Sino-Mauritian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sino-Mauritian or Chinese Mauritian are overseas Chinese who reside in Mauritius. Even though they have influenced Mauritian culture greatly (especially gastronomically: Chinese food is consumed all over the island by all people), they make up only 3% of the population on the island. Most are descendants of Chinese of Hakka descent who arrived between the 17th and 19th centuries. The majority of them used their original language Hak-ka-fa/-va 客家語, (or Hak-fa/-va 客語) although a smaller number spoke Cantonese.
They are mostly descendants of immigrants to Mauritius from Guangdong province (Meixian, mostly) and have transited through Hong Kong. The British authorities in Hong Kong made documents for these travelers based on what the latter tell them: name, age, place of birth, etc. Before this, the emigrants had little or obviously, no papers were used for all official purposes including declaring newborns.
Using the full Chinese name of the male head of family or a respected ancestor who led the family to denote the family name is a result of an administrative procedure that had been widely used in British India (e.g. Muthu s/o Lingham). The practice was standardized to include Chinese Mauritian into the system had resulted to unique naming of the Chinese not found outside of Mauritius and neighbouring Reunion.
[edit] Demographics
The majority of the Chinese Mauritians are Christian, most usually Catholics with a small percentage of Protestants (mostly Anglicans). Other Chinese Mauritians are Buddhist or Taoist: typically, a syncretic Chinese religion incorporating elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and traditional ancestor worship. Sometimes, Chinese Mauritians (especially the older generations)are Christians while retaining certain traditions from Buddhism.
In the early '50s, there were six Chinese schools (two secondary and four primary) in Mauritius with a total student population of about 1,000. But the schools were closed in the '70s because of dwindling enrolment.
The island having been under British colonialism and French colonialism, the majority of Chinese Mauritians retained mostly Western culture and speak Creole and French as their first languages. However, there are a few people, particularly older generations, who speak Hakka, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Most of them are businessmen who own restaurants, retail and wholesale shops, and import-and-export firms. Many of the shops in Mauritius are run by Chinese.
Mauritian Chineses can be considered the second richest group on the island after the Franco-Mauritian population
