Pictures of Chinese people - 56 ethnic groups

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Oversea Chinese keep up the Chinese cultures as these Havana Chinese kids celebrate Chinese New Year

Dragon dances on Mott Street draw millions of viewers on the street and on TV

Or a more private celebration in Kolkata

Oversea Chinese keep in touch with their motherland as seen in this Vancouver parade

Support the 2012 Olympic in Sweden

The Oversea Chinese communities can be very political too in London or elsewhere

Near the UN Building on First Avenue

And in Rome

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Thai Chinese 泰国华人 are Thailand citizens with Chinese ancestries. Currently (2012) Thai Chinese consist of 9.4 million or 14% of Thailand population, is the largest overseas Chinese community in the world and is also the oldest, most prominent, and well integrated overseas Chinese community in the world. Most Thai Chinese have been in Thailand for five generations or more; the Thai-Chinese have been deeply ingrained into all elements of Thai society for the past 400 years. The present Thai royal family, the Chakri Dynasty, was founded by King Rama I who himself was partly Chinese. His predecessor, King Taksin of Thonburi dynastry, was the son of a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and a Thai mother. Nearly all of Thai Chinese identify themselves completely as Thai due to the highly successful integration of Chinese communities into Thai society. Descendants of most once ennobled Chinese are among the leading Thai families today.

Thai Chinese are well represented in all levels of Thai society and make up a significant percentage of Thailand's business and upper class. They are estimated to produce 50% of Thailand's overall GNP. Thai Chinese are also well represented in the Thai political scene and most of Thai Prime Ministers were of partial Chinese origin. Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to the Chaozhou prefecture in eastern Guangdong. This is evidenced by the prevalence of the Minnan Chaozhou dialect among the Chinese in Thailand. A minority trace their ancestry to Hakka and Hainanese immigrants.

Chinese traders have arrived in Thailand in the 13th century. In the 18th century Qianlong sent multiple campaigns to tame Burma's expansion policies and many soldiers stayed. Intermarriages with local women were common untill the early 20th century when Chinese women arrived from China. The Thai Chinese call themselves Thai.


Early Thai Chinese eked out livings as street food venders

Wat Mangkon Kamalawa, one of the most prominent Chinese temple in Thailand

Red Bull was created in 1987 by an Austrian & a Thai Chinese

Chinatown in Yaowarat Road, Bangkok

Celebration dance

Yinluck wishes everybody to have a happy and prosperous snake year

Many Thai Chinese have two New Year celebration each year

This Tiger Thai has some Chinese blood too

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Indonesian Chinese 印尼华人, are numbered about 8.8 million (2010), account for 3.7% of Indonesian population. Explorer Zheng He first arrived these shores from 1405 to 1430 through several expeditions. Some coastal Chinese Muslim traders that came along with the general stayed and probably intermarried with the locals. The mass Chinese migrations began at the middle of 18th century as indenture workers for the Dutch East India Company.

Under the Dutch ethnic classification policy, Chinese Indonesians were considered "foreign orientals" which led to separate registrations; as such, they struggled to enter the colonial and national sociopolitical scene, despite successes in their economic endeavors.


The Chinese were required to have separate registration cards during the colonial era and after the independence. Many obstacles were in placed for citizenship papers.

Chinese workers await the preparation of their contracts by immigration officials at Medan's labor inspectorate, c. 1920–1940

Restrictions on rural non-indigenous retail businesses in 1959 led to rapid urbanization of the ethnic Chinese community

The futures are bright for these kids

Singaporean Chinese 新加坡华人, are numbered about 2.8 million (2011), account for 74% of Singapore population. Ethnic Chinese in Singapore tend to identify themselves primarily as Singaporeans 新加坡人 first and Chinese second. They are mostly the descendants of the free and indentured immigrants from southern China during the 19th and early half of 20th century. The largest dialect group is the Minnan speakers, which includes the Teochew dialect, who account for more than 50%.


