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54-456: 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

108-402: A $ 4 wage for a 12-hour work day, also including food, clothing, medical care, and housing, although these contracts were regularly violated. Chinese immigrants could also arrive independent of the indentured system. These independent immigrants could come by paying their own way as an individual free migrant, or they could come sponsored and have their passage paid for reimbursement later. In 1917,

162-614: A former headmaster of the Chinese Public School, He Rujun, played a major role in attracting Chinese converts to Christianity in those years. The newest wave of Chinese migrants from Hong Kong and mainland China are mainly non-Christians, but they have not brought with them any widely visible Chinese religious practises. A few of them were already Protestants and have formed their own churches, which conduct worship services in Chinese; due to language barriers, they have little connection to

216-500: A relatively few fled to the nearby Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries and also to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico . As a result of this exodus, the number of pure Chinese dropped sharply in Havana's Barrio Chino . The places to which they migrated had a unique Chinese culture and a popularity of Chinese Cuban restaurants. From a peak population of 60,000 in the 1950s,

270-560: A significant percentage of the population. According to the official Jamaica Population Census of 1970 , ethnic origins categories in Jamaica include: Black (Mixed) ; Chinese ; East Indian ; White ; and 'Other' (e.g.: Syrian or Lebanese ). Jamaicans who consider themselves Black (according to the United States' One-drop rule definition of Black), made up 92% of the working population. Those of non-African descent or mixed race made up

324-687: A two-story building with guardian lion statues in the front; the ground floor is occupied by the Jamaican-Chinese Historical Museum. The building has been featured on a Jamaican postage stamp . The first Chinese-language newspaper in Jamaica, the Zhonghua Shang Bao (中華商報), was founded in 1930 by Zheng Yongkang; five years later, it was taken over by the Chinese Benevolent Association, who renamed it Huaqiao Gongbao (華僑公報). It continued publication until 1956, and

378-679: A wider variety of jobs than the previous generation including medicine, engineering, and law. A 2011 figure estimates that about 20,000 Cubans are of Chinese descent. Once among the largest Chinatowns in Latin America , the Barrio Chino de La Habana is now the world's smallest and is primarily concentrated in a small alleyway dominated by Chinese restaurants. Most Chinese Cubans live outside Barrio Chino . Several community groups, especially Chinatown Promotional Group (Spanish: Grupo Promotor del Barrio Chino ), worked to revive Barrio Chino and

432-682: Is disproportionately held by the White Jamaicans, Chinese Jamaicans and the Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class) - i.e. despite being a minority group(s) (less than 25% of the country's population) controls most of the country's wealth. Responses of the 2011 official census . A more precise breakdown of the Responses of the 2011 official census by the University of

486-504: The Afro-Jamaican women who worked in their businesses. However, Chinese women rarely married Afro-Jamaican men. Interracial marriage became less common as the number of women of Chinese descent in Jamaica grew. Nevertheless, by the 1943 census, nearly 45% of Jamaicans with some Chinese ancestry fell into the census category of "Chinese coloured" (mixed Chinese and African descent). When black and Indian women had children with Chinese men

540-686: The Miss Jamaica pageant for fear of racial controversy. However, this informal colour line was broken in 1973, when Patsy Yuen entered and earned the Miss Jamaica title in 1973, going on to place third in the Miss World competition in London; however, Yuen publicly portrayed herself as a completely assimilated Jamaican with little connection to her Chinese heritage, claiming in media statements that she didn't even like Chinese food, in order to avoid "disrupt[ing]

594-486: The 1918 event was a massive expression of anti-Chinese sentiments in Jamaica. It began in Ewarton and spread quickly to other parts of St Catherine, and other parishes such as St Mary, St Ann and Clarendon. The events were incited by a story that a Chinese shopkeeper in Ewarton caught a Jamaican off-duty policeman in a romantic liaison with his Jamaican "paramour". The shopkeeper and several of his Chinese friends brutally thrashed

