Chinese people in Sri Lanka

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sri Lankan Chinese
斯里兰卡华人
斯里蘭卡華人
ශ්‍රී ලාංකික චීන
இலங்கை சீனர்கள்
Total population
~3,500 Sri Lankan Chinese (2001)
(less than 0.20% of the population)
India and Southeast Asia and Sinhalese people

Chinese people in Sri Lanka or Sri Lankan Chinese

Han migrants from Hubei and Shandong who migrated to Sri Lanka in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.[5]

Intermarriage between Sri Lankans, mostly Sinhalese women, and ethnic Chinese men is very common and they have adopted the culture, language and integrated into broader Sri Lankan society.[6][7][4] As a result, the vast majority of Sri Lankan Chinese have partial Sinhalese ancestry.[4] Approximately 80% of Sri Lankan Chinese live in Colombo and are mainly involved in the dental trade, textile retail, hotel and restaurant industries.[8] In the past, some younger generations of Sri Lankan Chinese left the country due to political instability.[7] Additionally, a fair amount of Sri Lankan Chinese have at times migrated to other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.[4]

Migration history

Early visitors and migrants

Sri Lanka's earliest known Chinese visitor was

Ceylon was under Dutch rule in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch East India Company authorities at Batavia (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia) would occasionally deport unemployed or illegal Chinese residents to Cape of Good Hope, the Banda Islands, while only deported some to Sri Lanka, in order to provide manpower and limit the growth of the foreign population in Batavia.[5] In July 1740, a plan was drawn up for mass deportations of Chinese workers from Batavia to work in cinnamon harvesting in Ceylon.[10]

After the British rule of Ceylon, the

sea cucumbers and shark fins to export back to their home country for use in Chinese cuisine.[13] The 1911 census found a few Chinese speakers remaining in Ceylon.[14]

Recent waves of migration

Independent migrants of Chinese origin began arriving after the late 1920s.

Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission showed just 450 registered overseas Chinese remaining on the island.[18]

However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the easing of immigration regulations, a new wave of Chinese migrants came to Sri Lanka to try their luck in small businesses, braving the intensity of the

vacation homes, for example making up 70% of the purchasers at the Thona Bay resort project near Batticaloa.[20][21]

The descendants of early migrants who remain in Sri Lanka number only around 3500 persons.[4] Figures from NationMaster also support this number.[22]

Culture

Most Sri Lankan Chinese live in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, where they are primarily involved in the dentist, textile and restaurant industries

Language

Sri Lankan Chinese largely speak

Sinhalese, Tamil or English owing to their assimilation into broader Sri Lankan society.[4] Historically varieties of Chinese
were spoken by the community.

Religion

Like the majority of

Theravada Buddhism
.

Business and employment

Early migrants from Hubei often found work as

shrimp farming and accountancy.[7]

Citizenship

Many descendants of early Chinese migrants were stateless. In January 2008, after lobbying led by University of Peradeniya zoology graduate Chwing-Chi Chang, Prime Minister and Internal Administration Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake presented the Parliament of Sri Lanka with a draft bill to grant Sri Lankan citizenship to stateless persons of Chinese origin who had been settled in the country for a long time.[15] It was passed into law without debate on 24 September 2008.[24] The new law, the "Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Chinese Origin" Act, applies to persons "belonging to the Chinese Race" who have been permanent residents of Sri Lanka since 15 November 1948 or who are the descendants of such a person and are themselves resident in Sri Lanka. It gives them the right to apply for the status of citizen of Sri Lanka by registration (otherwise than by descent).[25] In the following two years, a total of 80 people acquired Sri Lankan citizenship under the act. The provisions of the act expired in 2013.[26]

Education

The Sri Lankan government has also long provided scholarships for Chinese students to

study abroad in Sri Lanka. Initially these scholarships were handled through the Sri Lanka–China Friendship Association. When academic exchanges resumed after the Cultural Revolution, they were handled directly at the governmental level.[27] The most recent group of Chinese students came after discussions during President Mahinda Rajapaksa's 2007 visit to China. The government provided scholarships for 16 Sinhala language majors from Beijing Foreign Studies University; they arrived in September 2008, and spent six months in the country.[28][29][30] The Chinese government also sends professors of Chinese language to teach at various universities in Sri Lanka, including the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka.[31] The country's first Confucius Institute for the teaching of Chinese as a second language was opened at the University of Kelaniya in May 2007.[32]

Community relations

In the early days after Sri Lanka's independence, the Chinese community, small and powerless, were seen as alien and unimportant, and were mostly ignored by the Sri Lankans.

