The Chinese diaspora is one of the most influential and quietly thriving economies that you can ever find in the world presently and they are reshaping cultures and tradition economies all around. Starting from Bangkok to San Francisco, even from Jakarta to Toronto, the Chinese has become a force to be reckoned with. The Chinese community has taken roots in so many places and they have formed an integral part of most developed nations.
So, looking at the 10 largest Chinese communities outside China is just very simple. There is a global map that actually walk around. The highest amount of Chinese in a country will be found in Indonesia and they comes at 11.2 million.
Though Indonesia hosts the largest overseas Chinese population in the world, many families have been there for generations and integrating themselves perfectly into their complex history. Though there is a discrimination though but you can't take that away from the Indonesians that Chinese are living with them and they are doing well. The next is Thailand with a 7.0 million people that are there and these people have blended with the mainstream society while they are helping the country to do better and shaping the culture and the business class.
The third one will surely be Malaysia with 6.9 million. Chinese Malaysia has integrated themselves so perfectly and they are highly visible in commerce, education policies and their presence is woven into the country linguistic. Then we have the likes of United States, Singapore, Canada, Myanmar, Australia, Philippines and the number 10 is the South Korea which comes at 1 million to 1.1 million.
And this comes as a result of long standing ethnic Chinese residents and newer waves of workers and students. Their presence adds another layer to an already complex East Asian region. As this number is increasing, many families of Chinese descent have been present long enough that Chinese may be more of an ancestral label than a day to day identity.
Western countries like United States, Canada and Australia are often more visibly immigrant with clear traces. At the same time, visibility of Chinese can attract scrutiny and political anxiety. In some countries, they have come at a heavy price, asking for what can make a country to go back, especially when it comes to discrimination.
Chinese large presence in any country brings about global trade investment, domestic policy, soft power and culture. If you zoom out, what you see is not a single Chinese diaspora but many overlapping communities each shaped by its host country, laws and social fabric. A takeaway of this is that this whole world is connected and the story of having a large amount of Chinese in any country shows their ability to integrate into any country and do better.