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648-484: The Afro-Jamaican community) are almost entirely absent among Chinese Jamaicans. Conversion of Chinese Jamaicans to Christianity came about in several ways; some made conversions of convenience in order to obtain easy legal recognition for marriages and births, while Chinese men who entered into relationships with local women were often absorbed into church community through the selection of godparents for their children and

702-790: The Chinese Cemetery, where families would go to clean their ancestors' graves during the Qingming Festival in what was often organised as a communal activity by the CBA (referred to in English as Gah San , after the Hakka word 掛山); however, with the emigration of much of the Chinese Jamaican community to the North American mainland, the public, communal aspect of this grave-cleaning died out and indeed it

756-610: The Chinese Cuban population has virtually disappeared following the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The majority of Chinese Cubans fled to the United States, in particular to Miami , Florida but some also settled in California or elsewhere in Latin America. Of the Chinese who stayed after the start of Fidel Castro's rule in 1961, the vast majority were of mixed descent with the local population. Today, younger generations are working in

810-470: The Chinese consulate. The 1943 census showed 12,394 Chinese residing in Jamaica. These were divided into three categories by the census, namely "China-born" (2,818), "local-born" (4,061) and "Chinese coloured" (5,515), the latter referring to multiracial people of mixed African and Chinese descent. This made Chinese Jamaicans the second largest Chinese population in the Caribbean, behind Chinese Cubans . By 1963,

864-415: The Chinese had a virtual monopoly on retail trade in Jamaica, controlling 90% of dry goods stores and 95% of supermarkets, along with extensive holdings in other sectors such as laundries and betting parlours. In the 1970s, thousands of Chinese Jamaicans fled a wave of inter-ethnic violence against them; at first, they went primarily to Canada, which was more open to immigration than the United States, with

918-561: The Chinese population in Jamaica include Chai, Chan, Chang, Chen, Chin, Chong, Chung, Chow, Fong, Fung, Hugh, Kong, Leung, Li, Lim, Ling, Lowe, Lyn, Ng, Wan, Wang, Wong, Yap, Yapp, Young, Yuen, Yang, Zhang, Zheng and Zhu. Jamaicans Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora . The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of

972-527: The Cuba Commission Report. In the 1920s, an additional 30,000 Cantonese and small groups of Japanese also arrived; both immigrations were exclusively male and there was rapid intermarriage with white, black and mulatto populations. In a study of genetic origins, admixture, and asymmetry in maternal and paternal human lineages in Cuba, thirty-five Y-chromosome SNPs were typed in the 132 male individuals of

1026-606: The Cuban sample. The study does not include any people with known Chinese ancestry. All the samples were white Cubans and black Cubans. Two out of 132 male samples belonged to East Asian haplogroup O2, which is found in significant frequencies among Cantonese people and is found in 1.5% of the Cuban population. In the 1920s, an additional 30,000 Chinese arrived; the immigrants were exclusively male. In 1980, 4000 Chinese lived there, but by 2002, only 300 pure Chinese were left. Two thousand Chinese, consisting of Cantonese and Hakkas, fought with

1080-610: The Harvest Moon and Chinese New Year. The Chinese establishment of grocery shops throughout Jamaica had provoked concern amongst whites and blacks in Jamaica as early as 1911. It was widely believed that the Chinese were guilty of arson against their own property for insurance purposes, whereas previously they were only accused of sharp business practices. Along with other immigrant ethnic groups to Jamaica that had made significant entrepreneurial achievements such as Lebanese , Syrians and Cubans, Chinese entrepreneurs were ready targets for

1134-703: The Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries , namely Canada , the United States and the United Kingdom . Jamaican populations are also prominent in other Caribbean countries , territories and Commonwealth realms , where in the Cayman Islands , born Jamaicans, as well as Caymanians of Jamaican origin, make up 26.8% of the population. Outside of Anglophone countries, the largest Jamaican diaspora community lives in Central America, where Jamaicans make up

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1188-421: The Jamaican man. It was then rumoured that the policeman was killed which led to violence breaking out against the Chinese shopkeepers. During the late 1920s letters (22 September 1926) the colonial secretary L P Waison held meetings with the police. According to the letter, Waison accused the government for its failure to employ the law against Chinese immigrants: "such as the open exploitation of shop assistants;