Early Hakka indenture workers getting off the boat

Almost all early immigrants couldn't read or write, hence service providers

Pre New Year flower market shopping today

Busy days in the cemetery on Qingming festival

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Malaysian Chinese 马来西亚华人, are numbered about 7 million (2010), account for 25% of Malaysian population. Like in much of Southeast Asia, Malaysian Chinese are dominant in both the business and commerce sectors, controlling an estimated 70% of the Malaysian economy. They are also one of the biggest taxpayers contributing to almost 90% of the national income tax and 60% of Malaysia's national income. The Malaysian Chinese call themselves "Chinese"

The first major wave of Chinese arrived as the entourage for Princess Hang Li Po, who was sent by the then Ming Emperor to marry the Sultan of Malacca. Larger waves came during the 19th and early 20th centuries as indenture workers and traders for/with the British. There are 4 main dialect groups among the Malaysian Chinese: Min, Hakka, Cantonese and Wu.

Chinese Malaysians form the largest outflow amongst all ethnic groups in Malaysia. It is forecasted that the proportion of Malaysian Chinese in Malaysia's total population will fall from 45% in 1957 to 18.6% in 2035 if current trends continue. The destinations of these outflows are China, Australia, US, NZ, UK and Canada.

Peranakan Chinese or Baba-Nyonya 峇峇娘惹 or 土生華人 are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago and British Malaysia. Baba is the term for men and Nyonya for women. Most Peranakan have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca and most have a lineage where intermarriage with the local Indonesians and Malays have taken place. The first generations were mostly traders or middle men with various groups and China; vice versa. In later generations, some lost the ability to speak Chinese as they became assimilated to the Malay Peninsula's culture and started to speak Malay fluently as a first or second language. Most Peranakans are of Hoklo (Hokkien) ancestry, although a sizable number are of Teochew or Cantonese descent.



New Villages 华人新村 - The British's aimed to segregate the Chinese communities from communists infiltrations. Today there about 1.2 million people live in 450 New Villages throughout Peninsular Malaysia. About 85% of the population in New Villages are ethnically Chinese.

Pinang Peranakan Mansion built in the late 1800s

A mobile street food hawker

Hakka clan ancestral worship

Culture festival in Malaka

Mid Autumn festival

Hanfu revitalization drive in Kualu Lumpur

Lunar New year stage performance

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Chinese Americans 美籍华人 are numbered about 3.8 million (2010) and account for 25.9% of all Asian Americans in the US. Chinese first arrived in California in 1820 as laborers of the "gold rush". Their arrivals continued and increased during 1860s as indenture workers for the Central Pacific Railroad. There were very few Chinese women to begin with and with the "Chinese Exclusion Act" further restricted the immigrations of Chinese and Chinese women. Not until WWII severe immigration restrictions were eased somewhat and by 1960s quota systems were set up for Chinese and many third world countries.

Distribution: Greater New York (2010)- 682,000 Greater San Francisco 593,000 Great Los Angeles 473,000


US vs Wong Kim Ark in 1898 allowed American born Chinese to become citizen

A political cartoon from 1882 campaigned for the Exclusion Act, showing a Chinese man being barred entry to the "Golden Gate of Liberty". The caption reads, "We must draw the line somewhere, you know."

Early pioneers in America after the railroad was built: hand laundries and restaurant like this in Brooklyn

Things are getting better now, even the NBA has Chinese nights on its arenas

Chinese Canadians 加拿大华人, are numbered about 1.3 million, account for 4% of Canadian population and 40% of all Asians in Canada. The largest concentration of Chinese Canadians is in the Greater Toronto area with more than half of a million and metro Vancouver withe about 400,000.

