Chinese people in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Chinese
斯里兰卡华人
斯里蘭卡華人
ශ්‍රී ලාංකික චීන
இலங்கை சீனர்கள்
Total population
~3,500 Sri Lankan Chinese (2001)
(less than 0.20% of the population)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Majority: Colombo
Minority: Negombo, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matugama, Galle and Trincomalee[2]
Languages
majority Sinhala, but historically Hakka, Cantonese and other varieties of Chinese
Religion
almost all Theravada Buddhism[3]
Related ethnic groups
Chinese people in India and Southeast Asia and Sinhalese people

Chinese people in Sri Lanka or Sri Lankan Chinese[4] (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලාංකික චීන; Tamil: இலங்கை சீனர்கள்), are Sri Lankan citizens of full or partial Chinese descent born or raised in Sri Lanka. Most trace their origins to Hakka and Cantonese migrants from the southern coastal regions of China and other Han migrants from Hubei and Shandong who migrated to Sri Lanka in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.[5]

Intermarriage between Sri Lankans, mostly Sinhalese women, and ethnic Chinese men is very common and they have adopted the culture, language and integrated into broader Sri Lankan society.[6][7][4] As a result, the vast majority of Sri Lankan Chinese have partial Sinhalese ancestry.[4] Approximately 80% of Sri Lankan Chinese live in Colombo and are mainly involved in the dental trade, textile retail, hotel and restaurant industries.[8] In the past, some younger generations of Sri Lankan Chinese left the country due to political instability.[7] Additionally, a fair amount of Sri Lankan Chinese have at times migrated to other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.[4]

  1. ^ Jayasuriya, S. de Silva (2000). The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka. Lusotopie 2000. p. 255.
  2. ^ "Coming to Ceylon, their new home".
  3. ^ "කෘත්‍රිම දත් බැඳීම අපට හුරු කළ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික චීන ජනතාව". Archived from the original on 2019-06-09. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  4. ^ a b c d "People of Sri Lanka" (PDF). The Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages. March 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 1, 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  5. ^ Armstrong, Armstrong & Mulliner 2001, p. 32
  6. ^ Tan, Chee-Beng (2013-02-11). Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora. Routledge. ISBN 9781136230967.
  7. ^ a b Chelvaratnam, Rajika (2003-01-26), "Migrant Chinese businessmen - a dying breed?", Sunday Times, retrieved 2011-06-14
  8. ^ Hussein, Asiff (3 September 2000). "The Silk Road They Travelled". The Sunday Observer. Retrieved 30 December 2017.[permanent dead link‍]