India – Sri Lanka relations, reportedly leading the Sri Lankan side to reassure the Indians that the workers would not settle in the country permanently, but would instead leave after they finished their work.[38]

The Sri Lankan Chinese Society was formed in 1993 in order to unite the Sri Lankan Chinese community.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jayasuriya, S. de Silva (2000). The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka. Lusotopie 2000. p. 255.
  2. ^ "Coming to Ceylon, their new home".
  3. ^ "කෘත්‍රිම දත් බැඳීම අපට හුරු කළ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික චීන ජනතාව". Archived from the original on 2019-06-09. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "People of Sri Lanka" (PDF). The Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages. March 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 1, 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b Armstrong, Armstrong & Mulliner 2001, p. 32
  6. ISBN 9781136230967
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e Chelvaratnam, Rajika (2003-01-26), "Migrant Chinese businessmen - a dying breed?", Sunday Times, retrieved 2011-06-14
  8. ^ a b Hussein, Asiff (3 September 2000). "The Silk Road They Travelled". The Sunday Observer. Retrieved 30 December 2017.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ De Silva, R. Jinith (2011-02-14), "The great Chinese monk - Fa Hsien", Daily Mirror, archived from the original on 2013-02-21, retrieved 2011-06-15
  10. ^ Pan 1994, p. 35–36
  11. ^ a b c S. Pathiravitana (2008-05-27), "Ceylankan - a melange of many minds", Daily News, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2011-06-15
  12. ^ This confusion also seems to have persisted later. The 1911 census found two persons identified as Malays who gave their place of birth as China. See Denham 1912, p. 280.
  13. ^ Baker 1874, p. 283
  14. ^ Denham 1912, p. 207
  15. ^
    ISSN 1391-0531
    , retrieved 2011-06-14
  16. ^ a b Lin-Rodrigo 2001, p. 59
  17. ^ Ferrey, Ashok (2009-05-31), "Mandarins in Colombo", The Sunday Leader, retrieved 2011-06-14
  18. ^ "Overseas Chinese in Japan, Ceylon, India", China News Analysis, no. 532, 1964-09-11
  19. ^ a b 陈占杰 (2006-09-11), "危险到处都有 斯里兰卡战乱华侨华人难逃一劫", Xinhua News, archived from the original on November 7, 2012, retrieved 2011-06-15
  20. ^ Henricus, Jennifer (2010-11-19), "HK investors buy into Sri Lanka lifestyle scene", Hong Kong Trade Development Council Market Intelligence, retrieved 2011-06-15
  21. ^ Wong, Kelvin; Saminather, Nichola; Yu, Hui-yong (2011-06-13), "Chinese Mount Global Homebuying Spree as Governments Squeeze Local Markets", Bloomberg, retrieved 2011-06-15
  22. ^ Asia > Sri Lanka > People, NationMaster, retrieved 2010-10-30
  23. ^ a b Ratwatte, Charitha (2011-06-14), "Go tell a Chinaman with a pony tail", Daily FT, archived from the original on 2011-06-18, retrieved 2011-06-15
  24. ^ "Citizenship to persons of Chinese origin", Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka, 2008-09-25, retrieved 2011-06-15
  25. ^ "Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Chinese Origin (Special Provisions) Act, No. 38 of 2008", Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 2008-10-31, retrieved 2011-06-15
  26. ^ "Eighty Lankans of Chinese origin given citizenship", Prime Radio, 2010-09-02, archived from the original on 2012-09-08, retrieved 2011-06-15
  27. ^ Wickramaratne, Ramani D. (2007-03-04), "50th Anniversary of Sri Lanka-China Friendship: Strengthening Bilateral Relationships", The Nation, retrieved 2011-06-15
  28. ^ "斯里兰卡高教部长祝贺中国留学生学成回国", China Review News, 2009-03-23, retrieved 2011-06-14
  29. ^ "Chinese students call on Acting Foreign Minister: Assure promotion of Sino-Lanka ties", Daily News, 2007-09-27, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2011-06-15
  30. ^ Kaviratne, Isuri (2008-11-30), "Chinese students see future in learning Sinhala", The Sunday Times, retrieved 2011-06-15
  31. ^ 杜连成 (May 2006), "在斯里兰卡佛教大学——留学当"和尚"的难忘经历", Chinese World, retrieved 2011-06-14
  32. ^ Udayakantha, Harsha (2007-09-29), "Further strengthening Sino-Lanka bilateral ties", Daily News, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2011-06-14
  33. ^ a b Rodrigo 1998, pp. 234–235
  34. ^ Berenger, Leon (2009-10-25), "Chinese workers at Coal Power Project threatened", The Sunday Times, retrieved 2011-06-14
  35. ^ "Chinese work in Hambantota while Lankans are unemployed: Ranil", News First, 2011-01-10, retrieved 2011-06-15
  36. ^ Chellaney, Brahma (2010-07-11), "China now exports its convicts", The Sunday Leader, retrieved 2011-06-15
  37. ^ Soysa, Udara (2010-07-18), "Why does Sri Lanka need Chinese convicts?", The Sunday Leader, retrieved 2011-06-15
  38. ^ "India wary of China's increasing role in Lanka", Express News, 2010-06-14, retrieved 2011-06-15[permanent dead link]

Bibliography

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