Chinese emigration

"Chinese diaspora" redirects here. For other uses, see Overseas Chinese.

Map of Chinese Migration from the 1800s to 1949.

Waves of Chinese emigration (also known as the Chinese Diaspora) 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. Most immigrants were illiterate, or poorly educated peasants and manual labourers, historically called coolies (Chinese: 苦力, translated: Hard Labour), who emigrated to work in countries such as the Americas, Australia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and Malaya.

According to Lynn Pan's book Sons of the Yellow Emperor, the Chinese coolie emigration began after slavery was abolished throughout the British possessions. Facing a desperate shortage of manpower, European merchants looked to replace African slaves with indentured labourers from China and India. A British Guiana planter found what he was looking for in the Chinese labourers "...their strong physique, their eagerness to make money, their history of toil from infancy..."

Labour recruiters sold the services of large numbers of unskilled Chinese in the coolie trade, to planters in colonies overseas in exchange for money to feed their families; this type of trading was known as mai zhu zai (selling piglets : 賣豬仔) by the Chinese. The labourers' lives were very harsh. Some labor recruiters promised good pay and good working conditions to get men signed onto three-year labor contracts. It was recorded on one pepper estate, 50 coolies hired, only 2 survived in half a year.^{[citation needed]} Most coolies were treated badly, and many died en route to South America and South Africa because of bad transport conditions. Usually, they were cheated of their wages and were unable to return to China after their contracts expired .^{[citation needed]}

Chronology of historical emigrations

• 210 BCE, Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: 秦始皇) dispatched Xu Fu (Chinese: 徐福) to sail overseas in search of elixirs of immortality, accompanied by 3,000 virgin boys and girls.
• 661 CE Tang dynasty, Zheng Guo Xi of Nan An, Fujian was buried at a Philippine island.^[1]
• 7-8th century, the Arabs recorded large numbers of Tang traders residing at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and they had families there.
• 10th century, Arab trader Masuoti recorded in his Golden Ley, in the year 943 AD, he sailed past Srivijaya and saw many Chinese people farming there, especially at Palembang. These people migrated to Nanyang (Chinese: 南洋) to evade chaos caused by war in Tang Dynasty China.

10-15th century

• Many Chinese merchants chose to settle down in the Southeast Asian ports such as Champa, Cambodia, Sumatra, Java, and married the native women. Their children carried on trade.^[2][3]
• Java: Zheng He's (Chinese: 鄭和) compatriot Ma Huan (Chinese: 马欢) recorded in his book (Chinese: zh:瀛涯胜览) that large numbers of Chinese lived in the Majapahit Empire on Java, especially in Surabaya (Chinese: 泗水). The place where the Chinese lived was called New Village (Chinese: 新村), with many originally from Canton, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.
• Cambodia: Envoy of Yuan dynasty, Zhou Daguan (Chinese: 周达观) recorded in his The Customs of Chenla (Chinese: 真腊风土记), that there were many Chinese, especially sailors, who lived there. Many intermarried with the local women.
• Champa: the Daoyi Zhilue documents Chinese merchants who went to Cham ports in Champa, married Cham women, to whom they regularly returned to after trading voyages.^[4] A Chinese merchant from Quanzhou, Wang Yuanmao, traded extensively with Champa, and married a Cham princess.^[5]
• Siam: According to the clan chart of family name Lim, Gan, Ng, Khaw, Cheah, many Chinese traders lived there. They were amongst some of the Siamese envoys sent to China.
• Borneo: Many Chinese lived there as recorded by Zheng He.
• Ryūkyū Kingdom: Many Chinese moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or engage in business during this period. The Ming dynasty Chinese sent from Fujian 36 Chinese families at the request of the Ryukyuan King to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom in 1392 during the Hongwu Emperor's reign. Many Ryukuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers.^[6] They assisted in the Ryukyuans in advancing their techonology and diplomatic relations.^[7][8][9]
• 1405 Ming dynasty, Tan Sheng Shou, the Battalion Commander Yang Xin (Chinese: 杨欣) and others were sent to Java's Old Port (Palembang; Chinese: 旧港) to bring the absconder Liang Dao Ming (Chinese: 梁道明) and others to negotiate pacification. He took his family and fled to live in this place, where he remained for many years. Thousands of military personnel and civilians from Guangdong and Fujian followed him there and chose Dao Ming as their leader.
• 1459 Ming emperor sent Hang Li Po (Chinese: 汉丽宝) to Malacca along with 500 other female attendants, many attendants later married officials serving Mansur Shah as Li Po married the sultan after she accepted conversion to Islam.

