Although the Chinese were brought to the Caribbean in an effort to save the sugar plantations, this did not go as planned. After their indentureship, the Chinese took whatever jobs were available to them. In Trinidad, they became handicraftsmen, barbers, tailors, bakers, carpenters, goldsmiths and woodcutters. Small peasant farming and market gardening were also very popular, and they cultivated crops which they supplied to the local markets.
Many Chinese indentured laborers also moved to other colonies such as Guyana, Suriname, after serving their time and many others to their prized destination, mainly Canada.
When the Chinese arrived in the mid-19th century, both the Indians and the Africans were already present in the Caribbean.
With last names like Wu, Wah, Wawa, Fung, Fong-Ging, Fungcap, the first known Chinese families arrived in Haiti in the late 1890s, fleeing crumbling dynasties.
Guy Fong-Ging, whose father King Fong-Ging adopted Haiti as his permanent home, says: “Fong Sam, Fong Wong, they came in groups. They were all mostly from the same family.”
Some like Soud Fungcap arrived in Haiti in the Twentieth Century. Fungcap was on his way to Brazil, fleeing a revolution in China, when he accidentally landed in Haiti in 1915 and made his home there. Like other newly arrived immigrants from China, Soud kept in touch with the folks back home in Canton, China, and his son joined him in Haiti in 1928.
The Chinese didn’t integrate fully into Haitian society—at first, according to Soud Fungcap’s son Essud Fungcap. Some who were in Haiti in the early 1910s had to contend with anti-foreign sentiments that were being flamed by influential Haitian and non-Haitian business magnates alike. Historian Carlo A. Desinor, in his study of Haitian newspapers, pointed to editorials in the early 20th Century discouraging foreign takeover—including Chinese—of Haitian commerce. Sometimes they had to make cultural and religious concessions to fit in with Haitian society. Soud’s son for example, changed his name to Pierre and converted from Buddhism to Catholicism in the 1940s. In the Caribbean countries where they settled the Chinese were clearly outnumbered. According to history professor Dr. Brinsley Samaroo, between 1838 to 1917 half a million Indians came and settled across the Caribbean: 259,000 to Guyana, 147,000 to Trinidad, 38,000 to Jamaica and smaller amounts distributed across the rest of the Caribbean.
Although thousands of Chinese came, their numbers were minute compared to the numbers of Indians and Africans. Chinese culture, language, and food were vastly different from the prevailing cultures of existing Caribbean settlers. However, over time, and because of their hard work and commitment to their culture, the Chinese began to exert influence in the Caribbean.
As the number of Chinese increased over the years, Chinese cuisine became popular in the Caribbean. The Chinese established restaurants and fast-food outlets, selling Chinese dishes to the people of the Caribbean. Dishes like Chow Mein, Fried Rice and Chinese Style Fried Chicken became popular buys for islanders. Now, Chinese cuisine in the Caribbean has added a Caribbean flair and flavor that cannot be found elsewhere. Today, in the Caribbean, Chinese restaurants and groceries are available everywhere.
Their business acumen combined with their ability to successfully climb the societal ranks after indentureship, paved the way for them to flourish. Chinese immigrants soon began opening factories, restaurants, parlors, dry cleaners, tailor shops, groceries, own land and much more.
The Chinese in Trinidad and Jamaica increasingly moved up the ranks and were able to set up their own shops and small businesses. Many jostled with, and overtook, their African competitors for control of the emerging retail trade. Thus, by the end of the 19th century in these two colonies the Chinese had carved a niche for themselves as a “middlemen minority” group in the area of shopkeeping and small businesses.
With the success of the Chinese in the colonies, at the beginning of the 20th century, the second wave of Chinese immigrants arrived. The second wave of Chinese immigrants were mostly Chinese men, like my grandfather, in search of a better life.
The Chinese came and set up shops, groceries, ice cream parlors, and bakeries. It was easy to say that the Chinese were thriving in the British West Indies at this time. By the 1930s, in both Jamaica and Trinidad, the Chinese were owners of large factories and restaurants.
The Chinese continued to succeed and make lasting impressions on the Caribbean society. There are many Chinese-owned businesses and restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana. There is even a China Town in Port-of-Spain Trinidad.
The Chinese presence in Trinidad has also influenced the country’s gambling culture. The National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) game known as Play Whe, was introduced in Trinidad and Tobago by Chinese immigrants in the mid-nineteenth (19th) century [4]. The Chinese called the game “Chinapoo.” It was a numbers game played by people who were influenced by intuition, superstition, dreams and caprice. The “Chinapoo” or “China-man jumbie” or “Whe Whe” was the basis of the original Play Whe marks.
Play Whe was developed from the Chinese ancient belief system that uses numerology, astrology, and the associations of ideas with numbers, events or even folklore to interpret and to anticipate the “grand plan”. It has been adapted to the culture of Trinidad and Tobago, as it features words from local dialect ‘corbeau’, ‘morocoy’ and ‘jammet’.
Source: The Chinese Have Influenced the Caribbean in a Powerful Way (exceptionalcaribbean.com)
THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHINESE-HAITIANS | Fondas Kréyol (fondaskreyol.org)
