Chinese emigration | |
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Waves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. They include the emigration to Southeast Asia beginning from the 10th century during the Tang dynasty,to the Americas during the 19th century,particularly during the California gold rush in the mid-1800s;general emigration initially around the early to mid 20th century which was mainly caused by corruption,starvation,and war due to the Warlord Era,the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War;and finally elective emigration to various countries. Most emigrants were peasants and manual labourers,although there were also educated individuals who brought their various expertises to their new destinations.
Due to the political dynamics of the Cold War,there was relatively little migration from the People's Republic of China to southeast Asia from the 1950s until the mid-1970s. [31] : 117
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 (香港) 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 as part of the Opening of China 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.
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.
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.
New York City's multiple Chinatowns in Queens (法拉盛華埠),Manhattan (紐約華埠),and Brooklyn (布鲁克林華埠) are successful as traditionally urban enclaves,as large-scale Chinese immigration continues into New York during the late 20th century [1] [2] [39] [4] with the largest metropolitan Chinese population outside Asia, [40] The New York metropolitan area contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia,comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017. [41] There has additionally been a significant element of illegal Chinese emigration to Brooklyn and Queens,most notably Fuzhou immigrants from Fujian Province and Wenzhou immigrants from Zhejiang Province in Mainland China. [42]
A much smaller wave of Chinese immigration to Singapore came after the 1990s,holding the citizenship of the People's Republic of China and mostly Mandarin-speaking Chinese from northern China. The only significant immigration to China has been by the overseas Chinese,who in the years since 1949 have been offered various enticements to repatriate to their homeland. Several million may have done so since 1949.
During the Xi Jinping administration,the number of Chinese asylum seekers abroad increased to 613,000 people as of 2020. [43] As of 2023,illegal Chinese immigration to New York City has accelerated,and its Flushing (法拉盛),Queens neighborhood has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration. [38]
In early 2020s,there have been an influx of Chinese migrants using the Mexico's Northern border to enter America,termed "ZouXian". [44]
Chinatown is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
Overseas Chinese people are those of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Overall China has low precent of population living overseas.
The Haijin (海禁) or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. The policy introduced by the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang significantly hampered the growth of China's domestic trade, although the Ming was not able to enforce the policy in full despite official proclamations, and trade continued in forms like smuggling until the late Ming government opened the port of Yuegang for trade. Later, the early Qing dynasty's anti-insurgent "Great Clearance" (1661–1683) also caused considerable devastating effects on communities along the coast, until the Qing seized control of Taiwan and opened coastal ports to foreign trade.
Fujian is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest city by population is Quanzhou, other notable cities include the port city of Xiamen and Zhangzhou. Fujian is located on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait as the closest geographically and culturally to Taiwan. Certain islands such as Kinmen are only approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Xiamen in Fujian.
A tong is a type of organization found among Chinese immigrants predominantly living in the United States, with smaller numbers in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In Chinese, the word tong means "hall" or "gathering place". These organizations are described as secret societies or sworn brotherhoods and are often tied to criminal activity. In the 1990s, in most American Chinatowns, clearly marked tong halls could easily be found, many of which have had affiliations with Chinese organized crime.
Southern Min, Minnan or Banlam, is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian, most of Taiwan, Eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and Southern Zhejiang. Southern Min dialects are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern and Central Vietnam, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. Minnan is the most widely-spoken branch of Min, with approximately 48 million speakers as of 2017–2018.
Chinese Cubans are Cubans of full or mixed Chinese ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to Cuba. They are part of the ethnic Chinese diaspora.
Chinese Burmese, also Sino-Burmese or Tayoke, are Burmese citizens of Han Chinese ethnicity. They are a group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Myanmar (Burma). As of 2012, the Burmese Chinese population is estimated to be as high as 3 per cent of the country's population.
Chinese Singaporeans are Singaporeans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Singaporeans constitute 75.9% of the Singaporean citizen population according to the official census, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore.
Nanyang is the Chinese term for the warmer and fertile geographical region along the southern coastal regions of China and beyond, otherwise known as the 'South Sea' or Southeast Asia. The term came into common usage in self-reference to the large ethnic Chinese migrant population in Southeast Asia, and is contrasted with Xiyang, which refers to the Western world, Dongyang, which refers to Japan. The Chinese press regularly uses the term to refer to the region stretching from Yunnan Province to Singapore and from Myanmar (Burma) to Vietnam ; in addition, the term also refers to Brunei, East Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines in the region it encompasses.
