Fuzhounese Americans, also known as Hokchew Americans or Fuzhou Americans or imprecisely Fujianese, are
Chinese American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
people of
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
descent, in particular from the
Changle
(, Foochow Romanized: Diòng-lŏ̤h) is one of 6 District (China), urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, Fujian Province, China. It occupies a land area of and a sea area of . Changle was established i ...
district.
Many
Chinese restaurant
A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in t ...
workers in the United States are from Fuzhou.
There are also a number of undocumented Fuzhounese immigrants in the United States who are smuggled in by groups such as
snakeheads.
Fuzhounese Americans helped develop the
Chinatown bus lines
Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services, often operated by Chinese Americans. They have been established primarily in the Chinatown communities of the East Coast of the United States since 1998, and similar services operate on th ...
system, which originated as a means to transport restaurant workers from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to various parts of the
northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
.
Unlike other Chinese Americans and
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
groups, Fuzhounese Americans are almost completely concentrated in the U.S. Northeast. The vast majority live in New York City and on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, but some also live in
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
and
Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
*St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Manitob ...
counties in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
; and in the
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
metropolitan areas.
Immigration
After the lifting of emigration restriction in the 1980s, people began leaving the Fuzhou area. Illegal immigration from Fujian province peaked at around 8,000 per month in June 1992. During the second half of 1992, illegal immigration into the US was about 2500 per month. Migrants were mostly men, but in 1992 around 20–30% of them were women and children. These arrivals were mostly unskilled agricultural workers. About 80% of them were from the
Changle District
(, Foochow Romanized: Diòng-lŏ̤h) is one of 6 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, China. It occupies a land area of and a sea area of . Changle was established in the sixth year of Emper ...
of Fuzhou, with smaller numbers from
Lianjiang and
Minhou
Minhou County (; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-âu) is a county in the eastern Fujian Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the provincial capital. The Min River flows in a southeast direction throu ...
counties, and other places.
Businesses
Restaurants
Many
Chinese restaurant
A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in t ...
owners and workers are from Fuzhou.
The
Chinatown buses system originated as a means to transport workers from New York City to various parts of the East Coast,
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, and also parts of the
southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
. Restaurant owners usually adopted the established
American Chinese cuisine
American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those ...
, which is somewhat based on
Cantonese cuisine
Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine ( or ) is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Maca ...
, rather than serving
Fujian cuisine
Fujian cuisine or Fujianese cuisine, also known as Min cuisine, is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the cooking style of China's Fujian Province, most notably from the provincial capital, Fuzhou. "Fujian cuisine" in this articl ...
. These restaurants are usually
all-you-can-eat buffet
A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...
s and
take-out
A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...
restaurants.
Other
Many Fuzhounese people also work in the Chinatown
garment industry
Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment ...
. With time, however, the Fuzhounese population has become upwardly mobile in
socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
. Second-generation Fuzhounese have high rates of educational attainment and often work in professional occupations like tech and finance.
Locations
Hokchiu people in the US are almost singularly concentrated in the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
, unlike other Chinese Americans and
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
groups. The number of Fuzhounese in New York City and nationwide is notably difficult to enumerate precisely, since as many as 50% of Fuzhounese immigrants are undocumented and may be reluctant to respond to census-takers.
One estimate put the number of Fuzhou people in New York City at over 70,000;
however, Einhorn in 1994 estimated that as many as 100,000 Fujianese were living in New York at the time, and that an additional 10,000 were arriving each year. Data from the 2005–2009
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
suggests there are around 1,450 Fuzhou speakers in the United States, although the number is likely to be far greater as most respondents simply wrote "Chinese".
New York City
Manhattan's Chinatown and Lower East Side
During the 1980s, growing numbers of Fuzhou immigrants started arriving into
Manhattan's Chinatown
Manhattan's Chinatown () is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 1 ...
. Because Manhattan's Chinatown was mostly
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
-speaking, many could not integrate well there. Instead they began to settle on East Broadway and east of The Bowery, which was not fully developed as part of Chinatown but an overlapping enclave of Chinese, Latinos and Jewish populations. Many of the earlier Fuzhou immigrants learned to speak Cantonese to find work and to interact with most of Chinatown's residents. Many of the earlier Fuzhou immigrants to New York lived in
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 ...
for some time, adapting to the
Hong Kong culture
The culture of Hong Kong is primarily a mix of Chinese and Western influences, stemming from Lingnan Cantonese roots and later fusing with British culture due to British colonialism (Jyutping: ; Traditional Chinese: 粵英薈萃). As an interna ...
and learning to speak
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
.
