Chinese Surinamese
Encyclopedia
Chinese Surinamese are residents of Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

 with a Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 background. Chinese Surinamese are a small part of the Surinamese people
Surinamese people
Surinamese people are the inhabitants of Suriname or people of Surinamese descent. Suriname had formerly been the colony of Dutch Guiana which was founded during the early 17th century. Following Suriname's independence in 1975, many Surinamers migrated to the Netherlands...

. The majority of the Chinese Surinamese consider Hakka
Hakka
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

, Dongguan
Dongguan
Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to...

 or Meixian
Meixian
Mei County is a county in the municipal region of Meizhou, in northeastern Guangdong province, the People's Republic of China.-Geography:Mei county almost completely surrounds Meizhou's urban districts Jiangnan and Jiangbei...

 as their ancestral homes.

Many Chinese Surinamese are active in the retail and business community. Six percent of the Chinese in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 are from Suriname.

Contract Workers

In 1853 planters
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 in Suriname feared a labor shortage when slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 was abolished. They asked the government to recruit other workers from abroad.

The government of Java recruited a group of 18 Chinese for contract labor in the Catharina Sophia plantation in Saramacca
Saramacca District
Saramacca is a district of Suriname, in the north. Saramacca's capital city is Groningen, with other towns and cities including Batavia and Boskamp.Saramacca has a population of 13,600 and an area of 3,636 km²....

. Because of the high acquisition costs it was decided to get a second group, not from Java, but from China
Imperial China
Imperial China may refer to:* Imperial era of Chinese history , divided into three major periods:** Early Imperial China** Mid-Imperial China** Late Imperial China...

 instead. In 1858, 500 Chinese laborers were recruited by the Dutch consul in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

.
They arrived in Suriname in April, but it turned out that no one wanted to hire slaves for as long as nothing would work.

This was concluded contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

 outside the Chinese to change by Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 Charles Pierre Schimpf in favor of the tenants. The Chinese were totally treated like slaves. When they were revolts were, without due process, contrary to existing regulations, the police cane strokes punished, an unlawful act that is repeated again and again.

An interpellation (formal request for information) to the Minister of Colonies Jan Jacob Rochussen
Jan Jacob Rochussen
Jan Jacob Rochussen was a Dutch politician. He served as Finance Minister from 1840 to 1843 and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1845 to 1851. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 18 March 1858 to 23 February 1860. He was also a Dutch colonial minister....

 did not help.

In the 1850s and 1860s, about 2,500 Chinese people went to Suriname. Most were employed as contract laborers on the plantations. After their contracts were trading in many, mostly in food retail.

Later immigrants

Others came to Suriname as free laborers, traders and shop assistants, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Further large numbers came in the 1990s. In 2007 there were over 70,000 Chinese in Suriname, and the immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 is still continuing. The rapidly growing demand from China to Suriname as wood and minerals is very attractive to Chinese businesses. The new Chinese migrants from northern China are known in Suriname as "salt-Chinese".

Since the 1960s, thousands of Chinese have emigrated to the Netherlands from Suriname.

The Chinese names in medium-sized long a prominent position and their mostly well-educated offspring of mixed blood or Chinese blood in various social sectors. Also, the Surinamese people accepted various applications of Chinese origin.

Notable people

Surinamese of Chinese origin
  • Anton Jie Sam Foek, first broadcast on Hilversum correspondent in Latin America
  • Roy Ho-Ten-Sung, the first foreign mayor of the Netherlands


Dutch people of Chinese-Surinamese origin
  • Humberto Tan, radio and television presenter, writer.
  • Etienne Shew-Atjon
    Etienne Shew-Atjon
    Etienne Shew-Atjon is a Dutch retired professional footballer. He formerly played eleven years for FC Utrecht and transferred in the summer of 2009 to FC Dordrecht, just his second employer in professional football....

    , football player
  • Calvin Jong-a-Pin
    Calvin Jong-a-Pin
    Calvin Jong-a-Pin is a Dutch footballer plays as a left back who currently plays for the Japanese club Shimizu S-Pulse.- Career :...

    , football player
  • Cerezo Fung-a-Wing
    Cerezo Fung-a-Wing
    Cerezo Fung a Wing is a Dutch defender currently playing for Dutch Topklasse outfit IJsselmeervogels.-Club career:...

    , football player
  • Guillaume Lo A Njoe, artist

External link

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