1242-459: The Republic of China consulate called for donations to renovate the school, eventually raising £10,000. In the 1950s, there was heated debate in the community over the medium of instruction, with some suggesting curriculum localisation in the name of practicality, while others saw abandonment of Chinese-medium instruction as tantamount to abandonment of Chinese identity. Practical considerations won out;

1296-401: The U.S. becoming a major immigration destination later on. As a result, clusters of Chinese Jamaicans can be found outside Jamaica primarily in locales like Toronto , New York City and South Florida . However, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a new wave of Chinese migration to Jamaica, consisting of Hong Kong and Taiwanese entrepreneurs who set up textile factories on the island targeting

1350-579: The U.S. came to Cuba during the late 19th century to escape the discrimination present at the time. Another, albeit smaller wave of Chinese immigrants, also arrived during the 20th century, some as supporters of the communist cause during the Cuban revolution and others as dissidents escaping the authorities in China. There were almost no women among the nearly entirely male Chinese " coolie " population that migrated to Cuba (1%). Marriages of Chinese immigrants with Cuban mulatto, black and white women were reported by

1404-489: The U.S. market and often brought in migrant workers from China to staff their ventures. In comparison to Overseas Chinese communities elsewhere, hometown associations related to migrants' places of origin in China were not very influential among migrants to Jamaica. Some secret societies such as the Hongmenhui were active in organizing plantation workers in the 1880s; however, the first formal Chinese organization in Jamaica

1458-809: The West Indies Many Jamaicans now live overseas and outside Jamaica, while many have migrated to Anglophone countries, including over 400,000 Jamaicans in the United Kingdom , over 300,000 in Canada and 1,100,000 in the United States . There are about 30,500 Jamaicans residing in other CARICOM member including the Bahamas , Antigua & Barbuda (12,000), Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago . There are also communities of Jamaican descendants in Central America, particularly Costa Rica , Nicaragua , and Panama . Most of Costa Rica's Afro-Costa Rican and Mulatto population, which combined represents about 7% of

1512-400: The altar to Lord Guan which they erected in the old CBA building and which remains standing there, even as the CBA moved its headquarters. However, with the passage of long decades since their ancestors first migrated from China, traditional Chinese religious practices have largely died out among Chinese Jamaicans. Some traditional practices persisted well into the 20th century, most evident at

1566-501: The amount of wife murders by Indian men. Indian women made up 11 percent of the annual amount of Indian indentured migrants from 1845 to 1847 in Jamaica. The influx of Chinese indentured immigrants aimed to replace the outlawed system of black slavery. It entailed signing a five-year contract that bound the laborers physically to specific planters and their estates and subjected them to physical and financial penalties whenever any contractual conditions were broken. The contracts consisted of

1620-400: The attendance of children at Sunday schools. Furthermore, Catholic teachers taught English at the Chinese Public School up until its closure in the mid-1960s, which facilitated the entry of Chinese Jamaicans to well-known Catholic secondary schools. There were a large number of conversions in the mid-1950s, evidence that the Chinese were "increasingly trying to adapt themselves to local society";

1674-565: The breaking of the spirit and gambling laws" (peaka-pow). Waison's threats were drastic. He advocated extreme violence against Chinese, "that their shops will be burnt down". Newspaper reports in January and March 1934 described this "pernicious" drug traffic by the Chinese and expressed concern that it was spreading among the lower class of that community who were becoming "chronic opium addicts". Early Chinese migrants to Jamaica brought elements of Chinese folk religion with them, most exemplified by

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1728-466: The children were called chaina raial in Jamaican English. The Chinese community in Jamaica was able to consolidate because an openness to marrying Indian women was present in the Chinese since Chinese women were in short supply. Women sharing was less common among Indians in Jamaica according to Verene A. Shepherd. The small number of Indian women were fought over between Indian men and led to a rise in

