Chindian

This article is about people of Chinese and Indian descent. For the geopolitical term, see Chindia.

Chindians

Jwala Gutta · Nicol David
Regions with significant populations
Mainly: Singapore · Malaysia · India · China (Hong Kong) Also: Mauritius · Philippines · Guyana · Jamaica · Trinidad and Tobago
Languages
English, Tamil, Mandarin, other languages of India and languages of China
Related ethnic groups
Indians in Singapore · Chinese Singaporean · Indian Malaysian · Chinese Malaysian · Indians in China · Chinese community in India

Chindian is an informal term used to refer to a person of both Chinese and Indian ancestry. There are a considerable number of Chindians in Malaysia and Singapore, where people of Chinese and Indian origin immigrated in large numbers during the 19th century.^[1] There are also a sizable number living in Hong Kong and smaller numbers in other countries with overseas Chinese and Indian diaspora, such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana in the Caribbean, as well as in Thailand, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand.

Malaysia and Singapore

In Malaysia and Singapore, the majority of interracial marriages occur between Chinese (specifically Han Chinese) and Indians (specifically Tamil Indians). The offspring of such marriages are informally known as "Chindian" (Roshan Mistry). The Malaysian government, however, classifies them as an unclassified ethnicity, using the father's ethnicity as the informal term. As the majority of these intermarriages usually involve an Indian male and Chinese female, the majority of Chindian offspring in Malaysia are usually classified as "Indian" by the Malaysian government.^[2]

According to government statistics, 2.4% of Singapore's population were multiracial, mostly Chindians. The highest inter-ethnic marriages was in 2007, 16.4% of the 20,000 marriages in Singapore were inter-ethnic, again mostly between Chinese and Indians.^[1]

Singapore only began to allow mixed-race persons to register two racial classification on their identity cards in 2010. Parents may choose which of the two is listed first.^[3] More than two races may not be listed even if the person has several different ethnicities in their family.

Hong Kong

Indians have been living in Hong Kong long before the partition of India into the nations of India and Pakistan. They migrated to Hong Kong as traders, police officers and army officers during colonial rule. 25,000 of the Muslims in Hong Kong trace their roots back to what is now Pakistan. Around half of them belong to 'local boy' families, Muslims of mixed Chinese and Indian/Pakistani ancestry, descended from early Indian/Pakistani immigrants who took local Chinese wives and brought their children up as Muslims.^[4][5] These "local Indians" were not completely accepted by either the Chinese or Indian communities.^[6]

Notable people

• Jacintha Abisheganaden, Singaporean actress
• Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean politician
• Bernard Chandran, Malaysian fashion designer
• Anya Ayoung-Chee, winner of Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008 and contestant in the Miss Universe 2008 pageant
• Karen David, English singer-songwriter born in Meghalaya, India
• Nicol David, Malaysian athlete
• Vanessa Fernandez, Singaporean singer and radio presenter
• Jonathan Foo, Guyanese cricketer
• Jwala Gutta, Indian badminton player
• Che'Nelle (Cheryline Lim), Malaysian-born recording artist signed to Virgin Records America
• Indranee Rajah, deputy speaker of the Singaporean parliament
• Michelle Saram, Hong Kong actress born in Singapore
• Edwin Thumboo, Singaporean poet
• Ke Yinhua, son of Indian expatriate doctor in China Dwarkanath Kotnis
• Joseph Prince, Singaporean evangelist

See also

• Chindia
• Sino-Indian relations
• Race in Singapore

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Sheela Narayanan (October 17, 2008). "Go ahead, call me Chindian". AsiaOne. http://www.asiaone.com/Just%2BWoman/News/High%2BLife/Story/A1Story20081017-94498.html. Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
2. ^ Daniels, Timothy P. (2005), Building Cultural Nationalism in Malaysia, Routledge, p. 189, ISBN 0415949718 
3. ^ Hoe, Yeen Nie (12 January 2010), "Singaporeans of mixed race allowed to "double barrel" race in IC", ChannelNewsAsia, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1030142/1/.html, retrieved 10 June 2010 
4. ^ Weiss, Anita M. (July 1991), "South Asian Muslims in Hong Kong: Creation of a 'Local Boy' Identity", Modern Asian Studies 25 (3): 417–53, doi:10.1017/S0026749X00013895. 
5. ^ Ina Baghdiantz McCabe, Gelina Harlaftis, Iōanna Pepelasē Minoglou (2005), Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks: Four Centuries of History, Berg Publishers, p. 256, ISBN 185973880X 
6. ^ Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember, Ian A. Skoggard (2004), Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, Springer, p. 511, ISBN 0306483211 

External links

• urban dictionary
• An illusion of purity
• Double-tongued dictionary