# Qingtianese diaspora

The Qingtianese diaspora refers to the overseas Chinese and their descendants that are originated from Qingtian county, Zhejiang province, China.
Qingtian is renowned in China for its centuries-old diasporan communities, in which out of the county's 568,800 original inhabitants, as many as 381,000 of them are currently residing in 146 countries across the world, forming the bulk of Chinese populations in many countries, especially in European states such as Spain where they constitute over 80% of the entire Chinese community.

## History

The history of Qiantianese diasporan communities could be traced back to late-Ming era and became established in the early days of the Republic of China, and the phase of its developments could be roughly divided into three stages.

### Ming and Qing era

Located in the hinterland of Southern Zhejiang, approximately 90% of Qingtian's territory is covered by hilly mountains, with more than 200 peaks that have an altitude of over 1,000 meters. The county's steep geographical terrain is thus vividly described by locals as: "nine mountains, half water, and half farmland (九山半水半分田)", and scarce arable land was what pushed its people to emigrate abroad". According to the 1935 English edition of the China Yearbook (中国年鉴):
   "At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, there was already presence of a small number of Chinese who trekked overland through Siberia to Europe to engage in commerce. In the early days, most of them were from Qingtian, Zhejiang, and they specialized in selling stone handicrafts made from Qingtian."
In the aftermath of the Opium War, the stone merchants benefitted greatly from the lifting of sea ban (海禁) policy by the imperial Qing government, and with the ratification of "Treaty of Yantai" in 1876, Wenzhou, the primary port city of Southern Zhejiang located at the mouth of Ou River, was opened for international maritime activities for the first time in its history. This provided a much more convenient route for Qingtianese to travel abroad than the previous land routes. Usually, they would first sail from the pier in Hecheng to Wenzhou, then take a boat from Wenzhou to Shanghai, and from there embarking on large steamships for various parts of the world.

### Republic era

In the early years of the Republic of China, almost the entire county was devastated by the flood brought by a heavy rainstorm on August 29, 1912. Extreme hardship in the aftermath of the floods prompted waves of exodus, which between 1912 and 1914, approximately a thousand people had left the county.
In the midst of First World War, Britain, France and other states had all experienced varying degrees of labor shortages, and following China's entry into the World War I on the side of Entente Powers in 1917, 140,000 to 150,000 Chinese Labour Corps were sent to serve on the Western Front, with Britain accounting for around 100,000, and France 40,000. According to statistics from the French Ministry of War in 1922, of the 36,941 Chinese workers employed in France, 31,409 were from North China, and of the 4,024 workers who were from the South, more than 2,000 were from Qingtian. After arriving in France, the Qingtianese workers mainly engaged in rear-area service work, such as transporting supplies, digging trenches, and building railways.
With the end of the First World War, while workers from other parts of China had mostly returned to their places of origin, one thousand labourers from Qingtian chose to stay. The size of Qingtian overseas Chinese reached its first climax during this period, with more than 30,000 people living in Europe and 42 other countries in the world.
Aside from Europe, Japan was also an ideal place for Qingtian people to earn a living in the early years of the Republic of China, due to its shorter distance and easier paperworks required. Demand for Chinese laborers surged with the booming of Japanese arms industry in the First World War, which in turn had attracted waves of immigrants from Wenzhou, Qingtian and other places to seek employment in Japan. However, the Chinese community was dealt with a devastating blow when a major earthquake rocked Japan in September 1–8th, 1923, which was ensued by a bloody massacre against the Koreans and Chinese residing in the country. Among the 716 Chinese civilians that were either killed, injured, or declared missing, 161 of which were workers and traders of Qingtianese origin.
Situation for Chinese immigrants deteriorated with straining policies implemented by the Japanese government, around two thousand Qingtianese and Wenzhounese migrants were forcibly repatriated, and applications of a thousand others to enter Japan were rejected between February and April, 1924. Immigration ceased almost entirely after Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

### People's Republic and present era

Between 1949 and 1978, under the international context of the Cold War, the government of the People's Republic of China implemented extremely strict regulations on the entry and exit of its citizens. As a result, the process of applying for permission to leave the country was difficult, in which only 752 people from Qingtian county were allowed to go abroad during this period, and the movement of Qingtian expatriates at home and abroad was at one point stagnant.
After China's Reform and Opening Up in late 1970s, Qingtian experienced the third and also largest wave of emigration in its history. With the first decade of economic reform, 16,206 people in Qingtian county had obtained passports and were approved to go abroad, and from 1991 to 2000, a total of 117,476 people had, and in 2000 alone the number reached 29,980.
Since the late 1980s, the governments of Italy, Spain and France have repeatedly given amnesty for illegal immigrants. Relaxed immigration policy promoted the rapid growth of Qingtianese communities in these countries in recent decades. As of today, there are as many as 381,000 Qingtianese people currently residing in 146 countries across the world, forming the bulk of Chinese populations in many countries, especially in European states such as Spain where they constitute over 80% of the entire Chinese community.