• Early Chinese mariners had a variety of contacts with Kenya. Archaeologists have found Chinese porcelains made during the Tang dynasty (618-907) in Kenyan villages; however, these were believed to have been brought over by Zheng He during his 15th century ocean voyages.^[10] On Lamu Island off the Kenyan coast, local oral tradition maintains that 20 shipwrecked Chinese sailors, possibly part of Zheng's fleet, washed up on shore there hundreds of years ago. Given permission to settle by local tribes after having killed a dangerous python, they converted to Islam and married local women. Now, they are believed to have just six descendants left there; in 2002, DNA tests conducted on one of the women confirmed that she was of Chinese descent. Her daughter, Mwamaka Sharifu, later received a PRC government scholarship to study traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China.^[11][12] On Pate Island, Frank Viviano described in a July 2005 National Geographic article how ceramic fragments had been found around Lamu which the administrative officer of the local Swahili history museum claimed were of Chinese origin, specifically from Zheng He's vorage to east Africa. The eyes of the Pate people resembled Chinese and Famao and Wei were some of the names among them which were speculated to be of Chinese origin. Their ancestors were said to be from indigenous women who intermarried with Chinese Ming sailors when they were shipwrecked. Two places on Pate were called "Old Shanga", and "New Shanga", which the Chinese sailors had named. A local guide who claimed descent from the Chinese showed Frank a graveyard made out of coral on the island, indicating that they were the graves of the Chinese sailors, which the author described as "virtually identical", to Chinese Ming dynasty tombs, complete with "half-moon domes" and "terraced entries".^[13]
  • According to Melanie Yap and Daniel Leong Man in their book "Colour, Confusions and Concessions: the History of Chinese in South Africa", Chu Ssu-pen, a Chinese mapmaker, in 1320 had southern Africa drawn on one of his maps. Ceramics found in Zimbabwe and South Africa dated back to Song dynasty China. Some tribes to Cape Town's north claimed descent from Chinese sailors during the 1200s, their physical appearance is similar to Chinese with paler skin and a Mandarin sounding tonal language. Their name for themselves is "abandoned people", Awatwa in their language.^[14]

15th-19th century

• When the Ming dynasty in China fell, Chinese refugees fled south and extensively settled in the Cham lands and Cambodia.^[15] Most of these Chinese were young males, and they took Cham women as wives. Their children identified more with Chinese culture. This migration occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[16]

Late 20th century: modern emigration

Through most of China's history, strict controls prevented large numbers of people from leaving the country. In modern times, however, some have been allowed to leave for various reasons. For example, in the early 1960s, about 100,000 people were allowed to enter Hong Kong. In the late 1970s, vigilance against illegal migration to Hong Kong was again relaxed. Perhaps as many as 200,000 reached Hong Kong in 1979, but in 1980 authorities on both sides resumed concerted efforts to reduce the flow.

More liberalized emigration policies enacted in the 1980s facilitated the legal departure of increasing numbers of Chinese who joined their overseas Chinese relatives and friends. The Four Modernizations program, which required Chinese students and scholars, particularly scientists, to be able to attend foreign education and research institutions, brought about increased contact with the outside world, particularly the industrialized nations. Thus, as China moved toward the 21st century, the diverse resources and immense population that it had committed to a comprehensive process of modernization became ever more important.

In 1983, emigration restrictions were eased as a result in part of the economic open-door policy. In 1984, more than 11,500 business visas were issued to Chinese citizens, and in 1985, approximately 15,000 Chinese scholars and students were in the United States alone. Any student who had the economic resources could apply for permission to study abroad. United States consular offices issued more than 12,500 immigrant visas in 1984, and there were 60,000 Chinese with approved visa petitions in the immigration queue.

