{{Short description|none}} <!-- This short description is INTENTIONALLY "none" - please see WP:SDNONE before you consider changing it! --> {{Infobox ethnic group| |group=Chinese people in [[Costa Rica]] |image= |caption = |population=100,000 <ref>By Rachel Will Date Published: 10/21/2011 [http://uschina.usc.edu/article@usct?chinas_stadium_diplomacy_17566.aspx] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920043935/http://uschina.usc.edu/article@usct?chinas_stadium_diplomacy_17566.aspx |date=2017-09-20 }}</ref> |popplace=[[San José, Costa Rica|San José]], [[Limón]], [[Nicoya]], [[Puntarenas]]<ref>{{harvnb|Chen Apuy|1992|p=7}}</ref> |langs=[[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] |religions=[[Buddhism]],<ref>[http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=71,11009,0,0,1,0 Buddhism in Costa Rica]</ref> [[Taoism]], [[Roman Catholicism]] |related=[[Chinese people]], [[Asian Latino]]s }}
Chinese people have been immigrating to Costa Rica since the 19th century. They come from [[China]] (including the enclaves of [[Hong Kong International Airport|Hong Kong]] and [[Macao]]), and from [[Taiwan]]. They form one of the main Chinese communities in the [[American Hemisphere|Americas]]; with around 9,000 citizens living in the country (according to the 2011 census) in the Caribbean Basin, this size is only surpassed by that of Panama.
This migratory phenomenon presents peaks of waves since the 1850s. Currently, the entry of Chinese to Costa Rica is continuously growing, according to the Office of Remittances and Development of the analyst institution Inter-American Dialogue, this population exceeds 45,000 inhabitants, which positions it as one of the main foreign communities of the Costa Rican population. Historically, both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and the city of San José have been the poles of concentration of the Asian community in the country.
==History== The first Chinese migrants arrived in Costa Rica in 1855; they were a group of 77 originally from [[Guangzhou]], who had come to [[Central America]] to work on the [[Panama Railway]]. Of them, 32 found work on the farm of [[José María Cañas]], while the remaining 45 were hired by Alejandro Von Bulow, an agent sent by the [[Society for German Colonization|Berlin Colonization Society]] to prepare suitable sites for German settlement in Costa Rica. During the 1859-1863 administration of [[José María Montealegre Fernández]], laws were promulgated which prohibited the migration of blacks and Asians, in an effort to reserve Costa Rica for European settlers.<ref>{{harvnb|Loría Chaves|Rodríguez Chaves|2001}}</ref>
Early Chinese migrants typically arrived by sea through the Pacific coast port of [[Puntarenas]]; a "Chinese colony" began to form in the area, founded by José Chen Apuy, a migrant from [[Zhongshan]], [[Guangdong]] who arrived in 1873.<ref name="ChenApuy">{{harvnb|Chen Apuy|1992|p=3}}</ref> Puntarenas was so widely known among the Chinese community as a destination that some in China mistook it for the name of the whole country.<ref>{{harvnb|Chen Apuy|1992|p=5}}</ref>
In the 1970s, [[Taiwan]] began to become a major source of Chinese immigration to Costa Rica. However, they formed a transitory group, with many using Costa Rica as a stopover while they waited for permission to settle in the United States or Canada.<ref>{{harvnb|Chen Apuy|1992|p=2}}</ref> Those who settled permanently in Costa Rica included many pensioners enjoying their retirement abroad.<ref name="ChenApuy" />
Most Chinese immigrants since then have been [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]], but in the last decades of the 20th century, a number of immigrants have also come from Taiwan. Many men came alone to work and married Costa Rican women and speak [[Cantonese]]. However the majority of the descendants of the first Chinese immigrants no longer speak Cantonese and feel themselves to be Costa Ricans.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Meg Tyler Mitchell|author2=Margaret Tyler Mitchell|author3=Scott Pentzer|title=Costa Rica: A Global Studies Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0edCL8TY08gC&pg=PA249|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-992-4|page=249}}</ref>
==Crime== Chinese mafia are believed to have begun operating in Costa Rica in 1991; they are typically involved in collection of gambling debts. Crimes attributed to them include two kidnappings for ransom in October 1998 and two more in May 2002.<ref>{{harvnb|UNHCR|2003}}</ref>
==Notable people== *[[Franklin Chang Diaz]], astronaut *[[Eduardo Li]], president of the Costa Rican football federation *[[Cheng Siu Chung]], retired football player now coach in Hong Kong *[[Harry Shum Jr.]], actor ==See also== * [[China–Costa Rica relations]] * [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese diaspora]] * [[Immigration to Costa Rica]]
==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|3}}
===Sources=== *{{citation|last=Chen Apuy|first=Hilda|title=La minoría china en Costa Rica|journal=Revista Reflexiones|volume=1|issue=5|date=December 1992|issn=1659-2859|url=http://www.reflexiones.fcs.ucr.ac.cr/documentos/5/la_minoria.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214235435/http://www.reflexiones.fcs.ucr.ac.cr/documentos/5/la_minoria.pdf|archivedate=2010-12-14}} *{{citation|ref=CITEREFUNHCR2003|date=April 2003|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,QUERYRESPONSE,CRI,4562d94e2,3f7d4d87a,0.html|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|title=Costa Rica: Chinese mafia in Costa Rica, including its activities and police actions against it|accessdate=2009-05-07}} *{{citation|last=Loría Chaves|first=Marlene|last2=Rodríguez Chaves|first2=Alonso|title=La inmigración china a Costa Rica. Entre la explotación y la exclusión (1870-1910)|periodical=Revista de historia|volume=44|issue=2|pages=159–192|year=2001}}
==Further reading== *{{citation|last=Huesmann|first=James L.|title=The Chinese in Costa Rica, 1855-1897|journal=Historian|volume=53|issue=4|year=1991|pages=711–720|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1991.tb00830.x}}
{{Ethnic groups in Costa Rica}} {{Overseas Chinese2}}
[[Category:Chinese diaspora by country|Costa Rica]] [[Category:Chinese diaspora in North America|Costa Rica]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Costa Rica]] [[Category:Costa Rican people of Chinese descent|*]] [[Category:China–Costa Rica relations]]