 | This article needs to be updated.(March 2024) |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 7,485 (2018) [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Prague [2] | |
| Languages | |
| Chinese, Czech | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Overseas Chinese |
Chinese people in the Czech Republic form one of the country's smaller migrant communities.
A few Chinese settled in Czechoslovakia prior to World War II. They consisted largely of overland migrants from Wenzhou, Zhejiang. [3] Most were Catholics. They came largely as travelling salesmen to the Bohemia region; some married local women and settled down. Up to the 1940s, a few more Chinese arrived, for example as acrobats with travelling circuses. [4] However, most of them left the country when the war broke out. [5] The few who did remain fled to Western Europe after the Communist takeover, when their businesses were confiscated. Due to the worsening Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s, there was little further contact between Czechoslovakia and the People's Republic of China. [4]
Hungary, rather than Czechoslovakia, was the initial hub of the post-1989 Chinese community in Eastern Europe, due to their policy of offering visa-free entry to PRC nationals; as many as 45,000 Chinese may have arrived in Hungary by 1992, largely shuttle traders and migrant workers. [4] However, when that visa-free policy was terminated, the Chinese began to spread out to other neighbouring countries, primarily Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. [6] They consisted not of poor rural migrants, as was the common image in the popular imagination, but rather of former civil servants and workers in state-owned enterprise, who were giving up their "iron rice bowls" to go abroad and try to get rich as traders. [7] In the mid-1990s, the Czech Republic briefly came to prominence as a transit point for Chinese migrants being smuggled into Western Europe, but Hungary regained its popularity by the end of the 1990s. [8] There was a brief spike in asylum seekers in the late 1990s. [7]
Most Chinese in the Czech Republic reside in Prague, though they are less concentrated than they were in the past; in 1993, only 7% of Chinese in the country lived elsewhere, but by 2000 that figure had grown to 41%. However, they remain more urbanised than any other immigrant group in the country. [9] They come largely from Zhejiang, Beijing, and Shanghai, and men outnumber women by a ratio of three-to-two, according to unofficial surveys. [10] In the late 1990s, there may have been as many as 9,000 Chinese in the country, including illegal migrants. [11] However, December 2007 official figures from the Czech Statistical Office showed a total of just 4,986; this made Chinese the 10th-largest group of non-European Union foreigners. [12]
One of the earliest Chinese community associations in the Czech Republic was the Association of Chinese Business in the Czech Republic (Ústřední sdružení čínských podnikatelů a obchodníků v ČR/捷克华人工商业者协会), referred to for short as the Shanghui (商会). It was founded by Mr. Li, a restaurateur from Shanghai who had previously lived in Hong Kong, Liberia, and Spain, and spoke fluent English. Though officially registered in 1995, in reality it had been operating already for several years. [13] The organisation was plagued by scandal due to the influence of snakeheads and triads; one chairman of the Shanghui was assaulted and their offices trashed in 1995 over a commercial dispute, and many Chinese state that they were forced to join the Shanghui, pay protection fees in the guise of membership dues, and enter into price fixing schemes. [14]
The backlash against the Shanghui resulted in the foundation of another association, the Hualianhui (华联会), by four women, an unusual development since most overseas Chinese associations tended to be founded and dominated by men. The first chairwoman, Ms. Weng, was an interpreter, language teacher, and author of Chinese cookery books, who had lived in the Czech Republic for over 40 years. As a direct result of the problems with Shanghui, they required recommendations from existing members and strictly screened new applicants in order to exclude problematic elements. [15] Hualianhui was open to expatriates from Taiwan as well as China, which caused some tensions with the PRC embassy and made their situation in the Chinese community rather tenuous; however, in 2000, the new Chinese ambassador to the Czech Republic officially received Ms. Weng for a meeting at the embassy, and also made an appearance at their Chinese New Year celebration in 2001. [15]
Overseas Chinese refers to people 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.
Demographic features of the population of the Czech Republic include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations.
There has been a significant history of Chinese immigration to Canada, with the first settlement of Chinese people in Canada being in the 1780s. The major periods of Chinese immigration would take place from 1858 to 1923 and 1947 to the present day, reflecting changes in the Canadian government's immigration policy.
There are an estimated 20,000 Muslims in the Czech Republic, representing 0.2% of the country's population. The growing Turkish community form the largest Muslim population in the country.
Chinese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on September 10, 1980.
The Polish minority in the Czech Republic is a Polish national minority living mainly in the Trans-Olza region of western Cieszyn Silesia. The Polish community is the only national minority in the Czech Republic that is linked to a specific geographical area. Trans-Olza is located in the north-eastern part of the country. It comprises Karviná District and the eastern part of Frýdek-Místek District. Many Poles living in other regions of the Czech Republic have roots in Trans-Olza as well.
Armenians in the Czech Republic are ethnic Armenians living in the modern Czech Republic. As of 2018, there were 1,879 Armenian citizen with a residence permit in the Czech Republic.
Ethnic Chinese in Russia officially numbered 39,483 according to the 2002 census. However, this figure is contested, with the Overseas Community Affairs Council of Taiwan claiming 998,000 in 2004 and 2005, and Russian demographers generally accepting estimates in the 200,000–400,000 range as of 2004. Temporary migration and shuttle trade conducted by Chinese merchants are most prevalent in Russia's Far Eastern Federal District, but most go back and forth across the border without settling down in Russia; the Chinese community in Moscow has a higher proportion of long-term residents. Their number in Russia has been shrinking since 2013.
The Greeks in the Czech Republic have a presence dating back to the 20th century. Roughly 12,000 Greek citizens, mainly from Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece, who fled from the 1946–1949 Greek Civil War were settled in several formerly German inhabited areas in Czechoslovakia.
Chinese people in Germany form one of the smaller groups of overseas Chinese in Europe, consisting mainly of Chinese expatriates living in Germany and German citizens of Chinese descent. The German Chinese community is growing rapidly and, as of 2016, was estimated to be around 212,000 by the Federal Institute for Population Research. In comparison to that, the Taiwanese OCAC had estimated there were 110,000 people of Chinese descent living in Germany in 2008.
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.
There is a small but growing population of Chinese people in Senegal, largely consisting of expatriates from the People's Republic of China who began arriving in the country in the 1980s.
Migration of Chinese people in Ghana dates back to the 1940s. Originally, most came from Hong Kong; migration from mainland China began only in the 1980s.
Chinese people in Denmark form one of the smaller and less-studied Chinese diaspora communities of Europe. Many chinese do voice work out of Denmark
There is a large national community of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic. The Ukrainian national minority in the Czech Republic together with the citizens of Ukraine make up the largest membership base with more than 203,198 members.
There are small number of resident Koreans in the Czech Republic, primarily citizens of South Korea.
China–Czech Republic relations or Sino–Czech relations are international relations between China and the Czech Republic. There were official relations by 1919 and formally established relations followed on 6 October 1949 between Czechoslovakia and China. In 1993, the Czech Republic was established and inherited the Czechoslovak treaty. The relations, trade and tourism between the China and the Czech Republic improved rapidly since the 1990s; and in the 2010s, agreements were made for more thorough economic improvements. Recently, relations have deteriorated due to major Czech politicians visiting Taiwan.
China-Ghanaian relations refer to the current and historical relationship between the Republic of Ghana and the People's Republic of China (PRC).
There is a large population of Chinese people in Nigeria which can include Chinese expatriates and descendants born in Nigeria with Hakka ancestry.
China–Senegal relations refer to the foreign relations between China and Senegal.
| Officially recognized | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
