A drawing of the first group of Chinese indentured labourers on their arrival in Jamaica in 1854.

Patronise a wholesale business, supermarket or a Chinese restaurant in downtown Kingston or Montego Bay these days and you may just happen unto a robust conversation in Chinese. Try talking to the proprietor or a labourer and you are likely to be stymied by the language barrier you are encountering.

Increasingly, Jamaicans may have to get used to this scenario, because the trend is that the Chinese are immigrating to Jamaica in increased numbers these days.
According to statistics furnished by the National Security Ministry's Immigration Department, 372 Chinese came to Jamaica in the last quarter of 2003, doubling the corresponding period in 2002, and outnumbering the 225 arrivals during last year's third quarter.

Bin Huang, the Chinese consul here, puts the approximate number of Chinese in Jamaica - both born here and emigrants - at 10,000. But current president of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA), Dalton Yap, gives a guesstimate of 20,000 to 30,000. "Just last year alone 10,000 Chinese came here," he tells the Sunday Observer.

YAP. many come here to work for someone and after two or three years, branch out on their own

Based on visa applications, most supposedly are here to provide their services as engineers, in managerial positions and as chefs for restaurants that claim to prepare authentic Chinese food.
But the ultimate dream of the Chinese is to branch out into their own business. So when the opportunity to open a restaurant or supermarket presents itself, they jump at it, no matter how limited the funds. To make ends meet, they often become the proverbial 'head cook and bottlewasher'.

"Many come here to work for someone and after two or three years, branch out on their own," says Yap.
And work is all they seem to avail themselves of. Spending most of their days on the job is typical, whether they are working in the textile industry in the Free Zone or in the family business. That leaves little time for them to be integrated into the Jamaican society. Consequently, their command of the English language takes quite a while to be garnered, setting the stage for them to be misunderstood by some Jamaicans.

"Often the Chinese are viewed as outsiders who are here to exploit the country," says Yap, who was born in the Guandong province of China but came here as a child. "We are hoping the CBA can act as an agent or a catalyst for their integration into the society. That's a challenge we have to deal with."
One Montego Bay supermarket proprietor, who prefers to remain anonymous, admits that he has little time for anything but work and that he isn't even aware of the CBA. He has been in Jamaica for three years and English is still a major challenge for him.
Yap feels the inability to speak English is a source of conflict with customers.

"Language barrier proves to be a big problem," says Yap. "They find it easier to talk to each other in their own language, but too many times the customer gets upset, thinking they are talking about him or her."
Despite their visibility as business owners, which usually is seen by Jamaicans as a sign of success, life for the new arrivals is no bed of roses. The previous great Chinese influx during the halcyon days of the Free Zone in the 1980s was marked by cramped living conditions, sometimes up to a dozen sleeping in one room, bunk-bed style. It's not much better today.
"They can endure difficult conditions because bitterness is endemic to the Chinese culture and existence," says Yap.

But such exposure to austerity has not precluded many Chinese from contributing significantly to Jamaica's development, whether in business, sport or otherwise.
"We give donations to Jamaica College, where we play football, Holy Trinity High, Buff Bay High, St Catherine High and Seaforth High to assist students sitting exams," explains Vincent Chang, the immediate past president of the 100-year-old CBA, which also operates a dental and medical clinic on North Street in Kingston. "Our aim is to preserve the Jamaican/Chinese culture, and so we bond with our community."

Sam Wong Chew Onn, president of the Jamaica/China Friendship Association, concurs. "We are prepared to make our contribution wherever we can in the Jamaican society," he tells the Sunday Observer. "We are ready to build on top of Jamaica's success. We hope to continue to gain the respect of all of Jamaica."
That respect, though evident in parts, has been hard won by the Chinese who, after first arriving here as indentured servants in July 1854, had to pay head taxes to the Jamaican Government and were the victims of three race riots.

The head tax was repealed in the 1950s, but the love/hate relationship between Jamaicans of African descent and the mostly Hakkas was still smouldering and came to a head in the last race riot in the 1960s.
Chang tells the story: "The last riot stemmed from a domestic quarrel between a Chinese man and his Jamaican girlfriend. It is said that he made a racial comment, which, after being spread, started a backlash. Many Chinese were threatened and some left Jamaica."

But two decades later, Jamaica experienced a resurgence in Chinese immigrants - mainly younger women from Hong Kong who, after the Free Zone companies left, stayed, brought their families and opened restaurants or retail shops, according to Chang.
Alexander Ho, president of the eight year-old Chinese Cultural Association (CCA), an arm of the CBA, corroborates this story with a further explanation. "Some also don't like the one child policy in China, and here they can have as many children as they want," he says. "Some who have established business also send abroad for Chinese workers."

Today's arrivals, the Sunday Observer learnt, are mostly Cantonese or Mandarin and speak an entirely different dialect, thereby making it difficult to teach them English, which would allow them easier assimilation into the Jamaican society.
But the CBA, in collaboration with the CCA and Chee Kung Tung (Chinese Free Mason Society), are helping them in that area by conducting Saturday morning classes in English at the CBA on Old Hope Road. Classes in Mandarin are also taught there, mainly for the children born here.

That, however, wasn't the case in previous years. As recent as the 1970s, it was the norm for Chinese parents to send their children back to China to learn the language before they returned anywhere between four and 10 years later.
Ho, for example, was sent to China at age 11 to learn the culture and stayed there for 10 years.
According to Chang, the CBA was formed because the Chinese had no legal representation. "They had problems with language and adapting, and so the CBA was formed for the welfare of the Jamaican Chinese at the old Barry Street location."

The Chinese Home for the Aged, Chinese Cemetery and a Chinese school are all outreach arms of the organisation.
The CBA is now in the process of setting up an endowment fund to refurbish the rundown Chinese Cemetery on Waltham Park Road. They hope to get donations both locally and from overseas.
In the meantime, Saturday mornings for the recent arrivals means work, although yesterday in China, businesses took a holiday to commemorate the Chinese New Year, which was celebrated last Thursday. The fireworks began as early as Wednesday evening and the festivities don't end until today.

Locally, Chinese say they'll recognise the day with a big dinner with their families and dispense of gifts. But that's after work is done today.
The CBA will ring in the Chinese New Year (this is the Year of the Monkey) with a garden party today at their headquarters.

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS

Pepper Pot