Ethnic Chinese in Belize
Total population | |
---|---|
9,990 (2022 Census)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Belize District | |
Languages | |
English · Kriol · Chinese · Spanish | |
Religion | |
Buddhism · Chinese folk religion (incld. Confucianism and Taoism) · Catholicism · Protestantism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Chinese Caribbeans |
The Chinese community in Belize consists of descendants of Han Chinese immigrants who were brought to British Honduras as indentured labourers as well as recent immigrants from Mainland China and Taiwan.
History
Early history
The importation of Chinese workers to British Honduras was a response to economic shifts in the mid-19th century. As
More Chinese laborers migrated to Belize in the early 20th century. The second largest batch came just before the outbreak of World War II, when they traveled to the United States from where they gradually trickled southward by land to Mexico and Central America. The Chinese were originally brought to Belize as Indentured Servants as Slaves.
Late 20th century
Belize's
Not all of the migrants returned to their homeland or went on to the U.S.; some settled in the Belize River on the tracts of land that the government granted them in exchange for their investments, bringing in workers to building houses and schools. In the mid-1990s there may have been as many as six or seven thousand Chinese people in Belize. However, when the government tightened its work permit policies, an exodus began—the migrants went to other Chinese communities in Costa Rica, Thailand and the Philippines where migration policies were more favourable. By 1998 the Chinese were estimated to have fallen to about 1.5% of the Belizean population or three thousand people. Corozal for example was reported to have had a peak Chinese population of 500, but then fell to just one-tenth that.[8]
Business and employment
In the 19th century, during the Caste War in neighbouring Yucatán, Mexico, Chinese and Lebanese shopkeepers began setting up businesses in Belize City. A hardware store run by a Chinese migrant named Augusto Quan was well known as the only supplier of certain tools, nails and buckets for a long time.[7] Others established laundries, brothels, gambling houses, and restaurants.[4] Today the Chinese community control most of the economy and became dominant in the grocery, restaurant, fast food, and lottery trades.
Demography
The 2000 Census found 1,716 Chinese people (0.7% of the population) living in the country, and 1,607 people speaking Chinese as their first language.
The 2010 Census did not break out Chinese separately, but recorded 2,823 "Asians" (a separate category from "East Indians").[12]
Culture
Unusual naming customs arose among Chinese people in Belize. Indentured migrants were assigned identifying numbers, which were sometimes used in place of names. Workers sometimes traded numbers or misused numbers of deceased fellows to obtain extra rations. After they had filled their indenture contracts, they had to register their own names. Some used approximations of their Chinese names, some took on English given names while keeping Chinese surnames, while others (especially those who had remigrated from Guatemala) had Spanish translations of their Chinese surnames.[13]
The most important festival for the Chinese community is Lunar New Year, which falls on the first day of the first lunar month. Lion dances, accompanied by cymbals, drums, gongs, and firecrackers are a common sight during these festivities.
For a majority of the Chinese, religion is a mixture of all the various Chinese philosophies. The older generation, especially the women, continue to practice an abbreviated form of
Organisations
Community organisations include the Belize Chinese Association, which conducts Chinese New Year gatherings.[14] Its former president Lee Mark Chang has also been active in speaking out against crime committed against Chinese businesspeople, and responding to accusations that the businesspeople themselves bear responsibility for the crime because they do not provide employment opportunities to local people.[15] In 2010, the BCA organised a nationwide shutdown of Chinese shops in response to the murder of 14-year-old Hellen Yu, a local-born girl of Chinese descent, during a robbery of her parents shop; BCA secretary Eric Chang expressed disappointment at other Belizeans' indifference to the murder.[16] In 2011, the BCA and the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce organised joint street protests in response to the murder of two Chinese women. New BCA president Edmund Quan was quoted as stating that his organisation would submit requests to the authorities for amendments of relevant criminal laws.[17]
Community relations
Racism in Belize is directed by
Notable people
- Senate of Belize[22]
- William Quinto, the pioneer of Belize–Taiwan relations[23]
See also
- Chinese Caribbean
- Belize–Taiwan relations
References
- ^ a b Census 2000, Table B1
- ^ a b Robinson 2010, p. 108
- ^ a b Meagher 2008, p. 254
- ^ a b Robinson 2010, p. 109
- ^ Sutherland 1998, p. 27
- ^ Sutherland 1998, p. 166
- ^ a b c Sutherland 1998, p. 25
- ^ a b Sutherland 1998, p. 28
- ^ Census 2000, Tables B1 & B7
- ^ Census 2000, Table D2
- ^ Census 2000, p. 11
- ^ Census 2010
- ^ Robinson 2010, p. 111–112
- ^ "Chinese Celebrate New Year", The Belize Reporter, 2011-02-13, retrieved 2011-03-09
- ^ "The Chinese Community's Contribution", 7 News Belize, 2010-05-18, retrieved 2012-03-08
- ^ Ortiz, Daniel (2010-08-20), "Hellen Yu's murder sparks Chinese business shutdown", Amandala News, retrieved 2012-03-08
- ^ "Asian community protest murder of two female shop keepers", Antigua Observer, 2011-04-05, retrieved 2012-03-08
- ^ Mwakikagile 2010, p. 138
- ^ Mwakikagile 2010, p. 192
- ^ Mwakikagile 2010, p. 194
- ^ Mwakikagile 2010, p. 188
- ^ "Belize's first Chinese President of the Senate". The Belize Reporter. 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
- ^ "送別伍永泉大使 憶當年建交經過". National Policy Foundation Commentary. 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
Bibliography
- Meagher, Arnold J. (2008), The coolie trade: the traffic in Chinese laborers to Latin America 1847-1874, ISBN 9781436309431
- Mwakikagile, Godfrey (2010), Belize and Its People: Life in a Multicultural Society, Continental Press, ISBN 9789987932214
- Robinson, St. John (2010), "The Chinese of Central America: Diverse Beginnings, Common Achievements", in Look Lai, Walton; Tan, Chee Beng (eds.), The Chinese in Latin America and the Caribbean, Brill, ISBN 9789004182134
- Sutherland, Anne (1998), The making of Belize: globalization in the margins, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 9780897895798
- Population Census 2000: Major Findings (PDF), Central Statistical Office, 2007
- Main Results of 2010 Housing and Population Census (PDF), Central Statistics Office, 2010, archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2012, retrieved 2012-03-08