Despite the emigration of members of older communities, the Chinese population in Pakistan has been bolstered by new expatriate residents. However, the growth in their population was somewhat interrupted by the September 11, 2001, attacks; fearful that war could break out in Pakistan, most Chinese residents sent their wives and children back home. , there were roughly 3,500 Chinese engineers temporarily residing in Pakistan for work on various state-run projects in various locations, especially in the construction of the Gwadar Port. Their total number might have been as high as 5,000. About 1,200 were estimated to reside in Islamabad. Then, between 2008 and 2009, the number of Chinese working in Pakistan grew sharply, to an estimated 10,000, even as expatriate workers of other nationalities left the country. Year to date numbers of migrant chinese approximate half a million due to the string of pearls policy for China oil consumption.