Overseas Chinese-Part II..海外华裔华侨...世界の中国系、華僑たち..

This post which is part of the 'Year of China' 2010 themed series of posts, will be continuing with the Overseas Chinese series, this time focusing on the Chinese in the West. This includes Chinese of North America, Europe, and Australasia.

The Chinese make up roughly 4% of Canada's and America's population as well as roughly 3% of Australia's and NZ's population. These include Chinese whom may have come from Southeast Asian countries and not China/HK/Taiwan as well as Chinese whom re-immigrated from another country to these countries.

The Chinese once again typically do well economically and socially in these Western societies as a whole, owning businesses and entering prestigious and elite schools disproportionate to their population. For instance, i heard that the ivy league universities in America now have an unwritten policy of raising the bar higher for Asians to enter as there are simply too many qualified Chinese/Asians and they already make up alot of the student intake at these ivy league institutions. In Australia, the Chinese also are disproportionately represented in the top selective high schools as well as elite university courses and in professions such as Taxation, and Accounting/Business, the Chinese tend to get into the big firms in large numbers.

Once again, like in the case of South east Asia, the Chinese in the West not only are better off economically and academically, they also have made some significant inroads into the areas of politics and entertainment in recent yrs in the West, making more progress relative to other Asian groups such as Koreans and Japanese. For instance, in America, there's Lucy Liu, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Lisa Ling, Jackie Chan, etc and currently 2 Chinese-American cabinet ministers in Obama's Cabinet ( i think!) whilst in Australia, there's Alice Pung, Masterchef Poh as well as current winner Liaw whom is also Chinese-Australian..

I heard in France, the Chinese also dominate the newstand business in Paris as well as have a firm foothold of small firms in France...

There are of cos also Chinatowns in big cities across the Western world and even Chinese restaurants or Chinese-owned stores can be found in the smallest towns across the Western globe..