The Little Fuzhou enclave slowly emerged on the eastern borderline of Chinatown, which was still overlapped with some Latino and Jewish populations. It eventually became fully Chinese-populated and fully part of Manhattan's Chinatown. However, Chinatown became subdivided into the older established Cantonese Chinatown, in the western portion, and the newer Fuzhou Chinatown in the eastern portion. Some longtime Cantonese residents (many of them older generations) and businesses remain in Fuzhou Chinatown.
![East Broadway jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/East_Broadway_jeh.JPG)
Hokchiu people have founded business organizations such as the Fuzhou-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 1998, businesspeople from
Changle
(, Foochow Romanized: Diòng-lŏ̤h) is one of 6 District (China), urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, Fujian Province, China. It occupies a land area of and a sea area of . Changle was established i ...
founded the Changle American Association, which has become one of the most influential community organizations.
=Shift to Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County
=
However, due to the gentrification situation of Manhattan's Chinatown since the 2000s, the Chinese population and businesses are declining and moving from the original Chinatown to newer Chinatowns in New York, and the Fuzhou immigrants are also part of this decline as well. Many of Chinese in Manhattan's Chinatown are relocating to the newer Chinese enclaves in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, and
Nassau County. However, the Fuzhous that are moving out are mostly relocating to
Sunset Park, which now has the largest Fuzhou community in all of New York City, while the Cantonese are moving to
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
's newer and growing Chinese enclaves, which are more primarily Cantonese populated.
Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown
Like Manhattan's Chinatown in the past, Brooklyn's
Sunset Park Chinatown was primarily Cantonese, but was much smaller and less developed unlike Manhattan's Chinatown, which already had been very large and developed. With the
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...
and lack of available apartment units in Manhattan's Chinatown that came in the 2000s, the growing Fuzhou population shifted to Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown to seek affordable housing and jobs. The shift of the Fuzhou immigration to Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown dramatically expanded the Chinese enclave so prominently that it is now overwhelmingly Fuzhou populated and has far surpassed the size of the Fuzhou enclave in Manhattan's Chinatown. In addition, the Brooklyn Sunset Park Chinatown has overall surpassed the size of Manhattan's Chinatown. Unlike in Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown, where the Fuzhou population has managed to dominate the whole enclave and still quickly growing, the Fuzhou enclave in Manhattan's Chinatown only managed to occupy the eastern portion while the western portion of Manhattan's Chinatown still remains primarily Cantonese.
Population
Political views
Compared to previous Chinese immigrants, Fuzhou Americans tend to have a more favorable view 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 ...
.
While the majority of the Fuzhou population in the US came directly from Fuzhou, some Fuzhou Americans have also descended from
Matsu, Fukien Province, R.O.C. and the Hokchiu (Foochowese) diaspora in
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 ...
, particularly
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
"Left behind" children
Some Fuzhounese people give birth to children in the US, then send their young children back to their hometowns because they are unable to raise them and work at the same time. Because of
jus soli
''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.
''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...
laws these children automatically gain
American citizenship
Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
. These children are called "left-behind Americans" and are usually cared for by grandparents.
They are reunited with their parents in the US once they have reached the age to attend grade school.
Notable people
*
Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest Yi Lin (; born 1959), also known as Jeffrey Forrest and Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, is a professor of mathematics, systems science, economics, and finance at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education ( Slippery Rock campus) (SSHE) and at several ma ...
(1959–), professor of mathematics, systems science, economics, and finance at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (
Slippery Rock campus)
* Lin Chen, founder of
Summit Import Corporation, one of the largest importers of Asian food on the East Coast
*
Tung-Yen Lin
Tung-Yen Lin (; November 14, 1912 – November 15, 2003) was a Chinese-American structural engineer who was the pioneer of standardizing the use of prestressed concrete.
Biography
Born in Fuzhou, Republic of China (ROC), as the fourth of ele ...
(林同棪 1912–2003), structural engineer who pioneered the use of prestressed concrete
*
Lin Yaohua
Lin Yaohua (, March 27, 1910 – November 27, 2000) was a leading Chinese sociologist and anthropologist. He was noted for his studies of Chinese family structures, as well as work on China's minority ethnic groups, particularly the Yi people. H ...
(1910–2000), leading Chinese sociologist and anthropologist
*
Maya Lin
Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...
(October 5, 1959–), designer and artist known for her work in sculpture and land art; designer of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those s ...
*
Wang Shizhen Wang Shizhen is the name of:
*Wang Shizhen (Tang dynasty) (759–809), Tang dynasty warlord, de facto ruler of Chengde
* Wang Shizhen (Ming dynasty) (1526–1590), Ming dynasty poet, writer, artist and litterateur.
