Malaysian Chinese or Chinese Malaysians are Malaysian citizens of Chinese ethnicity. They form the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Malay-majority, and , constituted 23.2% of the country's citizens or close to 7 million. In addition, Malaysian Chinese make up the second-largest community of overseas Chinese in the world, following the Thai Chinese in neighbouring Thailand. Prior to 1963, the ethnic Chinese community were often referred to as the Malayan Chinese. As with most Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, they have maintained a significant and substantial presence in the economy of the modern-day country for at least two centuries since the era of British Malaya.
Most Malaysian Chinese are descendants of Southern Chinese immigrants who arrived in Malaysia between the early 19th and the mid-20th centuries before the country attained independence from British colonial rule. The majority originate from Fujian or the Lingnan region (modern-day Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan). They belong to diverse linguistic subgroups speaking Chinese such as the Hokkien and Fuzhou from Fujian, the Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka from Guangdong, the Hainanese from Hainan and Kwongsai from Guangxi. An earlier wave of Chinese migrants, arriving between the 13th and 17th centuries, assimilated significant aspects of indigenous Malay culture and customs to forge distinct identities. These groups include the Peranakans (or Baba–Nyonya) of Kelantan, Malacca, Penang and Terengganu and the Sino-Natives of Sabah. Characterised by a high degree of intermarriage with native populations, these communities has preserved unique culture and traditions that distinguish them from the broader Malaysian Chinese population.
Most Malaysian Chinese have maintained their Chinese heritage, identity, culture and language. The Malay-majority government do not classify them as part of the bumiputera, a preferential status in the country. Various socioeconomic factors, including divergent fertility rates, migration trends and shifting policy dynamics, have led to a gradual decline in the Chinese population's relative share since 1957.
Names The Malaysian Chinese are referred to as simply "Chinese" in Malaysian English, in Malay, Sina or Kina among indigenous groups in Borneo, () in Tamil, or or in Mandarin, in Hokkien, and in Cantonese.
History
Early history
China and other early kingdoms in the Malay Archipelago, such as the northern area of the Malay Peninsula and Po-Ni in western Borneo, have long been connected. The first recorded movement of people from China into present-day Malaysia was the 1292 arrival of Mongol expeditionary forces under Kublai Khan in Borneo in 1292 in preparation for their invasion of Java the following year. Many of Khan's Chinese followers settled on the island with Chinese traders after the campaign, establishing an enclave along the Kinabatangan River. Their arrival was welcomed by the indigenous people, who benefited from the jars, beads, silk, and pottery brought to the island by the Chinese.
Chinese explorer and sailor Zheng He commanded several expeditions to south-east Asia between 1405 and 1430; during his third voyage, Zheng also visited Malacca. His companion and translator, Ma Huan, described Malacca in his Yingya Shenglan. Formerly part of Thailand, Malacca was founded after convoys from the Ming Dynasty developed a city and the area's chief was crowned king. During his fourth imperial-fleet visit, Ma wrote that the local king had just converted to Islam and dressed like an Arab. The last edition of Mingshi, one of the official Chinese Twenty-Four Histories, mentioned a pre-established Chinese settlement in the area. Mentions in other records exist, especially after trade contacts were established with the Nanyang region. According to Hai Yü (Words about the Sea), written by Huang Zhong and published in 1537, the lifestyle of the Chinese community in Malacca differed from that of the local Malays.
This close relationship was maintained during the Islamisation of the Malacca and Brunei kingdoms, whose thalassocracy once covered much of present-day Malaysia. Both the Muslim sultanates pledged protection to the Chinese dynasties from further conquest by the neighbouring Javanese Majapahit or the Siamese Ayutthaya. This relationship resulted in interethnic marriage between the sultanate's royal family and the Chinese envoy and representatives. Zheng He's arrival encouraged the spread of Islam in the Malay Archipelago and aided the growth of the Chinese Muslim population from the Eastern Chinese coastal towns of Fujian and Canton, with many of their traders arriving in the coastal towns of present-day Malaysia and Indonesia by the early 15th century. In addition to the early settlements in Kinabatangan and Malacca, two more old Chinese settlements are located in Terengganu and the Penang Island as part of trade networks with their respective areas.
Colonial era (1500–1900)
Although many Chinese traders avoided Portuguese Malacca after its 1511 conquest, the flow of emigrants from China continued. The Zhengde Emperor retaliated against the Portuguese for their activities in Malacca during the Ming dynasty after the arrival of their fleet in Canton. The Chinese emperor was reluctant to help the deposed Malaccan ruler reclaim his position, however, since the dynasty foreign policy was changing to maintain friendly relations with the Portuguese.
