Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique

Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique
Total population
	Taishan dialect; new expatriates speak Mandarin), Macanese
Related ethnic groups
	Overseas Chinese, Macanese people

Ethnic Chinese in Mozambique once numbered around five thousand individuals, but their population fell significantly during the

People's Republic of China.^[3]

History

Origins

Chinese people began to settle in the land that makes up the modern state of Mozambique as early as the 1870s, when

Macao, then also part of the Portuguese Empire, as well as the neighbouring Siyi region of Guangdong, for work on railway construction. Some may not have been voluntary migrants, but criminals sentenced to penal transportation rather than jail. In 1893, the Chinese community in Lourenço Marques (modern-day Maputo) numbered 52 people. One of the more famous of the early migrants was Ja Assam (谢三), a carpenter and architect who funded the construction of Maputo's first Chinese pagoda.^[4]

Migration of all Asians was officially halted in 1899 due to an outbreak of plague, blamed on Indians; even after the relaxation of the restriction in 1907, Asians who sought to migrate to the colony had to pay a disembarkation fee of 3,000 reals at their port of arrival.^[5] Nevertheless, Chinese population continued to grow, to 287 by 1903.^[4] By 1928, there were 314 Chinese in Lourenço Marques alone, rising to 483 by 1935 and 570 by 1940. The vast majority started out in the carpentry trade, but soon moved into shopkeeping.^[6] They established five different community associations and a Chinese-language elementary school for their children. By the early 1970s, the eve of independence, there were 5,000 Chinese in Mozambique, with 2,000 in Lourenço Marques and another 3,000 in Beira.^[7]

Post-independence

After

People's Republic of China, who came to the country as part of the increasing Sino-African economic cooperation.^[1]

Numbers

Various sources give different estimates for the size of Mozambique's Chinese community. A 2007 article in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences journal West Asia And Africa claims that the number is just 1,500, with one-third of those in Maputo.^[1] In contrast, the local Chinese embassy estimates the number may be 7,000, and Mozambican immigration officials give a figure of 12,000.^[2]

Notable people

Shéu Han, footballer for Benfica and the Portugal national team
Ricardo Rangel, late photojournalist of Chinese descent
Kok Nam, photojournalist of Chinese descent

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jian 2007, 独立至今的艰难岁月
^ ^a ^b Horta, Loro (2007-08-13), "China, Mozambique: old friends, new business", International Relations and Security Network Update, retrieved 2007-11-03
^ ^a ^b ^c Jian 2007
^ ^a ^b Jian 2007, 开创洪荒的19世纪
^ Zamparoni 2000, p. 204
^ Zamparoni 2000, pp. 205–206
^ Jian 2007, 鼎盛之时的独立前期
^ Reis de Oliveira 2003, p. 12
^ Da Costa Morais 2004

Sources

Da Costa Morais, Isabel Maria (2004), Creolised and colonised: the history and future of the Macanese and Mozambican Chinese (Ph.D. thesis ed.), University of Hong Kong, archived from the original on 2013-02-17, retrieved 2008-10-29
Jian, Hong (2007), "莫桑比克华侨的历史与现状 (The History and Status Quo of Overseas Chinese in Mozambique)", West Asia and Africa (5),
ISSN 1002-7122, archived from the original
on 2011-06-17, retrieved 2008-10-29

Reis de Oliveira, Catarina (July 2003), "Immigrant's Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Case of the Chinese in Portugal", FEEM Working Papers (75),
SSRN 464682

Zamparoni, Valdemir (2000), "Monhés, Baneanes, Chinas e Afro-maometanos - Colonialismo e Racismo em Lourenço Marques, Moçambique, 1890-1940", Lusotopie: 191–222,
ISSN 1257-0273