Chinese first arrived as "gold rush" workers and as Canadian Pacific Railroad workers in the late 1800s. The Chinese Immigration Act in 1885 put heavy "head tax" on new Chinese immigrants and they were the only group that had to pay. In 1923 a new Chinese Immigration Act banned all Chinese immigrants altogether with a few exemptions and the Chinese were treated as undesirable as the blacks. During the next 25 years more restrictions were placed against the existing Chinese immigrants. Not until the UN was formed these discriminatory laws were rescinded due to the UN charters.


Chinese labourers working on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 19th century. The reason the Chinese were hired instead of the Europeans because it was much much cheaper

Joe Sum, a salmon fish worker in Vancouver

Today home ownerships are very important for the Chinese Canadians

As well as higher educations for their children. Today Chinese students account for more than 25% graduates for some of the largest Canadian universities

(not done, will be back)

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Chinese Peruvians 秘鲁华侨 or tusan 土生 for local born, are numbered from 1.3-1.6 million (2005), account for 3 or 4% of Peru's population (5 millions by some estimates). Chinese from Macau were the first to reach the Peruvian shores and then the others from Gangdong followed. After the abolition of slavery in the western hemisphere, from 1849 to 1874, more than 100,000 Chinese came to work in the sugar plantations and guano mines. After their contracts ended the ones who stayed adopted their patron's last names as their own (one of the reasons that many Chinese Peruvians carry Spanish last names). Today Peru has the largest and oldest Chinese community as most of them are either Cantonese or Hakka speakers.


A photo of earlier Chinese Peruvians

Jose Antonio Chang former PM of Peru

A tusan 土生 girl (native born)

Chinatown in Lima, found 1850s

Chinese restaurants are called chifas in Peru, derived from 吃饭 (eat rice) in Cantonese

Miss tusan 2011

President Hu says "hello" to the Chinese Peruvians in 2008

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Burmese Chinese 缅甸华人 are numbered about 1.64 million (2012). Although the Chinese officially make up three percent of the population, the actual figure is believed to be much higher. Among the under-counted Chinese populations are: those of mixed background; those that have registered themselves as ethnic Bamar to escape discrimination; illegal Chinese immigrants that have flooded Upper Burma since the 1990s (up to 2 million by some estimates) but are not counted due to the lack of reliable census taking. Burmese Chinese are well represented in all levels of Burmese society and play a leading role in the Burmese commerce, business sector as well as public service. Several Burmese Chinese such as Khin Nyunt, Ne Win, and San Yu have been major figures in the Burmese political scene. Moreover, the Burmese Chinese have a disproportionately large presence in Burmese higher education, high powered private sector white collar jobs, and the educated class in Burma.

In the 18th century, Ming Dynasty princes settled in Kokang. Other Chinese traders arrived at about the same time and settled in various places in major cities. When the British encouraged migrations of Indians and Chinese during the 19th century, another wave came, primarily via British Malaya. Unlike in British Malaya, where most Chinese were coolie laborers, the Chinese in Burma were largely from the artisan and merchant classes. Their success was reflected in the popular Burmese expression, "Earn like the Chinese, save like the Indian, and don't waste money like the Bamar." During British rule, marriage between the Chinese and Burmese, particularly Chinese men and Burmese women, was the most common form of intermarriage in Burma.

After independent the Burmese Chinese were issued foreign registration cards (FRC) in a tiered citizenship system adopted by the post-independence government. In 1962 when Ne Win, who's a half Chinese himself, came to power many Chinese left the country because of many discriminatory laws were enacted against the business class and "foreigners". Not until 1988 more liberal policies were in placed. Today, the majority of retail, wholesale and import trade businesses are run by the Burmese Chinese, as well as 4 out of 5 largest commercial banks.


Yunnanese in Bhamo, 1900

A baker's shop in Mandalay's Chinatown in the late 1800s

A portrait of a Sino-Burmese merchant and his wife in Rangoon

The Kuan Yin Temple 观音寺 is a local place of worship for Burmese Chinese in Bago and serves as a Mandarin school for the local community.