Export of labor to foreign countries also increased. The Soviet Union, Iraq, and the Federal Republic of Germany requested 500,000 workers, and as of 1986, China sent 50,000. The signing of the United States-China Consular Convention in 1983 demonstrated the commitment to more liberal emigration policies. Both sides agreed to permit travel for the purpose of family reunification and to facilitate travel for individuals who claim both Chinese and United States citizenship. However, emigrating from China remained a complicated and lengthy process mainly because many countries were unwilling or unable to accept the large numbers of people who wished to emigrate. Other difficulties included bureaucratic delays and, in some cases, a reluctance on the part of Chinese authorities to issue passports and exit permits to individuals making notable contributions to the modernization effort.

There has additionally been a consequential component of Chinese emigration of illegal origin, most notably Fuzhou people from Fujian Province and Wenzhounese from Zhejiang Province in Mainland China, specifically destined for New York City in the United States, beginning in the 1980s. Quantification of the magnitude of this modality of emigration is imprecise and varies over time, but it appears to continue unabated on a significant basis.

The only significant immigration to China has been by the overseas Chinese, who in the years since 1949 have been offered various enticements to return to their homeland. Several million may have done so since 1949. The largest influx came in 1978-79, when about 160,000 to 250,000 ethnic Chinese refugees fled Vietnam for southern China, as relations between the two countries worsened. Many of these refugees were reportedly settled in state farms on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

See also

• Overseas Chinese
• Chinese American history
• History of Chinese immigration to Canada
• Haijin (海禁)
• Chinese Protectorate
• Workforce
• Industrial Revolution
• British East India
• Opium War
• Chinese Clan Association
• Hui (secret society)
• Tong (organization)
• Sangley (Seng Li; business)
• Peranakan
• Chinese immigration to Mexico

