Chinese South Africans - Immigration of Mainland Chinese

Immigration of Mainland Chinese

The immigration of mainland Chinese, by far the largest group of Chinese in South Africa, can be divided into three periods. The first group arrived in the late 1980s and early 1990s along with the Taiwanese immigrants. Unlike the Taiwanese immigrants, lacking the capital to start larger firms most established small businesses. Although becoming relatively prosperous a large number of this group left South Africa, either back to China or to more developed Western countries, around the same time and for much the same reason as the Taiwanese immigrants left. The second group, arriving mostly from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the 1990s, were wealthier and better educated as well as also being very entrepreneurial. The latest and ongoing group began arriving after 2000 and primary made up of small traders and peasants from Fujian province.

Although the Chinese South African community is a law-abiding community that has maintained a low profile throughout South Africa's modern history; there is speculation that local criminal gangs in South Africa barter abalone illegally with Chinese nationals and triad societies in exchange for chemicals used in the production of drugs, reducing the need for the use of money and hence avoiding money laundering difficulties.