Chinese The World Over

Paul Chong

A Chinese By Descent . . . An Australia By Consent
24 September 2020

Chinese are everywhere in the world. It’s said that where seas or oceans touch land, there you’d find them. They are most enterprising & assiduous in their economic pursuit. They would rather “die on their feet than live on their knees”. Such is their nature & character. They built the US railroads, responsible for the urbanisation & commercial enterprises in Malaya (present Malaysia) & most of the Southeast Asian countries. Wherever they are they contribute positively to the land of their adoption. They adjust, adapt & even adopt to foreign life quite naturally. However, their cultural lives remain distinctly unchanged. There are Christians, Muslims as are also present in China itself.

In China everybody speaks Mandarin including the 55 minority ethnic groups . . . this being the national language well serving unity in diversity.

Besides Han Chinese, who make up over 90% of China’s population, there are officially 55 minority ethnic groups living in China. Their costumes, festivals, and customs can be unique and colorful and are some of China’s unique attractions.

Uniquely in China, the Chinese speak a variety of dialects like Hokkien (in Fujian), Cantonese (in Canton (Guangzhou & Hong Kong), Hakka (Hainan), Wu Chinese Dialect (Shanghainese), just to mention some. In Taiwan they speak a dialect similar to the one in Fujian known as Minnanhua.

According to the latest United Nations data. China 2020 population is estimated at 1,439,323,776 people at mid year. China population is equivalent to 18.47% of the total world population. Every 5 people in the world one is Chinese.

There are approximately 50 million ethnic Chinese people living outside of China’s mainland (Oct 1, 2014).
The statistics do not include Chinese who have adopted citizenship of the countries where they are residing.

Most of them are living in Southeast Asia where they make up a majority of the population of Singapore (75%) and significant minority populations in Thailand (14%), Malaysia (23%), Indonesia, Brunei (10%), the Philippines, and Vietnam 823,071.

South Korea: 1,643,611. France: 700,000. Chinese Australians & Chinese Canadians are getting larger in number.

South Africa is the Country with the largest Chinese population outside China estimated to be one million.

Chinese in Indonesia, Thailand & Philippines have to have their names change to the countries of their adoption.

In a recent announcement by President Xi JinPing, China Card will be made available to all Chinese born outside China, certainly a most welcome & gratifying news for those who wish to return to the motherland.

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