Notes

1. ^ Spice Route (Sea Route) and ancient Chinese Migration 海上丝路与中国古代的海外移民
2. ^ James D. Tracy (1993). The Rise of merchant empires: long-distance trade in the early modern world, 1350-1750. Cambridge University Press. p. 405. ISBN 0521457351. http://books.google.com/books?id=heEdZziizrUC&pg=PA405&dq=chinese+merchant+sojourners+southeast+asian+trade&hl=en&ei=jtwrTa2qMMH78AaZ7qzNCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=chinese%20merchant%20sojourners%20southeast%20asian%20trade&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
3. ^ Ho Khai Leong, Khai Leong Ho (2009). Connecting and Distancing: Southeast Asia and China. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 11. ISBN 9812308563. http://books.google.com/books?id=EwnzBiM0LmAC&pg=PA11&dq=chinese+merchant+sojourners+southeast+asian+trade&hl=en&ei=jtwrTa2qMMH78AaZ7qzNCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chinese%20merchant%20sojourners%20southeast%20asian%20trade&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
4. ^ Derek Heng (2009). Sino-Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth Through the Fourteenth Century. Ohio University Press. p. 133. ISBN 089680271X. http://books.google.com/books?id=cLE_ToRyuLsC&pg=PA133&dq=southeast+asian+ports+intermarriage+daoyi+zhilue+champa+chinese+traders+local+women+cham+ports&hl=en&ei=jp7PTPjdBMP7lwev-ZmrBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=southeast%20asian%20ports%20intermarriage%20daoyi%20zhilue%20champa%20chinese%20traders%20local%20women%20cham%20ports&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
5. ^ Robert S. Wicks (1992). Money, markets, and trade in early Southeast Asia: the development of indigenous monetary systems to AD 1400. SEAP Publications. p. 215. ISBN 0877277109. http://books.google.com/books?id=Qs1q9VEoEkoC&pg=PA215&dq=chinese+merchant+champa+wang+yuanmao+quanzhou+man+king+barbarian+daughters&hl=en&ei=_XrQTJf9BsH6lwet8-SMBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chinese%20merchant%20champa%20wang%20yuanmao%20quanzhou%20man%20king%20barbarian%20daughters&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
6. ^ Shih-shan Henry Tsai (1996). The eunuchs in the Ming dynasty. SUNY Press. p. 145. ISBN 0791426874. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ka6jNJcX_ygC&pg=PA145&dq=ryukyu+asked+for+thirty+six+families+fujian&hl=en&ei=Z3NLTaSYG9L1gAeXkZEd&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ryukyu%20asked%20for%20thirty%20six%20families%20fujian&f=false. Retrieved 2011-02-04. 
7. ^ Angela Schottenhammer (2007). The East Asian maritime world 1400-1800: its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. xiii. ISBN 3447054743. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ga-5mPOr2-wC&pg=PR13&dq=ryukyu+asked+for+thirty+six+families+fujian&hl=en&ei=Z3NLTaSYG9L1gAeXkZEd&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-02-04. 
8. ^ Gang Deng (1999). Maritime sector, institutions, and sea power of premodern China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 125. ISBN 0313307121. http://books.google.com/books?id=ddcV_cGegX4C&pg=PA125&dq=ryukyu+asked+for+thirty+six+families+fujian&hl=en&ei=Z3NLTaSYG9L1gAeXkZEd&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-02-04. 
9. ^ Katrien Hendrickx (2007). The Origins of Banana-fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan. Leuven University Press. p. 39. ISBN 9058676145. http://books.google.com/books?id=ULyu8dNqS1sC&pg=PA39&dq=ryukyu+asked+for+thirty+six+families+fujian&hl=en&ei=Z3NLTaSYG9L1gAeXkZEd&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 
10. ^ "Children of the master voyager?", People's Daily, 2006-11-03, http://english.people.com.cn/200611/03/eng20061103_317869.html, retrieved 2009-03-30 
11. ^ "Is this young Kenyan Chinese descendant?", China Daily, 2005-07-11, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/11/content_459090.htm, retrieved 2009-03-30 
12. ^ York, Geoffrey (2005-07-18), "Revisiting the history of the high seas", The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20050718%2FCHINA18%2FTPInternational%2FAsia&ord=51366453&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true, retrieved 2009-03-30 
13. ^ Frank Viviano (July 2005). "China's Great Armada, Admiral Zheng He". NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: p. 6. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/china/zheng-he-text/6. Retrieved September 29, 2011. 
14. ^ Alex Perry (Friday, Aug. 01, 2008). "A Chinese Color War". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1828432,00.html. Retrieved September 29, 2011. 
15. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc (2003). The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 8. Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 669. ISBN 0852299613. http://books.google.com/books?id=FP7iAAAAMAAJ&q=Much+of+the+settlement+of+Cham+and+Cambodian+lands,+however,+was+done+by+Chinese+refugees+fleeing+the+collapse+of+the+Ming+dynasty.+The+Chinese+were+actively+courted+by+the+Nguyen,+who+were+in+desperate+need+of+manpower+in+order+to&dq=Much+of+the+settlement+of+Cham+and+Cambodian+lands,+however,+was+done+by+Chinese+refugees+fleeing+the+collapse+of+the+Ming+dynasty.+The+Chinese+were+actively+courted+by+the+Nguyen,+who+were+in+desperate+need+of+manpower+in+order+to&hl=en&ei=dc27TJK-N8T_lgf09p30DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
16. ^ Barbara Watson Andaya (2006). The flaming womb: repositioning women in early modern Southeast Asia. University of Hawaii Press. p. 146. ISBN 0824829557. http://books.google.com/books?id=tClCMl7hswQC&pg=PA146&dq=southern+vietnam+thousands+of+young+chinese+males+brides+cham+communities&hl=en&ei=V3rQTKjWMoKdlged-pDkBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=southern%20vietnam%20thousands%20of%20young%20chinese%20males%20brides%20cham%20communities&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies. [1]

References

• Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora by Lynn Pan ISBN 1-56836-032-0

External links

• The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas
• Coolie Online Encyclopedia
• The Rocky Road to Liberty: A Documented History of Chinese American Immigration and Exclusion