The Chinese of Romania are one of the smallest minorities of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Migration history

China and Romania have a history of several decades of economic and cultural exchanges as part of the Communist bloc. Former Chinese leader

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...

lived in Romania for some time and speaks

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

. However, mass Chinese migration to the country only began in the 1980s and 1990s, consisting mostly of independent traders. Later, in the early 2000s, as Romania began to suffer labour shortages due to out-migration of its people to

western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, they imported

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsi ...

s from China as a result.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census, there were only 2,017 Chinese in Romania. However, popular media give much higher estimates. An '' International Herald Tribune'' report in 1998 stated that there were between 10,000 and 40,000 Chinese in the country. A later estimate published by China's official

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

in 2004 also claimed there were as many as 10,000. Romanian newspaper '' Adevărul'' stated in 2005 that there were around 4,000 or 5,000, which it also claims is a decrease from the 1990s when there might have been 20,000. Most are men originating from

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east ...

and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. Some migrant workers have also come from

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea ( Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

and Shandong. They are concentrated in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, especially in the Colentina area of

Sector 2 Sector 2 ( ro, Sectorul 2) is an administrative unit of Bucharest. Demographics Sector 2 is the city's most multicultural sector. In particular, it contains Romania's largest community of Chinese people, who mainly live in the districts of C ...

. Most are already married at the time of their arrival, but there are also mixed Chinese-Romanian families (about 500 according to '' Adevărul'').

Business and employment

The ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

'' estimated in 2009 that 3,000 of the Chinese in Romania consisted of migrant workers, in the textile, shipbuilding, construction, and agriculture sectors. Due to the global economic downturn, many have lost their jobs and sought the assistance of the Chinese embassy in returning home. As of February 2009, 209 Chinese workers had repatriated, with another 150 to follow. Romania also has some small traders from China, who began flowing into the country as early as 1989. They purchase commodities on credit from state-owned factories in their home provinces and resell them in Romania. Chinese businesspeople, especially single women, often become the targets of robberies. The thieves show familiarity with their victims' habits and schedules. Chinese media suggest that local criminals are responsible for a rising wave of crime. However, a report from Romanian media claims that much of the crime is due to activities of Chinese mafia who run

people smuggling People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ei ...

and

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

s, and that they had murdered more than 20 Chinese between 1993 and 2001.

Media

A Chinese-language newspaper for Chinese migrants in Romania, ''Chinezii din Romania'' (旅罗华人报) was established in Bucharest in 1999. As of 2005, it was issued on a weekly basis with 20 pages, and had a circulation of 500. Its editor-in-chief is Li Jianhua (李建华), who has resided in Romania since 1995. Besides this one, there are also three other Chinese newspapers in Romania.

References

{{Overseas Chinese2

Ethnic groups in Romania