Eastern Min or Min Dong is a branch of the Min group of the Chinese languages of China. The prestige form and most commonly cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian.
The Cantonese people or Yue people, are a Han Chinese subgroup originating from or residing in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, in southern mainland China. In a strict sense, "Cantonese" refers only to people with roots from Guangzhou and its satellite cities and towns, rather than generally referring to the people of the Liangguang region.
The Chinese diaspora in France consists of people of Chinese origin who were born in or immigrated to France. The ethnic Chinese population in France is estimated to be about 100,000-150,000, making it the largest overseas Chinese community in Europe.
A recognizable community of Chinese people in Korea has existed since the 1880s, and are often known as Hwagyo. Over 90% of early Chinese migrants came from Shandong province on the east coast of China. These ethnic Han Chinese residents in Korea often held Republic of China and Korean citizenship. The Republic of China used to govern the entirety of China, but now only governs Taiwan and a minor part of Fujian province. Due to the conflation of Republic of China citizenship with Taiwanese identity in the modern era, these ethnic Chinese people in Korea or Hwagyo are now usually referred to as "Taiwanese". However, in reality most Hwagyo hold little to no ties with Taiwan.
Chinese people in Japan (在日中国人/華人) include any people self-identifying as ethnic Chinese or people possessing Chinese citizenship living in Japan. People aged 22 or older cannot possess dual-citizenship in Japan, so Chinese possessing Japanese citizenship typically no longer possess Chinese citizenship. The term "Chinese people" typically refers to the Han Chinese, the main ethnic group living in China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC) and Singapore. Officially, China (PRC) is home to 55 additional ethnic minorities, including people such as Tibetans, though these people might not self-identify as Chinese. Han Chinese people have had a long history in Japan as a minority.
Immigration to Singapore is the process by which people migrate to Singapore for the purpose of residing there—and where a majority go on to become permanent residents and Singaporean citizens. Singapore is an attractive destination especially in the region as it is a country with a strong currency that offers high living standards, including in education, work, wages and safety as well as an overall far higher quality of life compared to its neighbours. High-net-worth or skilled immigrants worldwide are also attracted to Singapore's low tax rates and ease of doing business.
The Southern Ming, also known in historiography as the Later Ming, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the Jiashen Incident of 1644. Peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng who founded the short-lived Shun dynasty captured Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. The Ming general Wu Sangui then opened the gates of the Shanhai Pass in the eastern section of the Great Wall to the Qing banners, in hope of using them to annihilate the Shun forces. Ming loyalists fled to Nanjing, where they enthroned Zhu Yousong as the Hongguang Emperor, marking the start of the Southern Ming. The Nanjing regime lasted until 1645, when Qing forces captured Nanjing. Zhu fled before the city fell, but was captured and executed shortly thereafter. Later figures continued to hold court in various southern Chinese cities, although the Qing considered them to be pretenders.
Fuzhou people, also known as Foochowese, Hokchew, Hokchia, Hokchiu, Fuzhou Shiyi people (福州十邑人), Eastern Min or Mindong are residents of either Fuzhou and Mindong regions and the Gutian and Pingnan counties of Fujian province and Matsu Islands in Taiwan. Fuzhou people are a part of the Min Chinese-speaking group that speaks Eastern Min or specifically Fuzhou dialect. There is also a significant overseas Fuzhou population, particularly distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, United States, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Yuegang was a seaport situated at the estuary of the Jiulong River in present-day Haicheng town in Zhangzhou, Fujian, China. Known as a smuggling hub since the early Ming dynasty, Yuegang rose to prominence in the 16th century as the Ming government cracked down on other hubs of private maritime trade, deemed illegal at the time due to the isolationist haijin laws. When the prohibitions were lifted in 1567, Yuegang was designated as the port in Fujian from where it is legal to trade overseas. Since then, it flourished as the Chinese terminus of the trans-Pacific trade carried by the Manila galleon through its trade with the Spanish Philippines until it was overshadowed by Xiamen in the 17th century.
The Asian diaspora is the diasporic group of people whose ancestral origins lie in Asia, but who live outside of the continent. There are several prominent groups within the Asian diaspora.
In its own way, it [Chinese government] has upgraded its migrants from a ragbag of malcontents, adventurers, and desperately poor laborers to the status of respectable and valued nationals whose loyalty was greatly appreciated.
Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody. New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city's resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan..."New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community," said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood.