Chinatowns in Asia
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Chinatowns in Asia are widespread with a large concentration of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and ethnic Chinese whose ancestors came from southern China - particularly the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan - and settled in countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam centuries ago—starting as early as the Tang Dynasty, but mostly notably in the 17th through the 19th centuries (during the reign of the Qing Dynasty), and well into the 20th century. During the years of European colonialism in Southeast Asia, many poor Chinese arrived in these countries to find work, often causing ethnic tension between them and the native population; in particular, between ethnic Chinese Malaysian Buddhists and Malaysian Muslims. These ethnic Chinese arrived from southern mainland China and were mainly Chinese people of Cantonese (Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar), Hakka (Indonesia), Hainanese (Vietnam), Hokkien (Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar), and Teochew/Chaozhou (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand) stock. These early groups did not identify as hailing from Mainland China, but from their subregion of origin; for example, the Cantonese did not relate to the Hakka people.
The ethnic Chinese represent a large minority population in most of these countries—with Singapore being the exception where Chinese-origin Singaporeans form the majority of the population. Of all overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, however, the Chinese Vietnamese tend to retain the strongest ties to the Chinese culture and language and, hence, remain relatively isolated from the ethnic Vietnamese majority. Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese Filipinos have adopted to British and Spanish ways, respectively. Thai Chineses have generally assimilated into the larger Thai population.
Image:Yokohama Chinatown entrance.jpg
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Specific Asian Chinatowns
Cambodia
Phnom Penh's Chinatown is on Street 136.
Cambodia experienced ethnic Chinese settlement beginning in the 1400s. In recent decades, a large number of new and more recent Mainland Chinese immigrants have immigrated to Cambodia. Several Cambodian cities are known or suspected to have started out as Chinese settlements.
India
There is a Chinatown in Calcutta. Many Hakka live in a community known as Tangra, which is dominated by leather tanneries (the Hindu majority will not touch cattle) and Chinese restaurants. Another Chinatown is in Byculla, Bombay; however it has diminished in population as many of its Indian-born Chinese ethnic residents have migrated, mainly to major immigrant destinations such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. [1]
Indonesia
The Pancoran district of Jakarta on Jalan Gajah Mada has a large ethnic Chinese population. In 1998, many Chinatown businesses were burned by indigenous Indonesians and the area suffered from arson during race riots. Many Chinese left Indonesia when their fellow countrymen persecuted them, but there are still large numbers of Chinese-Indonesians.
Yet, another Indonesian Chinatown is on Jalan Pekojan in Semarang. There are also numerous Chinese Indonesians in Surabaya and Medan.
Japan
In Japan, ethnic Chinese immigrants are called kakyo. The largest Chinatown in Japan and Asia is located in Yokohama. (See Yokohama Chinatown) (Japanese: Hamamachi). The city of Kobe has a growing Chinatown (Nankinmachi). In Nagasaki, its Chinatown (Shinchimachi) was founded in 1698 AD. Most Chinese immigrants in Japan were from Taiwan who arrived during the Japanese colonial period.
Koreas
Korean Chinatowns are located in its both capital cities, Pyongyang and Seoul. Today, Seoul’s "Chinatown" is informal. A newly-planned Chinatown is planned for suburban Ilsan and is to be finished by year 2005.
The South Korean Chinatown of Inchon is in the Chung district and was formed in 1884. In 2002, to capitalize on the large number of Mainland Chinese visitors who were visiting South Korea, the Inchon city council planned to revive its moribund Chinatown at a cost of US $6.2 million (worth 6.5 South Korean won). It claims to be the largest Chinatown in South Korea, and features an 11-metre high Chinese-style gateway.
Pusan is also considering reviving its Chinatown.
Many Chinese Koreans left South Korea during the 1960 and 1970s for Taiwan (Repubic of China) or other countries, such as United States, and then the actual Chinese populations of many Chinatowns in South Korea declined. Many business in these Chinatowns are actually owned by ethnic Koreans.
Laos
Vientiane contains a Chinatown on Samsenthai Road.
Malaysia
Image:YosriMay2005JalanPetaling.JPG
The term Chinatown is also used in the Bahasa Malaysia language.
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur was founded by Chinese settlers in the 1800s. Jalan Petaling (or Petaling Street) serves as the centre of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, which is predominantly Cantonese-speaking.
Penang
The population of the Chinatown in the city of Penang is mainly Hokkien Chinese.
Malacca
There is a Chinatown in Malacca.
Myanmar
Chinatown in Myanmar is in Yangon. Most Chinese came from mainland China.
Philippines
The best-known Chinatown in the Philippines is the district of Binondo in Manila. Many prominent Chinese Filipino families have roots in this district. Among the attractions of Binondo is Divisoria, a shopping area popular with people engaging in bargain shopping.
Chinese settlement—who were predominantly Hokkien—in the Philippines pre-dates the coming of the Spanish in 1521. Chinese merchants have been trading with the indigenous tribes of the islands since the 8th century. During the Spanish occupation, the Chinese held an intermediate place in Filipino society as middlemen between the Spanish upper-class and the native Filipinos or indíos, a derogatory term also used by the Spanish to refer to Native Americans. However, they were forced to live in ghettos such as Binondo. During the rule of Ferdinand Marcos, bitterness against Chinese Filipinos grew, starting in 1972. Most of the community went to Venezuela, or to North America — especially United States — Australia, and New Zealand. In the first ever visit to Manila's Chinatown by a Filipino president, President Gloria Arroyo, who is, like most Philippine politicians, of partly-Chinese descent, recognized the efforts and contributions of Chinese Filipinos.
