Chinese emigration refers to the movement of Chinese people overseas or by land to places which lie outside of the historical boundaries of China itself. Chinese foreign migration has a long history, extending back over a thousand years to when Chinese people first migrated into Indochina and other parts of Southeast Asia. It became extensive again from the middle of the nineteenth century during the First Age of Globalization as Chinese people began moving to countries like the United States and Australia. In more recent decades China’s emergence as the world’s second most powerful nation has led to the growth of expat communities of Chinese people in most countries worldwide as both students and as people engaged in business.[1]
Chronology of events of Chinese emigrationChronology of events of Chinese emigration
Chinese emigration has been underway in one form or another for millennia. For instance, the first major population group in the Japanese Home Islands, the Jomon, crossed to Japan from China around 15,000 years ago, so theoretically these constituted an act of Chinese emigration to Japan. Admittedly there was a land bridge created by the Ice Age at this time.[2] More strictly within the confines of traditional emigration/immigration is the movement of Chinese people into Indochina from the tenth and eleventh centuries CE onwards. This was as a product of China’s expanding population and economic and cultural growth during the Song Dynasty period of Chinese history. Some of this came about through direct state-led war and colonization, notably during the Song-Dai Viet War of the mid-1070s.[3]
.jpg)
Thereafter Chinese migration to Indochina and other parts of Southeast Asia increased, with communities of Chinese merchants appearing in parts of the East Indies during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. However, after a series of extensive voyages of discovery led by Zheng He around the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans in the early fifteenth century, China became more insular and isolated from the world, bringing an end to Chinese emigration for the better part of four centuries.[4]
Chinese emigration into other countries and other parts of the world recommenced again owing to a number of factors in the nineteenth century. First, Britain attacked Qing Dynasty China in the late 1830s and forced it to open its ports to the sale of opium which was being produced in such abundance in British India that it needed the Chinese market to get rid of the excess. These Opium Wars forced China to end its extended period of isolation from the rest of the world. Secondly, as news of the growing wealth of countries like the United States reached China, people began to leave the country in search of better opportunities in the second half of the nineteenth century. Finally, new technological developments such as the advent of the steamship and the railways at this time were creating a ‘First Age of Globalization’, one which made it easier for tens of thousands of Chinese people to head far from home. The result from the 1860s onwards was waves of Chinese emigration into countries like the United States, Australia, Britain, India and Canada.[5]
This initial wave of modern Chinese emigration led to a backlash after a time. For instance, the United States tried to ban the inward migration of Chinese people in the 1880s, while Australia introduced a ‘White Australia’ policy from the 1900s which was aimed at Asian migrants, notably those from China. However, in more recent times China’s emergence as the world’s second largest economic power has led to fresh waves of Chinese emigration. This has been associated with numerous developments. For instance, millions of Chinese students are studying abroad in some of the world’s foremost universities in Europe and North America. An estimated 700,000 Chinese students were leaving China every year to do so in the 2010s, although the number is falling as Chinese universities improve and most of those who do leave will return home after completing their studies.[6]
Much of it can also be tied to the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ or ‘New Silk Roads’ plan of the regime of Xi Jinping. This aims to create hundreds of nodes of Chinese business and commerce stretching by land and sea from China all the way through Asia to Africa and Europe. As this has developed, expat communities of Chinese businesspeople and workers have appeared everywhere from Uzbekistan and Ethiopia to Greece and Egypt. Often Chinese business and industrial expertise is sought after in Africa and there are large expat communities in many countries running Chinese mining companies and other initiatives.[7]
Extent of migration associated with Chinese emigrationExtent of migration associated with Chinese emigration
The extent of migration associated with Chinese emigration has varied enormously over the last thousand years and has only become truly measurable in recent times as statistical records became abundant. Thus, while Chinese migration into Indochina and other parts of Southeast Asia were significant centuries ago, it is difficult to assess these accurately today. More scientific is the record of migration in the second half of the nineteenth century. For instance, we know that by the time the British colonies in Australia federated and gained substantial independence as the new state of Australia in 1901 that there were approximately 29,000 Chinese migrants living there.[8]
Matters are much more concrete today. We known that approximately 10.7 million Chinese migrants live overseas, while the diaspora community of Chinese people not born in China itself is an estimated 60 million according to UNESCO.[1] Yet some of this remains conjectural. For instance, when it comes to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where China has developed extensive interests in mining and resource extraction, there is clearly a significant Chinese expat community, but demographers argue as to how substantial it is, with some claiming the figure is as low as 5,000 and others holding that it reaches upwards to 50,000.
Demographic impact of Chinese emigrationDemographic impact of Chinese emigration
The demographic impact of Chinese emigration has been felt particularly keenly in some countries. Vietnam has been so intrinsically connected with China historically that a wide range of Vietnamese people are ethnically Chinese to a considerable extent. Approximately five million Americans have Chinese heritage of some kind, many living in large coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. Many Chinese countries have garnered large communities of 5,000 to 10,000 Chinese people in recent years. Finally, Britain is an example of a country where the Chinese emigrant population has been in existence for a century and a half (it began after the Opium Wars) and which continues to grow. Over 140,000 Hong Kongers have arrived there in recent years, availing of their British visas after the Chinese government’s efforts to end the One State-Two Systems form of government in Hong Kong.[9]
See alsoSee also
Explore more about Chinese emigrationExplore more about Chinese emigration
- Chinese Genealogy: An Introduction to Jiapu 家譜 (Chinese Genealogy Records) at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Finding Genealogical Data in the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Chinese American Research: Challenges and Discoveries at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Finding Chinese Railroad Worker Files in the U.S. at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Confucius: Ancient family tree at the MyHeritage blog
- Chinese New Year: A family day at the MyHeritage blog
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Overseas Chinese: A long history. UNESCO
- ↑ Jōmon Culture (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 B.C.). The Metropolitan Museum
- ↑ John K. Whitmore, ‘The Rise of the Coast: Trade, State and Culture in Early Ðại Việt’, in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 103–122.
- ↑ The Seven Voyages of Zheng He. World History Encylopedia
- ↑ CHINESE MIGRATIONS IN THE MID-LATE 19TH CENTURY. ASIA-PACIFIC CURRICULUM
- ↑ Why are Chinese students so keen on the UK?. BBC News
- ↑ China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative. Council on Foreign Relations
- ↑ How were Chinese migrants portrayed in Australia?National Museum of Australia
- ↑ Hong Kong exodus grows as 140,000 apply for new British visa. Nikkei Asia