Changing identities of the Chinese in the Anglophone Caribbean: a focus on Jamaica

Chinese arrival in the Anglophone Caribbean consists mainly of three stages: first, as indentured laborers between the mid-1850s and the late 1870s;1 second, as voluntary migrants between the 1890s and 1940s; and lastly, as voluntary migrants from the late 1970s or 1980s until today. The majority came from Southeast China, especially from Guangdong. Among them, Hakkas predominated especially in the first two stages, for example, in Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana. The number and the proportion of the population in residing societies have remained small from the beginning.2 This together with the physical characteristics and cultural distinctions made the Chinese in the Caribbean appear as “visible minorities.”