Return of the Chinese

May 19, 2004

Seldom has the contribution of Chinese immigrants to T&T ever been discussed and analysed. Save, of course, for the excellent two pieces of work by Walton Look-Lai, himself a product of the local Chinese community, and the book written by Mr Millette which was commissioned by the leadership of the local Chinese Association.

The Chinese community in T&T has always been from the outset a very small minority whose history here has been denoted by certain distinct periods underscored by very specific areas of activity.

After the Emancipation of African slaves, initial attempts were made by the British colonialists to bring in Chinese indentured workers but all the attempts to establish a consistent flow of potential Chinese labour never materialised.

The few who came quickly moved to set themselves up as shopkeepers and small traders, activity for which they felt themselves better suited despite their long and rewarding experience back in the old country with various forms of agriculture.

In this first period, the Chinese as shopkeepers interacted with the rest of society from behind enclosed quarters wherein they practised their culture far removed from the eyes of the significant others.

Nevertheless, despite their cultural aloofness, their shops, strung out throughout the length and breadth of the country, even in the most remote of villages, became major centres of commerce in the '30s, '40s and mid '50s, serving not only as distributors of foodstuff and dry goods, but also as drugstores, finance houses and banks.

People deposited sums of money at these shops for safekeeping, made withdrawals as needed and even took foodstuff against the money that they had deposited there.

In the areas where "contract farmers" predominated, the Chinese shops were even of more particular importance as they provided credit to the farmers, while these farmers awaited the maturing and harvesting of the alternative crops which they planted in-between the coffee and cocoa trees owned by the big landowners to whom they were contracted.

Contract farmers obtained cash only after they marketed their harvest, two or three times a year, so the credit of foodstuff and medical supplies from the Chinese shops were of grave significance to the welfare of many of the rural folk.

With further development of our society as an independent nation and the transformation of circumstances, the economic activities of the local Chinese community changed somewhat.

For one thing, the cultural isolation disappeared as the walls around the enclosed business places came down and social interaction with the wider society developed as a matter of course.

The '60s saw emerging out of this community: mega-groceries; hardware supply businesses that were considered legally "bonded-contractors" to government ministries and government statutory agencies, a throwback to colonial days that remained intact; large and small laundromats throughout; and restaurants, Chinese food being quite popular.

Meanwhile the semi-urban and rural Chinese shops, particularly but not solely so, were to maintain their roles as "breaking-ground" for newly arrived Chinese immigrants to learn the language and familiarise themselves with the social environment that is T&T.

Once a new arriver proved himself, the association assisted in providing the wherewithal for that person to open a business at another location: the repayment came by way of this new business becoming in its turn a breaking-ground for a subsequent new arriver.

It was the social upheavals of the late '60s and early to mid '70s that disrupted the flow of Chinese immigrants, and there was even an investigation into alleged malfeasance in the obtaining of work permits and citizenship documents.

The investigation was never conclusive in any findings. The flow of immigrants dried up in this period and many of the Chinese community fled to Canada and other parts of North America.

Today the flow is back to the level it was before the late '60s to the mid '70s. Within the last few months, over 28 Chinese restaurants have either been built or renovated to modern standards between a stretch of the East/ West corridor between Curepe and Arouca.

It is said that this development is even more astounding in Chaguanas and its environs reputed to be the fastest growing city-centre in T&T.

All this may even be reflective of a global move of Asian peoples, triggered probably by the imminent return of Hong Kong to China, forcing many to seek fortunes in the West, as well as the overall consistent above-average economic growth rate of the Asian Tigers, which has encouraged Asian people to aggressively globalise their socio-economic activities.

The Canadian Government offered Asians, from Hong Kong and elsewhere, citizenship as long as they provided evidence of possessing Can$50,000. Asian business associations provided people with the stake of Can$50,000 which was returned once citizenship was obtained.

In that way thousands of Asians found their way to Canada until the Canadian Government discovered the strategy and stopped that programme immediately.

One can only wonder whether the present influx back to T&T stems from a similar strategy.

In the meanwhile, we welcome back Chinese immigrants once the process involved is legally above board.