1782-466: The curriculum was reorganised with English as the primary instructional medium in 1952 and by 1955, the school only had two teachers who could speak any Chinese. After that, the school's fortunes fluctuated and it was finally closed down in the mid-1960s. The Chinese-Jamaican community remains prominent. In 1970, there were still 11,710 Chinese living in Jamaica. The community remains strong and they continue to celebrate traditional Chinese holidays, such as

1836-474: The distinction between the earlier Chinese migrants and their present "poverty stricken, ignorant fellow countrymen", who were blamed for the 'opium scare' in Jamaica now that the "natives are succumbing to the vile and deadly habit". This first anti-Chinese thrust was rooted in the opium drug trade. The foundation was set for the first and a massive anti-Chinese riot in 1918. In his book, Howard Johnson (1982) argued that, when compared to other anti-Chinese events,

1890-485: The entire indentured immigration system was outlawed, largely due to pressure from Gandhi , who was then leading the nationalist movement in India . From 1910, Chinese immigrants were required to pay a £30 deposit and pass a written test to demonstrate that they could write 50 words in three different languages. The restrictions on Chinese migrants were tightened even further in 1931, but relaxed again by 1947 due to lobbying by

1944-514: The faded Chinese culture . Chinese Language and Arts School ( Escuela de la Lengua y Artes China ) opened in 1993 and has grown since then, helping Chinese Cubans to strengthen their knowledge of the Chinese language. Today, Chinese Cubans tend to speak Mandarin , Cantonese , and Hakka in addition to Spanish and English and may speak in a mixture of Chinese and Spanish. They also promoted small businesses, like beauty parlors, mechanical shops, restaurants and small groceries, provided to them to create

1998-487: The following decades to replace and/or work alongside African and mixed-ancestry slaves . After completing eight-year contracts or otherwise obtaining their freedom, some Chinese immigrants settled permanently in Cuba, although most longed for repatriation to their homeland. Havana 's Chinatown (known as Barrio Chino de La Habana ) is one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns in Latin America . Some 105,000 immigrants from

2052-429: The frustrations of some of the local Jamaican poor. According to a newspaper report (31 March 1934) on "pernicious drugs" in Jamaica, the issue concerning opium became one of the early roots of xenophobic attitudes against the new Chinese immigrants of the early 1900s. The white elites became intolerable of this new wave of Chinese migrants coming in large numbers as shopkeepers. The newspaper editorial (10 June 1913) made

2106-489: The indentured Chinese laborers who came to Jamaica in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. According to one study, approximately 4% of Jamaican men have a direct Chinese paternal ancestor. Despite an old census record stating a "Chinese Painter" named Isaak Lawson lived in Montego Bay , St. James, in the year 1774, most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and can trace their origin to the indentured labourers who came to Jamaica in

2160-436: The liner notes of reggae music, attesting to the continuing influence. 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. Common surnames among

2214-568: The mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The British parliament made a study of prospects for Chinese migration to the West Indies in 1811, and in 1843 made an attempt to recruit Chinese workers to come to Jamaica , British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago , but nothing came of it. The two earliest ships of Chinese migrant workers to Jamaica arrived in 1854, the first directly from China, the second composed of onward migrants from Panama who were contracted for plantation work. A further 200 would arrive in

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2268-406: The more assimilated segments of the Chinese Jamaican community. Chinese Jamaicans have also affected the development of reggae . The trend of Chinese Jamaican involvement in reggae began in the 1960s with Vincent "Randy" Chin , his wife Patricia Chin, and their label VP Records , where artists such as Beenie Man and Sean Paul launched their careers; it remains common to see Chinese surnames in

2322-427: The new revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the economic and political situation changed. Many Chinese business owners, having had their properties expropriated by the new government, left Cuba. Most of these settled in the United States , particularly nearby Florida , where they and their U.S.-born children are called Chinese Americans or Cuban Americans of Chinese descent, while

