Overseas ChineseEthnic Chinese residing outside of ChinaEthnic groupAn Overseas Chinese person is a person of Chinese ancestry or is a person of full or partial Chinese origin who traces his or her ancestry back to the Greater China but are living and working outside of Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). This term generally applies to both people of Chinese ancestry and citizens abroad. As of 2026, approximately 40 million ethnic Chinese live abroad.
Min Chinese speakersMin-speaking peoples (simplified Chinese: 闽民系; traditional Chinese: 閩民系; pinyin: Mǐn mínxì) are a major subgroup of ethnic Han Chinese people, speaking Min Chinese languages. They mainly live or trace roots from Fujian, Hainan, Southern Zhejiang and Guangdong province's Leizhou and Chaoshan regions. The Min Chinese are a strongly diasporic community, with emphasis on entrepreneurship through communal guanxi-based networks.
Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia is the geographical south-eastern subregion of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of mainland Australia, which is a part of Oceania. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean.Traditional Chinese charactersTraditional Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets used to write the Chinese language, with the other being simplified characters. Traditional characters predominated in written Chinese, the historical lingua franca of East Asia, until the mid-20th century. Today, they are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia.
Simplified Chinese charactersStandardized set of Chinese characters This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
IndonesiaIndonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Comprising between 13,000 and 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea, it is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area. Indonesia has extensive tropical forests and marine ecosystems that support one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity.
VietnamVietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of Mainland Southeast Asia. With an area of about 331,000 square kilometres and a population of over 102 million, it is the world's 16th-most populous country.
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. A federal constitutional monarchy, it consists of 13 states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia on Mainland Southeast Asia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo.
PhilippinesArchipelagic country in Southeast AsiaThe Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands, with a total area of about 300,000 square kilometers. The islands are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions. From north to south, the divisions are: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
SingaporeSingapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country in Southeast Asia. Its territory comprises a main island, over 60 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet.
PinyinScheme for the Chinese Phonetic AlphabetSimplified ChineseTraditional ChineseLiteral meaningscheme of spelled Han language sounds This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see .
ThailandCountry in Southeast AsiaThailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, and formerly known as Siam, is a country located in Mainland Southeast Asia. It shares land borders with Myanmar to the west and northwest, Laos to the east and northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Its maritime boundaries include the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, and it shares maritime borders with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.