Chinese people in Spain form the ninth-largest non-
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
foreign community in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. , official figures showed 145,425 Chinese citizens residing in Spain; however, this figure does not include people with origins in other
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
communities, nor Spanish citizens of Chinese origin or descent.
History
The first recorded arrivals of Chinese people to Spain date from the late 16th century.
Bernardino de Escalante
Bernardino de Escalante (ca. 1537– after 1605) was a Spanish soldier, priest, geographer and a prolific writer. He is best known as the author of the second book on China that was published in Europe, and the first author of such a book to o ...
in his ''Discurso de la navegación...'' (one of the first European books on China, published in 1577) says that among his sources of information were "Chinese themselves, who came to Spain" ("los mesmos naturales Chinas que an venido à España").
Juan González de Mendoza
Juan González de Mendoza, O.S.A. (1545 – 14 February 1618) was a Spanish bishop, explorer, sinologist, and writer. He was the author of one of the earliest Western histories of China. Published by him in 1585, ''Historia de las cosas más ...
in his '' History of the great and mighty kingdom of China'', wrote that in 1585 "three merchants of China" arrived in Mexico "and neuer staied till they came into Spaine and into other kingdomes further off."
A legal case was brought before the
Council of the Indies
The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...
involving two Chinese men in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, one a freeman, Esteban Cabrera, and the other a slave, Diego Indio, against Juan de Morales, Diego's owner. Diego called on Esteban to give evidence as a witness on his behalf. Diego recalled that he was taken as a slave by Francisco de Casteñeda from Mexico, to Nicaragua, then to
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
in Peru, then to Panama, and eventually to Spain via
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, while he was still a boy. Esteban testified that he knew Diego as a boy in Limpoa (Liampó, the Portuguese name of
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, a Chinese city in Zhejiang), which he claimed to be part of the Spanish colonial indies. This was a false claim since Liampo was not under Spanish rule, and it is speculated that Esteban and Diego lied about it in order to help Diego win his freedom, playing on the fact that the Spanish conducting the case were ignorant of Spain's Asian affairs. It worked in their favor and in July 1575 the Council issued a ruling siding with Diego. Juana de Castañeda also testified on behalf of Diego, claiming that she knew Diego in Lima and she also married Esteban during the ordeal. Juana was a native woman from
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
. Juana was around 40 years old when she testified on behalf of Diego in 1572. Another native woman from Panama, Isabel García also testified in favor of Diego, saying she knew him while he was in Panama. Esteban's will dated 15 March 1599 left his property to his daughter Francisca de Altamirana and her husband Miguel de la Cruz who was a tailor and probably Chinese like Esteban. A family of tailors was started by Esteban. Tristán de la China was taken as a slave by the Portuguese, while he was still a boy and in the 1520s was obtained by Cristobál de Haro in Lisbon, and taken to live in Seville and Valladolid. He was paid for his service as a translator on the 1525 Loaísa expedition, during which he was still an adolescent. The survivors, including Tristan, were shipwrecked for a decade until 1537 when they were returned to Lisbon by a Portuguese ship. Records from 7 May 1618 show that Hernando de los Ríos Coronel was permitted to bring from the Philippines to Spain two Chinese slaves, named Cosme and Juan de Terrenate, who was married to a woman named Manuela. Several Asians took advantage of laws requiring that the Spanish state pay for their return to their homeland after being trafficked to Spain illegally. A Chinese named Juan Castelindala Moreno petitioned to be sent home in 1632.
Asian slaves who were shipped from the Spanish Philippines in the Manila-Acapulco galleons to
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
in
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
(Mexico) were all called "Chino" which meant Chinese, although in reality they were of diverse origins, including Japanese, Malays, Javanese, Timorese, and people from Bengal, India, Ceylon, Makassar, Tidore, Terenate, and Chinese.- The people in this community of diverse Asians in Mexico were called "los indios chinos" by the Spanish. Most of these slaves were male and were obtained from Portuguese slave traders who obtained them from Portuguese colonial possessions and outposts of the
Estado da India
The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...
