Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians
Total population | |
---|---|
3,984 (2011 census) | |
Languages | |
Religion | |
Christianity, Chinese folk religion (including Chinese philosophy, Confucianism and Taoism), Buddhism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Han Chinese · Hakka people · Cantonese people · Chinese Caribbeans |
Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians (sometimes Sino-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Chinese Trinbagonians) are
Community
The Chinese Trinidadian and Tobagonian community is a diverse mixture that includes first-generation immigrants from China, Trinidadians whose ancestors have lived in Trinidad for many generations and diasporan Trinidadians and Tobagonians. Most Trinidadian Chinese originate from Guangdong Province, especially among the Hakka Han people and Cantonese Han people.[1]
History
The Chinese community in Trinidad and Tobago traces its origin to the 12 October 1806 arrival of the ship
In December 1805, a Portuguese captain recruited 141 Chinese men in Macau and shipped them to Penang where six more men were recruited. Another 53 men were recruited in Calcutta, bringing the total to 200. The survivors of this group arrived in Trinidad eight months later.[3] Kim Johnson reports that 194 men survived the journey,[3] while Walton Look Lai reports that there were 192 men.[1] The group settled at Surveillance Estate in Cocorite, on the western edge of Port of Spain, the capital. Given the lack of farmland near the city, the group requested permission to hire themselves out as labourers. Fifteen were hired to work as seine fishers, and one worked as a shoemaker. After one year in Trinidad, 17 of the migrants had died. Sixty-one of them departed with the Fortitude in July 1807. By 1810 only 22 of them remained in Trinidad, and only seven remained in 1834, the last time that the community was mentioned.[3]
The 1833
Additional immigrants settled in Trinidad after initially migrating to other parts of the Caribbean, especially British Guiana which received 13,593 indentured immigrants from China between 1853 and 1884.[3]
Prominent Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians
Politics and government
- Eugene Chen (born Eugene Acham), former foreign minister of China in the 1920s.[1]
- Percy Chen, former Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
- Governor General of Trinidad and Tobago.
- George Maxwell Richards, former President of Trinidad and Tobago
- Michael J. Williams, former President of the Senate of Trinidad and Tobago.
- FederalParliament.
- Member of Parliament, Minister of Finance
- Member of Parliamentand minister in various government ministries
Business and industry
- Carlton K. Mack, grocer and philanthropist.[3]
- Louis Jay Williams, businessman.[3]
Arts and entertainment
- Sybil Atteck, painter.
- Edwin Ayoung, calypsonian known by the sobriquet Crazy.
- Anya Ayoung-Chee, Miss Trinidad & Tobago/Universe 2008, model, fashion designer and winner of season 9 of Project Runway
- Lord Snowdon
- Raymond Choo Kong, actor, producer, director.[3]
- Amy Leong Pang, artist
- André Tanker, musician and composer.[3]
- Fresh Kid Ice, founding member of 2 Live Crew.
- Foxy Brown, rapper
Science and medicine
- Dr.
- Dr. Joseph Lennox Pawan, discoverer of the transmission of rabies by vampire bats.[5]
Sports
- Ellis Achong, first Test cricketer of Chinese descent
- Rupert Tang Choon, Trinidad cricketer, 1940s to 1950s
- Chinesedescent
Other
- Percy Chen, lawyer
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 976-640-021-0.
- ^ Lai Look, Walton (1993). "The People from Kwangtung (Guangdong)". Trinidad and Tobago Review. 15 (8–9). Republished by Hakka Chinese Jamaican. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013.
- ^ ISBN 976-637-289-6.
- ^ "The Chinese in Trinidad and Tobago". National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ a b "Contribution of Trinidad's Chinese to Medicine". Sci-TechKnoFest. NIHERST. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
External links
- "The Chinese in Trinidad and Tobago". National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2007.