2376-487: The official picture of the country's identity". There was also a Chinese Jamaican community school, the Chinese Public School. It was set up first by the Chinese Freemasons in 1920 (under the Chinese name 華僑公立學校), and operated until 1922; a Chinese drama club revived the school in 1924 (and gave it a new Chinese name 新民學校, literally "New People's School"), charging tuition fees of £6. The drama club continued to operate

2430-469: The pageant grew in popularity, it drew charges from Afro-Jamaican journalists that the ethnic pride on display there was "unpatriotic" and "un-Jamaican". The pageant renamed itself to the Miss Chinese Athletic Club, in an effort to avoid controversy, but nevertheless, held its final "openly racialised beauty contest" in 1962. Over the following years, Chinese Jamaican women did not participate in

2484-609: The rebels in Cuba's Ten Years' War . A monument in Havana honours the Cuban Chinese who fell in the war, on which is inscribed: "There was not one Cuban Chinese deserter, not one Cuban Chinese traitor." Chinese Cubans, including some Chinese Americans from California, joined the Spanish–American War in 1898 to achieve independence from Spain , but a few Chinese, who were loyal to Spain, left Cuba and went to Spain. Racial acceptance and assimilation would come much later. When

2538-400: The remaining 8% of the population. But according to a more precise study conducted by the local University of the West Indies - Jamaica's population is more accurately 76.3% African descent or Black, 15.1% Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class), 3.4% East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 3.2% Caucasian, 1.2% Chinese and 0.8% Other. Wealth or economic power in Jamaica

2592-538: The school until 1928, when the CBA purchased it for £2,300 and gave it its present name, and moved it into a larger building. The CBA promulgated a new constitution for the school in 1944, which stated that it would follow the curriculum of the Republic of China's Ministry of Education and that Chinese was the primary medium of instruction while "foreign languages" were secondary. In 1945, with enrollments booming to 300 students and competitor schools being established as well,

2646-401: The total population, is of Jamaican descent. Chinese Cuban Chinese immigration to Cuba started in 1837 when Chinese (mainly Cantonese and Hakka ) contract workers were forcibly brought to work in the sugar fields via the indentured labor system. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers were brought in from Qing China , British Hong Kong , Portuguese Macau , and Taiwan during

2700-429: The years up until 1870, mostly from other Caribbean islands. Later, in 1884, a third group of 680 Chinese migrants would arrive. With the exception of a few from Sze Yup , most of these migrants were Hakka people from Dongguan , Huiyang and Bao'an . This third wave of migrants would go on to bring more of their relatives over from China. Early Chinese migrants, largely male, often entered into common-law unions with

2754-507: Was a branch of the Freemasons . Later, the Chinese Benevolent Association (中華會館) was founded in 1891. The CBA established a Chinese Sanatorium, a Chinese Public School, a Chinese Cemetery and a Chinese Almshouse. It also published its own newspaper. The CBA helped maintain a strong connection between Chinese Jamaicans and China, while simultaneously preparing Chinese Jamaican students for the Jamaican school system. The CBA continues to operate from

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2808-411: Was an annual Miss Chinese Jamaica pageant , initially organized as a fundraiser for the CBA. It came to be supported by The Pagoda , which wrote editorials exhorting girls from the Chinese community to join, and in some years offered sponsorship prizes such as, in 1955, a two-week trip to Miami for the winner, in an effort to spark participation in what was sometimes a sparsely attended event. However, as

2862-555: Was not carried out for more than a decade before attempts by the CBA to revive it in 2004. Christianity has become the dominant religion among Chinese Jamaicans; they primarily adhere to the Catholic Church rather than the Protestantism of the majority establishment . Anglicans can also be found in the Chinese Jamaican community, but other denominations which are widespread in Jamaica such as Baptist (traditionally connected with

2916-525: Was revived in 1975. The Chinese Freemasons also published their own handwritten weekly newspaper, the Minzhi Zhoukan (民治周刊) until 1956. The Pagoda , started in 1940, was the first English-language newspaper for the Chinese community. The local branch of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) also began publishing their own paper, The Chung San News (中山報) in 1953. Prior to Jamaican independence, there

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