Chinese People in Burma - Demography

Demography

Until the recent influx of Chinese immigrants from Yunnan, the Burmese Chinese in Lower Burma fell into three main groups:

• Hokkien (Burmese: eingyi shay အင်္ကျီရှည်, or let shay လက်ရှည် lit. long-sleeved jackets) from Fujian Province
• Cantonese (Burmese: eingyi to အင်္ကျီတို, or let to လက်တို lit. short-sleeved jackets) from Guangdong Province
• Hakka (Burmese: zaka စက, lit. mid-length sleeve) from Fujian and Guangdong provinces

The Hokkien and Cantonese comprised 45% of the ethnic Chinese population. The Cantonese were originally dubbed "short sleeved jackets" because most migrants from Guangdong Province were artisans, wearing short-sleeve jackets, while most of the Hokkien were traders, wearing long-sleeved jackets. These names remain in use today. Hakkas are further subdivided into those with ancestry from Fujian Province and Guangdong Province, called eingyi shay haka (အင်္ကျီရှည်ဟကာ) and eingyi to haka (အင်္ကျီတိုဟကာ) respectively. The groups have different stereotypical associations. The Cantonese are commonly thought of as the poorest of the Chinese, the Hokkiens are stereotypically wealthier, occupying high positions in the economy, and having connections to the government.

In Upper Burma and Shan Hills, the Panthay and Kokang, mainly speakers of a Mandarin dialect of the Southwestern Mandarin branch, most akin to Yunnanese, predominate. The mountain-dwelling, farming Kokang are classified as a part of the Shan national race, although they have no linguistic or genetic affinity to the Tai-speaking Shan, and the largely trading Muslim Panthay have long been considered separate local nationalities, distinct from the Chinese diaspora community. Combined, they form 21% of Burmese Chinese.

Finally, there are the tayoke kabya (တရုတ်ကပြား) of mixed Chinese and indigenous Burmese parentage. The kabya (ကပြား, meaning "mixed heritage") have a tendency to follow the customs of the Chinese more than of the Burmese. Indeed, tayoke kabya who follow Burmese customs are absorbed into and largely indistinguishable from mainstream Burmese society. A large portion of Burmese Chinese is thought to have some kabya blood, possibly because immigrants could acquire Burmese citizenship through intermarriage with the indigenous Burmese peoples.