His successor, the Jiajing Emperor, changed the attitude of the Ming court by executing two government officials and reaffirming the importance of Malaccan issues in major policy decisions. Some Chinese, including those from Fujian (defying Ming-Dynasty regulation for the sake of trade), informed the Portuguese of the trade route between Guangdong and Siam. Since the local Malaccan Chinese were not treated favourably by the Portuguese, they and most overseas Chinese refused to cooperate with them. Through the Portuguese administration in Malacca, Chinese Muslims sided with other Islamic traders against the latter by providing ships and human capital. Negotiations were later held in Guangdong between Chinese officials and Portuguese envoys about Malaccan issues, with Malacca remaining under Portuguese control.
After the 1641 Dutch takeover of Malacca, many local Malaccan Chinese were hired to construct Dutch buildings. The Dutch found the Chinese industrious, and encouraged their participation in the colony's economic life; the Dutch also established a settlement in Perak in 1650 through an earlier treaty with Aceh and suggested that Alauddin, the 17th Sultan of Perak, allow the Chinese to develop tin mines. This facilitated Alauddin's plan to request more Chinese workers from Malacca, and the sultan promised to punish any official guilty of mistreating the Chinese.
With the sultan consent, the Chinese played a leading role in the tin-mining industry. The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780 adversely affected the tin trade, however, and many Chinese miners left. Early Chinese settlements in Malacca and several areas along the archipelago's coasts notwithstanding, most mass Chinese migration to Malaysia occurred after the founding of British settlements in Malaya and Borneo during the early 19th century.
A 1786 British settlement in Penang and another in Singapore in 1819 triggered a mass emigration from China to the Malay Peninsula. After the establishment of British rule in Labuan in 1846, more ethnic Chinese (primarily Hakka, and many from Singapore) arrived in British Borneo. The migration continued through the first few years of the North Borneo Chartered Company. Chinese migration to Labuan and North Borneo was largely confined to the agricultural sector; migration to the Raj of Sarawak was largely restricted to the mining and agricultural sectors. Rajah Charles Brooke of Sarawak promoted the migration of Chinese and Dayak people to interior Sarawak to develop the region. This resulted in the establishment of an administrative center and bazaar by the 19th century, primarily in Sarawak's First, Second, and Third Divisions.
Rajah Charles invited Chinese black-pepper growers from Singapore to settle in Kuching in 1876, and they were later joined by local Chinese miners and others from neighbouring Dutch Borneo. With the introduction of pepper to the kingdom, pepper cultivation in Sarawak's First Division Kuching-Serian region was dominated by the Hakka; Fuzhou and Cantonese people dominated cultivation in the Third Division Sarikei-Binatang region, making Sarawak the world's second-largest pepper producer. After the British gained control of the four states of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, nearly two million Chinese immigrated to Perak and Selangor.
After the discovery of tin deposits in British Malaya, many Chinese immigrants worked in the tin-mining industry. As tin mines opened in Perak, many Chinese in neighbouring Penang became wealthy. Many Chinese tin-mining communities were established in the Malay Peninsula by the 1870s, particularly in Ipoh (Kinta Valley), Taiping, Seremban and Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley). Each of the mining communities was governed by a Kapitan Cina, with duties and privileges similar to those in Johor's Kangchu system. Chinese migration sprang from poverty in rural China and employment opportunities in the British colonies or protectorates, and an estimated five million Chinese had immigrated by the 19th century. Despite economic prosperity after immigration, the new Chinese communities split into a number of secret societies. This exacerbated political unrest among the Malay aristocracy, which enlisted help from the secret societies. Contemporary local Malay politics was characterised as anarchy and civil war between people from similar backgrounds, prompting alliances between senior Malay political leaders and officials from China and Europe who were protecting their investments.
Divided nationalism and turbulence (1900–1945)
Civil wars and other conflicts among the indigenous ethnic groups ended when the British gained control of Malaya and the northern island of Borneo by the 1900s. However, none of the Malay kingdoms fell under colonial rule. Their related entities were politically and economically stable. Economic prosperity was fueled by British capital and Chinese and Indian work forces who expanded and supplied tin and rubber production. Before the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing dynasty in China, Tongmenghui leader Sun Yat-sen raised funds and organisational support from overseas Chinese communities (primarily in French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Siam, British Singapore, Malaya and Borneo) and began Nanyang organising activities in Saigon, Hanoi, Pontianak, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and George Town. Competition arose among three groups, with each group targeting overseas Chinese (particularly in Malaya and Singapore) for support. One group was a pro-Qing elite who targeted wealthy Chinese; the other two were reformists and revolutionaries who advocated constitutional reforms, the introduction of a parliamentary system, and the overthrow of Qing and Manchu influence on a modern Chinese nation.