Total population | |
---|---|
7,885 (2012) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Paramaribo · Wanica | |
Languages | |
Hakka Chinese · Cantonese · Mandarin · Dutch · Sranan Tongo | |
Religion | |
No religion · Christianity · Chinese folk religion (incl. Taoism and Confucianism) · Buddhism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Chinese Caribbean |
Chinese Surinamese people are Surinamese residents of ethnic Chinese origin. The earliest migrants came in the 19th century as indentured laborers; there was another wave of migration in the 1950s and 1960s. There were 7,885 Chinese in Suriname at the 2012 census, [1] constituting 1.5% of the total population. They constitute the largest component of the 'other' ethnic category, which makes up 2.3% of the population as per the CIA World Factbook. [2] The majority of the Chinese Surinamese consider Hakka (Dongguan, Huiyang, Huizhou or Bao'an, Shenzhen) of Guangdong as their ancestral homes. There is a small minority of Heshan, Jiangmen origin Cantonese and Hakkas as well.
Many Chinese Surinamese are active in the retail and business community. Six percent of the Chinese in the Netherlands migrated from Suriname.
In 1853, planters in Suriname feared a labor shortage when slavery was about to be abolished. They asked the government to recruit other workers from abroad.
The government of Java recruited a group of 18 Chinese for indentured labor in the Catharina Sophia plantation in Saramacca. Because of the high acquisition costs, it was decided to get a second group, not from Java, but from China instead. In 1858, 500 Chinese laborers were recruited by the Dutch consul in Macau. They arrived in Suriname in April, but it turned out that no one wanted to hire people to do work that slaves would do "for free".
Because of this, the contract with the Chinese was changed without their knowledge by Governor Charles Pierre Schimpf, in favor of the employers. The Chinese could now be treated like slaves. When they would revolt against this, they were, without due process and contrary to existing regulations, punished by police with cane strokes, an unlawful act that was repeated again and again.
An interpellation (formal request for information) to the Minister of Colonies Jan Jacob Rochussen did not help.
In the 1850s and 1860s, about 2,500 Chinese people went to Suriname. Most were employed as indentured laborers on the plantations. After their contracts expired, many found opportunities in trade, mostly in food retail. Most of the male laborers were married to non-Chinese women. Those who married Chinese women, mostly married with an imported bride.
Other Chinese came to Suriname as free laborers, traders and shop assistants, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Further large numbers came in the 1990s. In 2007, there were over 70,000 Chinese in Suriname, and the immigration is still ongoing. The rapidly growing demand in China for wood and minerals makes Suriname very attractive to Chinese businesses. The new Chinese migrants from northern China are known in Suriname as "salt-water-Chinese".[ citation needed ]
Since the 1960s, thousands of Chinese have emigrated from Suriname to the Netherlands.
The Chinese held a prominent position in small and medium business for a long time, and their mostly well-educated offspring of mixed ancestry or Chinese ancestry can be found in various social sectors. Also, the Surinamese people have adopted several Chinese customs.
The original Chinese settlers were Hakka from the Fuitungon region of Guangdong; [3] Fui5tung1on1 means three places: Huiyang, Huizhou or Fui5jong2, Dongguan or tung1kon1, and Bao'an County, Shenzhen or pau3on1, [4] Hakka was originally present and became the "old Chinese" of Guyana. [3] It was previously the only spoken variety of Chinese in the country. [5] Paul Brendan Tjon Sie Fat of the University of Amsterdam stated that Hakka people in Suriname do not frequently voice negative attitudes towards the fact that Hakka has a lower status than Dutch in Suriname. [6]
In the 1970s Cantonese was introduced into Suriname. [5] Beginning in the 1990s new migrants from China moved to Suriname, [4] and Putonghua, during circa 2004-2014, became the main Chinese lingua franca in the country. [6]
There are Mandarin and Cantonese television shows aired in Suriname. [6]
Most of the Chinese Surinamese are irreligious, with significant population adhering to Christianity. Hinduism and Islam are also followed by a small number of them. [7] However, "many...are Confucians". [8]
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, sometimes considered part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. Suriname is a developing country with a medium level of human development; its economy is heavily dependent on its abundant natural resources, namely bauxite, gold, petroleum, and agricultural products. Suriname is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the United Nations, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The Hakka, sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China and who speak a language that is closely related to Gan, a Han Chinese dialect spoken in Jiangxi province. They are differentiated from other southern Han Chinese by their dispersed nature and tendency to occupy marginal lands and remote hilly areas. The Chinese characters for Hakka literally mean "guest families".
