Armenians in China

There are about 500 Armenians currently living in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

The Armenian community of Hong Kong and China, commonly referred to as ChinaHay, regularly organizes events across China.

Whilst the current community is relatively small, Armenians have held historical presence in China for many centuries.

Armenian merchants traveled and lived in China long before the twentieth century. Hethum I, ruler of Cilicia, traveled to the Mongol court in Karakorum in 1254.Alans and Armenians were in China during the Yuan dynasty, converted to Catholicism at the turn of the 14th century by John of Montecorvino. In Quanzhou a church belonging to the Franciscans received a donation from an Armenian woman in Medieval China. In 1318, Quanzhou's bishop, Peregrine of Castello, reported an Armenian woman gave the Franciscans a church and house. Armenians followed the Franciscan Catholic Latin Rite in Quanzhou.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, some Armenian merchants established communities and ran successful businesses in Guangzhou and Hong Kong and there was even a small Armenian community in Tibet.

During World War I, Armenians who fled from the Ottoman Empire to escape massive genocide led by Turkish troops against Armenian civilians, were officially accepted in China. China agreed to allow them to stay and provided accommodation, food and churches. After the Turkish surrender, most Armenians chose to remain in China, due to the continuing crisis in the Caucasus.

In World War II, the Armenians joined the Chinese and Koreans, and later, the Americans and British forces, against Japanese invasion. Most Armenians followed Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Revolutionary Army, or joined the Eighth Route Army of the Communists, and resisted Japanese forces in Shanghai, Beiping, and other Chinese provinces. The Armenians lost a total 5,000 men.

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Wikipedia