*** Welcome to piglix ***

Chinese diaspora in France

Chinese diaspora in France
Total population
c. 600,000−700,000 (2010)
0.94% of the French population
Regions with significant populations
Bouches-du-Rhône, Paris, Lille, Bordeaux
Languages
French, Chinese (Wenzhounese, Teochew, Cantonese, Mandarin), some Vietnamese
Religion
Buddhism, Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Chinese
Chinese French
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese

The Chinese diaspora in France consists of people of Chinese ancestry who were born in (called FBCs or French-born Chinese) or immigrated to France. Population estimates vary, ranging from 600,000 to 700,000 as of 2010. Though they form a small part of the Chinese diaspora, the Chinese diaspora of France represents the largest overseas Chinese community in Europe (if excluding Russia) with the UK following second at around 400,000.

The first record of a Chinese man in France is Shen Fo-tsung in 1684, and soon after Arcade Hoange, also known as Huang Jialü (1679-1716). He was brought back by Jesuit missionaries to the Versailles court of Louis XIV, the Sun King in the late 17th century, and oversaw a collection of manuscripts sent as a gift from the Kangxi Emperor of Qing China.

The opening of the Chinese port at Wenzhou in 1876 soon saw a small number of merchants from the region arriving in Paris, being the first wave of Chinese settlement in France. The 1911 census counted 283 Chinese in France. This tiny Chinese population during the Belle Époque period mainly consisted of students, journalists, intellectuals, as well as merchants. Many students of Chinese ethnicity in France were not from China but rather Vietnam, which was a French colony with a significant Chinese population.

In 1902, Li Shizeng and Zhang Jingjiang arrived in Paris as "embassy students" accompanying Ambassador to France Sun Baoqi. Li soon left this official position to study biology at Ecole Pratique d'Agriculture du Chesnoy () in Montargis, a suburb south of Paris. He founded the first factory which manufactured beancurd for the French market. Zhang establish a Paris gallery which sold Chinese art. Together with their friend Wu Zhihui, they formed the French branch of the Chinese anarchist movement which drew inspiration from French anarchists. In 1909, the three arranged for 140 students to come from China to work in the beancurd factory in order to support their study of French language and culture. Over the next two decades, Li, Zhang, and Wu established a number of institutions of Sino-French friendship such as the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement. Also arriving in Paris at this time was the art-dealer C.T. Loo, who married a French woman and maintained a business there until the 1950s.


...
Wikipedia

...