623	15
France	230,515	16
India	189,470	17
Laos	185,765	18
Brazil	151,649	19
Netherlands	144,928	20

See also

• Asian Latin American
• Chinese migration
• Chinatown, the article, and the international category list
• Chinese Clan Association
• List of overseas Chinese
• Anti-Chinese legislation in Indonesia
• Bumiputra

References

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

External links

• Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (Chinese)
• 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

•  • [ e] Overseas Chinese
Africa	Mauritius Seychelles South Africa Runion
Asia	Brunei Cambodia India Indonesia Iran Israel Japan Korea Malaysia (Peranakan) Mongolia Myanmar (Panthay) Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam (Ngi San Diu)
Europe	France Russia (Dungan) Romania Italy Spain United Kingdom
Americas	Argentina Brazil Canada Cuba Jamaica Nicaragua Trinidad & Tobago Panama Peru United States (Hawaii Puerto Rico ABCs Taiwanese American)
Oceania	Australia Fiji New Zealand Samoa