Claim: In 1858, 500 Chinese laborers were recruited by the Dutch consul in Macau (a special administrative region of China), all of whom arrived in Suriname (a small country on the northeastern coast of South America) in April.
Evidence: In 1858, 500 Chinese laborers were recruited by the Dutch consul in Macau. They arrived in Suriname in April, but it turned out that no one wanted to hire people to do work that slaves would do "for free". Macau (/məˈkaʊ/ (listen); 澳門, Cantonese: [ōu.mǔːn; Portuguese: [mɐˈkaw), also spelled Macao and officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a city and special administrative region of the People's Republic of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. Suriname (/ˈsjʊərɪnæm/, US also /-nɑːm/, sometimes spelled Surinam), officially known as the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname [reːpyˌblik syːriˈnaːmə), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America.