English

Noun

overseas Chinese ‎(plural overseas Chinese)

1. A person or people of Chinese ethnicity, living in a non-Chinese country; a member of the ethnic Chinese expatriate or immigrant community; Huaqiao

   It was not until 1974 that the first Taiwanese businessman settled there, and thereupon began a gradual increase in the Overseas Chinese (OC) population.

   James To Jiann Hua, "The Overseas Chinese in Tonga," The Tokyo Foundation. July 30, 2008. http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/series/sylff/the-overseas-chinese-in-tonga.

   OCPA stands for Overseas Chinese Physics Association. [...] The chartered goals of the organization are to promote physics research in general and to promote recognition of achievements by ethnic Chinese physicists in particular.

   Overseas Chinese Physics Association, About OCPA. 2007. http://www.ocpaweb.org/new/aboutus.html

   With China’s rising wealth being chronicled on a near-daily basis by the media, overseas Chinese can probably expected to be targeted more regularly, either by opportunist criminals abroad or by envious people on the mainland.

   Malcolm Moore, "Overseas Chinese become targets." The Telegraph. August 7, 2009. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100005869/overseas-chinese-become-targets/

Usage notes

• This term is usually intended to include both immigrants and their descendants.
• The application of the term to people of mixed descent can be unclear.
• Generally the adject "overseas" in overseas Chinese is not capitalized according to the majority of documented usages; however, some social science publications use the form Overseas Chinese.

Translations

Synonyms

• Huaqiao