The Panthays (Chinese Hui from southwestern China) came to Burma in the early 1800s as traders of rare stones and jade and many stayed and expanded to a sizable community. Below is a Panthay Mosque in Mandalay built in 1850s

Kokang Laukkai 果敢老街 in NE Myanmar, an ethnic Chinese conclave

The Yangon Chinatown branch of the retailer Sein Gayha on 23rd Street also houses Ying Fo Fui Kun (應和會&#39208, a Hakka Chinese clan association

Mandalay continues to be Burma's major trading epicenter, cultural and business networking hub for Burmese Chinese businessmen.

 

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Han people 汉族 - Oversea Chinese 海外华人


Chinese Filipinos 华菲, are numbered about 1.5 million (2005) , account foe 1.6% of Philippines' population. This figure however does not include the Chinese Mestizos 華菲混血 (mixed ancestries) who since Spanish times have formed a part of the middle class in Philippine society nor does it include Chinese immigrants from the People's Republic of China since 1949. Together, Chinese Filipinos and Chinese Mestizos, constitute 22% of the population and that put Chinese Mestizo's population at 18 million.

Chinese Filipinos are well represented in all levels of Philippine society, and well integrated politically and economically. They are present within several commerce and business sectors in the Philippines and are estimated to own a majority of the Philippine economy.

Chinese fishermen and traders sailed around the Philippine Islands from the 9th century onward and frequently interacted with the local Filipinos. Many Chinese subsequently created settlements in Luzon and in the Visayas, some of which became the biggest and most powerful barangays, or city-states in the Philippines. Many datus, rajahs, and Lakans (indigenous rulers) in the Philippines were themselves a product of the intermarriage between the Chinese merchant=settlers and the local Filipinos. They eventually formed the group which is to be called Principalia during the Spanish period, and were given privileges by the Spanish colonial authorities. The group that formed the bulk of the current population of unmixed Chinese Filipinos migrated during the periods of late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Chinese Filipinos are one of the most assimilated Overseas Chinese communities in the world today, with many ethnic Chinese openly espousing ethnocultural integration and adoption of both indigenous and Western cultural practices as is common in the Philippines.
Virtually all Chinese in the Philippines belong to either the Hokkienese or Cantonese dialect groups of the Han Chinese ethnicity. Most Filipino-Chinese now are second or third generation, natural-born Philippine citizens who can still look back to their Chinese roots and have Chinese relatives both in China as well as in other Southeast Asian or Australasian or North American countries. The vast majority (74.5%) of Chinese Filipinos speak either Filipino or English as their first languages. However, many Chinese Filipinos (77%) still retain the ability to understand and speak Hokkien as a second or third language.


A Chinese mestiza c 1875

José Rizal, the Philippine National Hero, was a mestizo de sanglay.

Alfredo Lim 林雯洛 Mayor of Manila, a Chinese Filipino

Museum wax figures depict the lives of early Chinese Filipinos

Part of Cebu Taoist Temple, Cebu City

The Filipino fast food chain, Jollibee was founded by a Chinese-Filipino entrepreneur and continues to remains as one the of most famous fast food outlets in the Philippines.

An old Chinese New Year celebration in Manila

 

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Han people 汉族


Chongwu Township 崇武镇 in Hui'an County 惠安县 of Quanzhou 泉州市, Fujian Province is a peninsula, surrounded by mountains in the north and water in the east, south and west. The second most notable feature in Chongwu is the Chongwu Ancient Town （崇武古城）, built in 1384 during the Hongwu perior of the Ming Dynasty, to fight against the Japanese pirates. The town is the best-preserved T-shaped stone-walled city in China, a historical wonder in the country's coastal protection history.