*Wang Shizhen (Beiyang government ...
(王世真; 1916–2016), Chinese nuclear medicine physician and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), known as the "father of Chinese nuclear medicine"
* Victims of the
Chen family homicides
In the early afternoon of October 8, 2014, a coworker of Jin Chen, 39, of Guilderland, New York, United States found the bodies of Chen, his wife and their two children in their home. Police were called to the scene and determined that the family ...
*
Wang Wenxing (王文興 1939–), Taiwanese writer
*
Hsien Wu
Hsien Wu (; 24 November 1893 – 8 August 1959) was a Chinese biochemist and geneticist. He was the first to propose that protein denaturation was a purely conformational change, i.e., corresponded to protein unfolding and not to some chemica ...
(吳憲 1893–1959), Chinese protein scientist
*
Zhang Yuzhe
Zhang Yuzhe (; 16 February 1902 – 21 July 1986), also known as Yu-Che Chang, was a Chinese astronomer and director of the Purple Mountain Observatory who is widely regarded as the father of modern Chinese astronomy. accessed 3 October 2006 H ...
(1902–1986), astronomer widely regarded as the "father of modern Chinese astronomy"
See also
*
Little Fuzhou (小福州)
*
Fuzhou Town (福州埠), Brooklyn (布鲁克林)
*
Chinese emigration
Waves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. They include the emigration to Southeast Asia beginning from the 10th century during the Tang Dynasty, to the Americas during the 19th century, particularly during the California go ...
*
Golden Venture
''Golden Venture'' was a cargo ship that smuggled 286 undocumented immigrants from China (mostly Fuzhou people from Fujian province) along with 13 crew members that ran aground on the beach at Fort Tilden on the Rockaway peninsula of Queens, New Y ...
, ship that smuggled 286 undocumented immigrants from China (mostly Fuzhou people from Fujian province) that ran aground on the beach at
Fort Tilden
Fort Tilden, also known as Fort Tilden Historic District, is a former United States Army installation on the coast in the New York City borough of Queens. Fort Tilden now forms part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and is administered b ...
in
Rockaway Beach in Queens in 1993
*
Asian Americans in New York City
Asian Americans in New York City represent the largest Asian American population of any city in the United States.
Population
New York City alone, according to the 2010 Census, has now become home to more than one million Asian Americans, gre ...
*
Bangladeshis in New York City
*
Chinese people in New York City
The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population ...
*
Demographics of New York City
New York City is a large and ethnically diverse metropolis. It is the largest city in the United States with a long history of international immigration. New York City was home to over 8.3 million people in 2019, accounting for over 40% of the ...
*
Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area
Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area constitute one of the fastest growing ethnicities in the United States, and one of the largest and most prominent Filipino diasporas in the Western Hemisphere. By 2014 Census estimates, the New York C ...
*
Indians in the New York City metropolitan region
Indians in the New York City metropolitan area constitute one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnicities in the New York City metropolitan area of the United States. The New York City region is home to the largest and most prominent Indian ...
*
Japanese in New York City
As of the 2000 United States Census, 2000 Census, over half of the 37,279 people of Japanese people, Japanese ancestry in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York lived in New York City.Robinson, Greg. "Japanese." In: Eisenstadt, Peter R. an ...
*
Koreans in New York City
As of the 2011 American Community Survey, New York City is home to 100,000 ethnic Koreans, with two-thirds living in the borough of Queens. On the other hand, the overall Greater New York Combined Statistical Area enumerated 218,764 Korean A ...
*
Russians in New York City
New York City is home to the largest Russian Americans, Russian population and Russophone, Russian-speaking population in the Western Hemisphere. The largest Russian-American communities in New York City are located in Brighton Beach and Sheepshe ...
*
Taiwanese people in New York City
New York City is home to the second-largest Taiwanese American population, after the Los Angeles metropolitan area, California, enumerating an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 individuals as of 2020.
History and location
The Flushing neighborhood of t ...
* ''
The Leavers
''The Leavers'' is Lisa Ko's first novel, published on May 2, 2017. Background
Ko’s novel was inspired by a 2009 ''New York Times'' article describing an undocumented immigrant from Fuzhou, China, who was arrested at a Greyhound station in F ...
'', novel by
Lisa Ko
Lisa Ko is an American writer. Her debut novel, ''The Leavers'', won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction. She has written for the ''New York Times.''Ko, Lisa, ...
about undocumented immigrants from Fuzhou
References
{{Asian Americans
Chinese American
Chinese-American culture in New York City
Chinatown, Manhattan
Brooklyn