Chinese migrant family.
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Total population | |
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about 40,000 (2011)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Paramaribo · Wanica | |
Languages | |
Hakka Chinese · Cantonese · Sranan Tongo | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Chinese Caribbean |
Chinese Surinamese are Surinamese residents of Chinese origin. Chinese Surinamese are a small part of the Surinamese people. There are about 40,000 Chinese among the 566,846 Surinamese people,[2] constituting about 7% of the total population. The majority of the Chinese Surinamese consider Hakka (Dongguan, Huiyang or Bao'an) of Guangdong as their ancestral homes. There is a small minority of Heshan, Guangdong Hakka as well.
Many Chinese Surinamese are active in the retail and business community. Six percent of the Chinese in the Netherlands are from Suriname.
Contents
Contract workers
In 1853 planters in Suriname feared a labor shortage when slavery was abolished. They asked the government to recruit other workers from abroad.
The government of Java recruited a group of 18 Chinese for contract labor in the Catharina Sophia plantation in Saramacca. Because of the high acquisition costs it was decided to get a second group, not from Java, but from China instead. In 1858, 500 Chinese laborers were recruited by the Dutch consul in Macau. They arrived in Suriname in April, but it turned out that no one wanted to hire people to do work that slaves would do "for free".
Because of this the contract with the Chinese was changed without their knowledge by Governor Charles Pierre Schimpf in favor of the employers. The Chinese could now be treated like slaves. When they would revolt against this, they were, without due process and contrary to existing regulations, punished by police with cane strokes, an unlawful act that was repeated again and again.
An interpellation (formal request for information) to the Minister of Colonies Jan Jacob Rochussen did not help.
In the 1850s and 1860s, about 2,500 Chinese people went to Suriname. Most were employed as contract laborers on the plantations. After their contracts expired, many found opportunities in trade, mostly in food retail. Most of the male laborers were married to non-Chinese women. Those who married Chinese women, mostly married with an imported bride.
Later immigrants
Other Chinese came to Suriname as free laborers, traders and shop assistants, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Further large numbers came in the 1990s. In 2007 there were over 70,000 Chinese in Suriname, and the immigration is still ongoing. The rapidly growing demand in China for wood and minerals makes Suriname very attractive to Chinese businesses. The new Chinese migrants from northern China are known in Suriname as "salt-water-Chinese".
Since the 1960s, thousands of Chinese have emigrated from Suriname to the Netherlands.
The Chinese for a long time held a prominent position in small and medium business and their mostly well-educated offspring of mixed blood or Chinese blood can be found in various social sectors. Also, the Surinamese people have adopted several Chinese customs.
Notable people
- Surinamese people of Chinese origin
- Henk Chin A Sen 陈亚先: President and Prime Minister of Suriname, 1980-1982; Chin paternal side is Hakka Chinese and maternal side is mixed Creole
- Imro Fong Poen: Cabinet Minister, 1980-1986
- Jack Tjon Tjin Joe 张运华: Cabinet Minister, 1980-1981, 2000-2002
- Erik Tjon Kie Sim 张吉兴: Cabinet Minister, 1982-1986
- Allan Li Fo Sjoe 李火秀: Cabinet Minister, 1984-1988
- Michael Jong Tjien Fa 杨进华: Cabinet Minister, 2002-2010
- Abigail Lie A Kwie: Deputy Minister of Agriculture; Politician from Pertjajah Luhur Party
- Sandra Lee (Li Kailin): Member, National Assembly (Suriname); Politician from NPS political party
- Arthur Tjin A Tsoi: Member, National Assembly (Suriname); Politician from NPS political party
- Alwin Lee: Deputy Chief of Mission to People's Republic of China, 2012-
- Tjin-A-Djie family: Influential tycoon family
- Humberto Tan: Radio and television presenter, writer
- Cerezo Fung a Wing: Football player
- Dutch people of Chinese-Surinamese origin
- Varina Tjon-A-Ten: First Chinese elected to the House of Representatives, 2003-2006; Tjon-A-Ten is of mixed blood with paternal Hakka Chinese grandfather who migrated from Guangdong to Suriname
- Roy Ho Ten Soeng: Mayor, Venhuizen, North Holland, 2000-2006; First immigrant Mayor of Netherlands; First Chinese Mayor of Netherlands and Europe
- Anton Jie Sam Foek: First broadcast correspondent for the Netherlands in Latin America
- Guillaume Lo A Njoe: Artist
- Aron Winter: Member of Netherlands national football team that won the 1988 European Football Championship; Also represented Netherlands in the European Football Championship for 1996 and 2000, and FIFA World Cup, 1990, 1994 and 1998; Winter is of mixed blood and his paternal grandfather, Zhang Junqiang, is Surinamese Hakka[3]
- Etienne Shew-Atjon: Football player
- Calvin Jong-a-Pin: Football player; Jong-a-Pin is of mixed blood
References
- ^ Romero, Simon (April 10, 2011). "With Aid and Migrants, China Expands Its Presence in a South American Nation". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (2013). "Suriname". The World Factbook. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ "World sport stars of Chinese origin".
Bibliography
- Articles
- Tseng, F., De grote oversteek: het lot van de Surinaamse Chinezen, China Nu 16 (4), 1991, 16-18.
- Books
- Ankum-Houwink, J.C., De migratie van Chinezen naar Suriname, (z.p. ca. 1972).
- Ankum-Houwink, J.C., Chinese kontraktarbeiders in Suriname in de 19e eeuw, OSO, 4 (2), 1985, 181-186.
- Groenfelt, E., Impressies van de Chinese gemeenschap in Suriname: enkele culturele aspecten van Chinezen in Suriname, (z.p. 1995).
- Kom, Anton de, Wij slaven van Suriname, 1934
- Lamur, H.E., en J.A. Vriezen, Chinese kontraktanten in Suriname, OSO, 4 (2), 1985, 169-179.
- Man A Hing, W.L., The Hakkas in Surinam, in: The proceedings of the international conference on Hakkaology, (Hong Kong 1994), 189-195.
- Zijlmans, G.C. en H.A. Enser, De Chinezen in Suriname. een geschiedenis van immigratie en aanpassing 1853-2000, ISBN 90-806479-3-4.
External links
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