Location of Guanzhou Prefecture on the coastal China opposite Taiwan

Chongwu township of Hui'an county (bottom circle) has been isolated from the rest of China by the mountains on the north

Chongwu Ancient Town 崇武古城

Japanese pirates preyed coastal China for centuries before this fort was built

The Hui'an Maidens 惠安女, a sub group of the Han people, have been living here thousands of years before the fort was built

 

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Han people 汉族 - Hui'an Maidens 惠安女

 

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Han people 汉族 - Hui'an Maidens 惠安女



Hui'an Maidens 惠安女 are a group of women residing in Hui'an County 惠安县 of Quanzhou 泉州市, Fujian Province. They are Han Chinese, but trace their origins to the ancient Minyue people more than two thousand years ago. The isolation on the eastern peninsula of Hui'an prevented Hui'an maidens from assimilating into the Han culture, so many of their distinctive customs and traditions still survive today. The Hui'an maidens are the descendents of the ancient Baiyue 百粵 culture that was indigenous in this area.

In a Hui'an maiden marriage the bride and groom are forbidden to live together or even talk to each other until the bride bears a child. After that the husband moves into the wife house. In recent years, however, as they have had more contacts with the outside world and they have been influenced by the marriage law. For these reasons, younger generations today refuse to obey old marriage customs.


Hui'an maidens, who wear short cyan jackets and skintight black hip huggers which flare out the legs, but they carefully cover their heads with colorful scarves and conical hats. Hui'an maidens are well known for their work ethic and kindness.

Hui'an maidens are hard working people

The maidens are fishermen. They work near the shore while their husbands concentrate on offshore fishing

They build boats

Construct houses

Take their products to the market

 

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Han people 汉族 - Hui'an Maidens 惠安女

 

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Han people 汉族 - Hui'an Maidens 惠安女

In the old tradition, which wasn't too long ago, marriages are arranged by the elders and newly weds hardly see each other until their first child is born. They had to act like pairs of thieves on their conjugal visits, and when the newborns arrive the husbands move into the wifes' families

For the maidens the mothers are highly respected

The oldest female of the family is usually the head of the household and is highly honored in the community

Marriages are no longer arrangements anymore as the young generations believe in free loves

 

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Han people 汉族 - Tanka people 疍家人



Tanka people 疍家人 or, people live in boats, are a special group in Southern China who have traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, though many of them live onshore. There are many theories about the origins of Tanka people since they never had a written script of their own and they lived pretty much among themselves throughout history. The common acceptance is that they are indigenous of their present environment and have inherited their lifestyle and culture from the original Yue peoples who inhabited Hong Kong during the Neolithic era. Today the Tanka are assimilated into the Han culture and are considered a sub group of Han, however, they still retain some unique characteristics of their past.

Because both Hong Kong and Macau do not take statistics based on ethnicity the number of Tanka people are open to speculations.

Fuzhou Tanka 福州疍民 or 曲蹄 (bowlegged) in derogatory Min dialect. The Fuzhou Tanka lived on sampans in the lower course of the Min River and by the coast of Fuzhou. They were officially listed as a sub group of Han in 1955. They practice Taoism and worship Matsu and have adopted the Min dialect. Today the Fuzhou Tanka are abandoning the boat dwellings and move to villages by the river and intermarry with the mainstream


An old picture of Tanka boats on Pearl River Guangzhou

Tanka women at the market in Guangzhou

An old picture of Tanka people in Hong Kong

Take a peek inside their living quarters in Hong Kong

Tanka boat dwellings northern Hainan Island

Some Fuzhou Tanka 福州疍民 moved on land into villages

Guangxi Tanka during holiday

A Vietnam on shore Tanka market

 

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Han people 汉族 - Tanka people 疍家人




香港仔避风塘 Aberdeen Typhoon shelter in HK is one of a shelter the Tanka people live

Another shelter

A Tanka wedding

A birthday girl in Fuzhou

Another wedding in Dongguan

Some weddings, like this one in Shenzhen, are simply too big to take place on boats

A parade to the Tin Hau Temple, pay tributes to the Goddess of the sea - Matsu

A “疍家棚” (an onshore giant makeshift hut) for special occasions like big weddings, celebrations, ancestral tributes and funerals