Chinese people in Belgium


There is a small ethnic Chinese community in Belgium, compared to neighbouring Netherlands and France. The population is still small in size due to the necessity to be fluent in at least the two languages and also transportation factors, so most Chinese emigrants still choose the neighbouring countries.

History

Single male sailors who wished to reestablish their lives in a foreign country made up the first Chinese living in Belgium. Beginning in the 1950s people from the New Territories of Hong Kong began to settle Europe. They moved due to a lack of jobs in Hong Kong and political developments in Mainland China. Chinese people arrived until the end of the 1960s.
As of 1994 Belgium had 3,463 persons with Mainland Chinese citizenship, including 1,788 females and 1,675 males; and 489 persons with Republic of China citizenship, including. However, as of 1998 most Chinese in Belgium originated in Hong Kong. Prior to 1997 were counted as "British" when they arrived, and by 1998 many had naturalized as Belgian citizens. Therefore, they were not counted as ethnic Chinese people living in Belgium. Pang Ching Lin, author of "Invisible Visibility: Intergenerational Transfer of Identity and Social Position of Chinese Women in Belgium," stated that therefore there is a lack of records specifically tracking Chinese people, and therefore there is an element of invisibility.

Institutions

There are multiple Chinese organisations in Belgium, but they do not regularly cooperate with one another. They sometimes cooperate during some political events supported by the Mainland Chinese government and during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Chinese New Year.

Notable individuals