Suriname
The small country of Suriname has a significant Chinese population as well, mainly in the capital Paramaribo and the adjacent urban disctrict of Wanica. The history of the Surinamese Chinese dates back to 1858 under Dutch colonial rule, making it one of the oldest Chinese communities in South America. These early Suriname Chinese were mainly Hakka-speaking and from the towns of Dongguan and Meixian in the Southern Chinese province of Guangdong and came to Suriname, like Indians and the Javanese, to work as contract-labourers on the plantations at the time of the abolition of slavery in 1863.
New waves of Chinese migration to Suriname followed in the 1950s-60s and again in the 1990s. This last group of Chinese migrants are mainly from northern China and speakers of Mandarin Chinese. They control a large share of the country's groceries and supermarkets.
Large numbers of Surinamese Chinese have migrated to the Netherlands after Suriname gained independence in 1975. In 2007, there were 70.000 persons with Chinese heritage in Suriname, which makes up 14% of the total population of the country.
Read more about this topic: Chinatowns In Latin America