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.
Indo-Caribbean people or Indian-Caribbean people are people in the Caribbean who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. They are descendants of the Jahaji indentured laborers from British India, who were brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. A minority of them are descendants from people who immigrated as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, merchants, engineers, doctors, religious leaders, students, and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century.
The Chinese in Hawaii constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom (75%) are Cantonese people with ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent. If all people with Chinese ancestry in Hawaii are included, they form about 1/3 of Hawaii's entire population. As United States citizens, they are a group of Chinese Americans. A minority of this group have Hakka ancestry.
Huizhou is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyuan to the northeast, Shanwei to the east, and Daya Bay of the South China Sea to the south. As of the 2020 census, the city has about 6,042,852 inhabitants and is administered as a prefecture-level city. Huizhou's core metropolitan area, which is within Huicheng and Huiyang Districts, is home to around 2,090,578 inhabitants.
Shaozhou Tuhua, also known as Yuebei Tuhua (粤北土话), is an unclassified Chinese variety spoken in northern Guangdong province, China. It is mutually unintelligible with Xiang, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Chinese Jamaicans are Jamaicans of Chinese ancestry, which include descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another moment of migration in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the descendants of early migrants have moved abroad, primarily to Canada and the United States. Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and many can trace their origin to the indentured Chinese laborers who came to Jamaica in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries.
Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. Their ancestors were indentured labourers brought by the Dutch and the British to the Dutch colony of Suriname, beginning in 1873 and continuing during the British Raj. Per the 2012 Census of Suriname, 148,443 citizens of Suriname are of Indo-Surinamese origin, constituting 27.4% of the total population, making them the largest ethnic group in Suriname on an individual level.
The majority of Chinese nationals currently residing in Samoa are businessmen, labour workers, and shopowners in the southwestern Pacific island nation of Samoa, and there are at least 30,000 people in Samoa who are of mixed Samoan and Chinese descent, although they are classified as ethnic Samoans in official census. Around the world, about 25% of all Samoans claim Chinese ancestry. Nearly all Chinese nationals in Samoa reside within the Apia municipal area; neighbouring American Samoa, also has a small population of Chinese expatriates.
The Dapeng dialect is a Chinese dialect, a variant of Cantonese with a strong Hakka influence that was originally only spoken on the Dapeng Peninsula of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The Chinese diaspora has spread the dialect to places with large populations whose ancestral roots are originally from Dapeng, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Today, their descendants live in Hong Kong; the Randstad region of the Netherlands; Portsmouth, United Kingdom; and New York City, United States.
Dutch Surinamese are Surinamese people of Dutch descent.
Chinese people in the Netherlands form one of the largest overseas Chinese populations in continental Europe. In 2018 official statistics showed 92,644 people originating from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Republic of China (ROC), or people with at least one such parent. However, these statistics do not capture the whole size of the Chinese community, which since its earliest days has included not just migrants from China, but people of Chinese ethnicity drawn from among overseas Chinese communities as well.
Ketikoti, sometimes spelled as Keti Koti, or officially Dag der Vrijheden is an annual celebration on 1 July that marks Emancipation Day in Suriname. The day is also known as Manspasi Dei or Prisiri Manspasi, meaning "Emancipation" or "Emancipation Festival". or Kettingsnijden.
Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of Suriname. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Surinamese, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Surinamese.
Javanese Surinamese are an ethnic group of Javanese Indonesians descent in Suriname. They have been present since the late 19th century, when their first members were selected as indentured laborers by the Dutch colonizers from the former Dutch East Indies.
The Tjin A Djie family is a family from the country of Suriname. It is one of the earliest Chinese Surinamese families, having arrived in Suriname in 1866. The descendants are known for their role as entrepreneurs and sporters. The family has been active at plantations for rice and vegetables. In the 20th and 21st centuries, descendants have been active in tennis and golf. In the 2010s The annual Opa Leo Tjin A Djie Tennis Tournament is being sponsored by them.
This is a list of politicians in Europe of Chinese descent:
Hinduism in Suriname is the second-largest religion. According to ARDA, there are 129,440 Hindus in Suriname as of 2015, constituting 23.15% of the population. Suriname has the second largest percentage of Hindus in the Western Hemisphere, after Guyana (24.8%).
The Javanese diaspora is the demographic group of descendants of ethnic Javanese who emigrated from the Indonesian island of Java to other parts of the world. The Javanese diaspora includes a significant population in Suriname, with over 13% of the country's population being of Javanese ancestry. Other major enclaves are found in Australia, French Guiana, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.