Chinese people 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 | |||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | |||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | |||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Fàguó Huárén |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Faatgwok Wàyàn |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Fàguó Huáqiáo |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Faatgwok Wàkìu |
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[update]. 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 town 120 kilometres 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.
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