Chinese Jamaicans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (30,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
Jamaica: Kingston Overseas: Toronto, New York City, South Florida, England |
|
| Languages | |
| Jamaican English, Jamaican Patois, Hakka; recent immigrants and businesspeople also speak Mandarin | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (primarily Catholicism and Anglicanism) with some elements of Chinese folk religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Indian Jamaican, Hakka people, ethnic Chinese in Panama, Jamaican Americans, Jamaican Canadians |
Chinese Jamaicans are Jamaican people of Chinese ancestry, which include descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another wave 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 can trace their origin to the coolies and labourers who came to Jamaica in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries.
Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and can trace their origin to the labourers who came to Jamaica in 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, 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 the years up until 1870, mostly from other Caribbean islands. Later, in 1884, a third wave 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.
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 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, 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.
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Wikipedia