, which included parts of India, Bengal, Malacca, Indonesia, Nagasaki in Japan, and Macau. Some Spanish temporarily brought some of these Chino slaves to Spain itself from Mexico, where owning and showing off a Chino slave showed high class since Spanish aristocrats viewed their Chino slaves as fascinating trendy symbols of class. A Spanish woman, Doña María de Quesada y Figueroa, in New Spain owned a China born Chinese man called Manuel who before being enslaved to her was taken from New Spain to be shown off in Seville until he was transferred to her ownership to be used by her as a slave by the woman's son Doctor D. Juan de Quesada in 1621. Records of three Japanese slaves dating from the 16th century, named Gaspar Fernandes, Miguel and Ventura who ended up in Mexico showed that they were purchased by Portuguese slave traders in Japan, brought to Manila from where they were shipped to Mexico by their owner Perez. Some of these Asian slaves were also brought to
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
, where there was a small community of Asians including Chinese, Japanese, and Malays.
The first large wave of Chinese immigrants came to Spain in the 1920s and 1930s, working as itinerant peddlers. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, they branched out into the restaurant industry, and later into textiles and trade. However, the vast majority of Chinese residents in Spain started arriving in the country around the 1980s. According to Xu Songhua, president of the Association of Chinese in Spain (''Asociación de Chinos en España''), established in 1985, there are 13,000 Chinese-owned businesses in Spain, including 4,000 restaurants, 3,200 "dollar shops", 1,500 fruit shops, 600 wholesale warehouses, 80 Chinese groceries, 200 textile factories, and 120 photo processing shops. Nowadays, Madrid and Barcelona are home to the largest Chinese communities of Spain. Unlike earlier waves of Chinese immigrants in other countries, over 80% of the Chinese in Spain come from
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
's
Qingtian County
Qingtian (), is a county in southeastern Zhejiang Province, on the middle-lower reaches of the Ou River which flows 388 kilometers (241 mi) before finally reaching the city of Wenzhou and emptying into the East China Sea. The county is known ...
, with smaller numbers from
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
and
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
. Others have come from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, and Chinese communities of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
,
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
Demography
The age structure of Chinese in Spain is skewed very young; 2003 figures showed only 1.8% aged 65 or older, as compared to 7% of the population of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and 17.5% of that of Spain, while over 17% were under the age of 15. As a result of the small proportion of elderly, combined with long working hours and the illegal status of some, Chinese are reported to use medical services at a far lower rate than other ethnic groups in Spain.
Foreign population of Chinese citizenship in Spain
Religion
A
Taoist temple
A Taoist temple (, also called ''dàoguàn'' and , is a place where the Tao is observed and cultivated it is a place of worship in Taoism.
Structure and function can vary according to the Taoist school the temple belongs to. For example, ''guàn ...
was opened in 2014 by the Chinese community of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, led by
Taoist priest
A daoshi (道士 "master of the Tao"), translated as Taoist priest, Taoist monk, Taoist master or Professional Taoist, is a priest in Taoism. Along with Han Chinese priests, there are also many practicing ethnic minority priests in China. Some o ...
Liu Zemin, a 21st-generation descendant of poet, soldier and prophet Liu Bo Wen (1311-1375). The temple, located in the district of Sant Martí and inaugurated with the presence of the People's Republic of China consul Qu Chengwu, enshrines 28
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
Elche
Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants, Crime is a problem in the Chinese community due to the triads, which are involved in
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
and extortion of Chinese business owners. However, the Triads have not established themselves as drug distributors due to competition from other groups.
Notable people
*
He Zhi Wen
He Zhiwen (; born January 31, 1962), or Zhiwen He in Western name order, is a Chinese-born Spanish male table tennis player. In 2006 he was ranked #41 in the ITTF world ranking. Due to the difficulty of pronouncing his name in Spanish he has b ...
, world-ranked male table tennis player (Originally from
Zhejiang, China
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
)
*
Shen Yanfei
Shen Yanfei (; born December 24, 1979, in Hebei, China) is a female Chinese-born table tennis player who now represents Spain and resides in Cartagena, Murcia.
She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the third round of the single ...
, world-ranked female table tennis player (Originally from Hebei, China)
See also
*
Demographics of Spain
As of 1 January 2020, Spain had a total population of 47,431,256, which represents a 0.9% increase since 2019. The modern Kingdom of Spain arose from the accretion of several independent Iberian realms, including the Kingdoms of León, Casti ...