Russia
Many early immigrants to Russia were from the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Shaanxi and Shanxi in Mainland China. The earliest of immigrants come in the 1860s and 1870s, mainly to the Siberia. They helped build the Trans-Siberian Railroad. An early Chinatown in Vladivostok was established in 1860s. Nearly all ethnic Chinese in Russia returned to Mainland China after the Alexander Kerensky and his liberal supporters took power in Russia in 1917.
A Chinatown district has cropped up in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg. [2]
The Chinatown of Ussuriysk, north of the city of Vladivostok and near the Heilongjiang province of mainland China. It is known in Russian as kitaiskii gorodok (китайский город). Most ethnic Chinese living in this easternmost portion of Russia are from Mainland China. (photo)
- See also: Chinatowns in Europe#Russia
Singapore
Template:Main Singapore, a multi-racial, but predominantly Chinese, country has a relatively large Chinatown in a district to the south of the river originally designated for Chinese settlement by Sir Stamford Raffles. It remains known as Chinatown in English. The local Chinese name for the area is Niú chē shǔi (牛车水) on Telok Ayer Street. The Singaporean Chinatown currently serves as tourist destination, since the Chinese today share similar rights with the rest of the country.
Thailand
Chinese Thais of Teochew (Chaozhou) descent are the dominant group of ethnic Chinese, with smaller numbers of those of Cantonese and Hakka origin as well. The Thai Royal Family is of Chinese descent in the paternal line.
Bangkok The Chinatown (Thai: Yaowarat ) of Bangkok is located on Yaowarat Road and Sampeng Lane.
Phuket The city of Phuket is home to Thailand's second Chinatown, which is on Phang Nga Road. Phuket was founded by early Chinese settlers.
Mae Salong There is a Chinese community in northern Thailand, in a town called Mae Salong near Myanmar. After the defeat and exile of Kuomintang from Mainland China by forces led by Mao Zedong, several Kuomintang army divisions in the Yunnan province fled into neighboring Myanmar. After being expelled from that country, the Mainland Chinese veterans fought Thai communists on behalf of the Thai government and were granted citizenship. Mae Salong was established by veterans of the Kuomintang army 93rd Division. Many of Thai-born Chinese generations have relocated to Taiwan. Today, Mae Salong is a spot for tourists from Taiwan and Mainland China.
Vietnam
Image:HCMC Binh Tay.jpg Ethnic Chinese have been moving to Vietnam for centuries. They pioneered many settlements in the south of the country including Saigon, or as it is known today, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown is the Cholon district which has been a stronghold for the Chinese-Vietnamese community since the late 1770s, when many Cantonese and Teochew Chinese arrived during French imperialism. Its main thoroughfares are Nguyen Trai Street and Tran Hung Dao Street. The Cholon area was the bastion of ethnic Chinese Vietnamese free enterprise until the Vietnamese communist government confiscated private property in the area.
After the period of the Vietnam War and Sino-Vietnamese War (the late 1970s and early 1980s), many Chinese Vietnamese (called in Vietnamese the Viet Hoa) along with their ethnic Vietnamese, or the Viet Kinh, compatriots fled the country as "boat people". As a result, there are many overseas Chinese Vietnamese communities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. Nevertheless, Vietnam still has a strong ethnic Chinese community.
Discrimination and anti-Chinese sentiment
The overseas Chinese have suffered from de jure institutionalized discrimination by several governments and local populations, particularly in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, Indonesia under President Suharto, Malaysia and the previously communist government of Vietnam. They have been called the analogous "Jews of the East", a phrase coined by Thailand's King Rama VI many decades ago. Indeed, for many years, Indonesia banned any expression of Chinese culture and heritage in the country. In Vietnam, ethnic Chinese suffered equally under Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem. Under the President Park Chung Hee of South Korea, anyone considered a foreigner - including the multi-generation Korean-born Chinese Korean - could not own land. In the 1960s, there were anti-Chinese riots in Myanmar. As a result of such policies and anti-Chinese sentiment, many overseas Chinese - especially those living in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia - usually fled their adopted country, either voluntarily as refugees or involuntarily as exiles.
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis loomed over Asia and caused political turmoil, especially in Indonesia. Although several Southeast Asian leaders such as Malaysia's Prime Minister blamed the Western-dominated International Monetary Fund for the economic problems, many Indonesians took to the streets and blamed Chinese Indonesians who dominated the Indonesian economy for their economic woes. Angry Indonesian rioters destroyed Jakarta's Chinatown area, businesses run by ethnic Chinese, and homes throughout in the country. However, in Malaysia and Singapore, ethnic Chinese are not known to have suffered large-scale maltreatment or abuse, which was in line with the national practice of racial unity with the Malays and Indians.
External links
- Welcome to Hakka Community - Twilight descends on Calcutta's Chinatown
- Singapore's Chinatown
- The Chinatown of Malacca, Malaysia