Chinese Jamaican

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Flag of the People's Republic of China Chinese Jamaicans Flag of Jamaica
Notable Chinese Jamaicans:
Tyson Beckford
Naomi Campbell
Sean Paul
Black Chiney
Total population

Approx. 70,000[1]
Including mixed Chinese Jamaicans
Regions with significant populations
Kingston
Languages
Jamaican English, Jamaican Patois
Religions
Christianity, Rastafari, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Jamaican British, Jamaican Americans, Jamaican Brazilians, Jamaican Canadian, Chinese Brazilian, Indo-Jamaicans

Chinese Jamaicans are the descendants of migrants and immigrants from China, who are citizens of Jamaica, or descendants of Jamaicans. Over the years, many Jamaicans of Chinese descent have emigrated abroad.

Contents

[edit] Arrival

Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and can trace their origin to the Chinese labourers that came to Jamaica in the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. 75% of all Chinese indentured labourers dispatched to the British West Indies were sent to British Guiana in the late 1800s, but many later moved to Jamaica. About 96% of the Chinese who migrated to the Americas in the 1800s came from a small region in southern Kwangtung on the Pearl River Delta near large cities like Hong Kong.[2] The very first Chinese Caribbean people were the 60 men aboard the Whirlwind, which set sail from Hong Kong on March 11, 1860.[3]

[edit] Cultural Syncretism

Interracial marriages came almost immediately, and along with continued immigration the Chinese Jamaican community grew, so that it became the second-largest Chinese Caribbean population, behind only Cuba. The 1946 Jamaica census recorded, 12,394 Chinese Jamaicans: "2,818 China-born, 4,061 local born, 5,515 Chinese coloured," with the latter referring to multiracial Blasian people.[4] The term Blasian is an American term and not of Jamaican origin. It is not used in Jamaican vernacular.

Assimilation has taken place through generations and few Chinese Jamaicans can speak Chinese today; most of them speak English or Jamaican Patois as their first language. The vast majority have anglicized given names, and many have Chinese surnames. The Chinese food culture has survived to a large degree among this group of people.

Since the 1970s, there have been a significant emigration of Chinese Jamaicans from the island, primarily to the United States and Toronto, Canada.

[edit] Notable Jamaicans of Chinese descent

[edit] See also

Vincent and Patricia Chin = VPRecords.com

[edit] References

  1. ^ Joshua Project
  2. ^ Hakka Chinese Jamaican
  3. ^ Hakka Chinese Jamaican
  4. ^ Hakka Chinese Jamaican

[edit] External links

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