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The Chinese diaspora in Fiji is a small but influential community in the multiracial society that makes up modern-day Fiji. In the early 2000s their numbers were estimated at around 6,000, or a little over half of one percent of Fiji's population. The most recent estimation puts the population at 8,000 making the concentration of Chinese in Fiji at around one percent.〔 〕 Around 80% of Chinese in Fiji speak Cantonese and around 16% speak Shanghainese as their native language. Chinese in Fiji also speak the local Fijian language. Chinese in Fiji have a strong Buddhist background and some retained Confucian traditions. There are also a considerable number of Fijians who are of partial Chinese extraction, being descended from marriages between Chinese and indigenous Fijians. For electoral purposes, Chinese people used to be counted as General Electors, an omnibus category for Fijian citizens not of indigenous, Indian, or Rotuman descent, who were allocated three seats in the 71-member House of Representatives. This classification became redundant with the 2013 Constitution, which abolished ethnic representation in Parliament. == History == The history of Chinese people in Fiji dates to the 1850s, when Moy Ba Ling, also known as ''Houng Lee,'' reached Fiji in a sail boat from Australia and settled in Levuka. He later returned to China, before bringing his relatives and some others to settle in Fiji, in connection with the gold rush. Later arrivals came looking for sandalwood and beche-de-mer. According to Dixon Seeto, President of the Chinese Association of Fiji in the early 2000s, the first shops in rural areas of Fiji were opened by Chinese merchants. Chinese people were enfranchised for the first time in 1964. The former ''European'' roll was redefined to include other minority groups and renamed the ''General Electors'' roll. Despite being only a splinter of the electorate, General Electors were then allocated 10 of the 36 seats in the Legislative Council, as the legislature was then known, though this figure has gradually been reduced since independence in 1970. Around a thousand Chinese settled in Fiji in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and in February 1995, the Fijian Cabinet approved a plan to allow up to 7000 Hong Kong Chinese to immigrate to Fiji. Conditions included payment of F$30,000 to the government, and investment of F$100,000 in government-approved projects. Many of these invested in restaurants, retailing, and market gardening (mostly in Kalabu, Tamavua, Delaivalelevu, Vikoba, Sawani and Waibau), and have intensified horticulture around Suva. A further wave of Chinese has arrived since the late 1990s, many of them from the northern part of China. Many of the more recent immigrants have opened bakeries and other food outlets in Fijian villages, creating employment for local people, says Fiji Times editor Samisoni Kakaivalu. The exact date of Moy Ba Ling's arrival is not known, but on 17 September 2005, the Chinese community celebrated the 150th anniversary. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chinese in Fiji」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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