China Aids Suriname, Expanding South American Role

Estimates vary over the numbers of Chinese now in Suriname, but China’s embassy puts the figure at about 40,000, or nearly 10 percent of the population, including legal and illegal migrants. Others, citing scandals over illegally obtained residence permits, say the numbers could be higher.       

As in other parts of the world that have recently attracted Chinese immigrants, notably in Africa , many of the new arrivals are traders or small-business owners. In parts of Paramaribo and towns in the interior, Chinese food stores can now be found on nearly every block.       

These immigrants face numerous challenges. Many opt to bypass Dutch, the official language, communicating with customers and employees in Sranan Tongo , a Creole language that makes heavy use of English. Chinese shop owners and their families are also exposed to violent crime, including robbery and murder.       

“We need the steel bars to protect us,” said Lin Yubo, 25, the Chinese owner of a general store in Atjoni, a village in the interior. He and his wife, who arrived in Suriname five years ago, live in their store behind a metal barricade. “This is life in the bush,” he said.       

Suriname’s growing Chinese community supports two daily newspapers and a new television station with 15 employees that broadcasts each day in Mandarin. “Suriname is a gateway to both South America and the Caribbean, so its Chinese population has grown fast,” said Thomson Cheung, 57, the station’s director, who came to Suriname in the 1970s.       

Chinese emigration to Suriname is nothing new. The first Chinese contract laborers arrived in the mid-19th century, and many Chinese in later generations intermarried with mixed-race Creoles.       

But the recent influx of thousands more has been more notable, in part, because many of the new arrivals are visibly involved in commerce, standing in contrast to Brazilians, Suriname’s other fast-growing immigrant group, who work largely at remote gold mines in the interior.       

Some immigration specialists, citing estimates for Chinese immigration elsewhere in South America, say concerns over China’s influence here is overblown. Canadian and American companies, for instance, remain important players in Suriname’s mining industry. In absolute terms, they point out, more Chinese have moved to neighboring countries like Brazil and Venezuela.       

But Suriname’s size means that the influx is impossible to ignore. “Suriname is basically a village with a seat in the United Nations ,” said Paul Tjon Sie Fat, a Surinamese scholar in the Netherlands who has written widely on China’s influence in Suriname. “Any small change in the ethnic or class balance is immediately noticed.”