Me in Guangzhou
Most of my readers are Westerners interested or living in China – just like me. This is why I was curious about the actual facts about foreigners in China. What do they do there? Where do they come from? And do they speak Chinese?
Luckily, the Chinese government executed a census in 2010 including foreigners residing in China. These statistics show that at the time, 594,000 foreigners were living in Mainland China (excluding Hongkong, Taiwan and Macau). This represents less than 0.05 % of the total population. This makes China the country with the lowest percentage of foreigners in the world.
Where do foreigners in China mostly come from?
Interestingly, most of the foreigners residing in China come from South Korea (120,000 people). In second place are U.S. citizens with a total number of 71,000 people and Japanese immigrants are in third place with 66,000 people.
In fact, China is home of the largest Korean population outside their home country. However, you have to distinguish between Chinese people of Korean descent and Koreans living in China. The first group can be divided into two of the 56 minorities in China: Chaoxianzu (Chinese: 朝鲜族) and Joseonjok (Hangul: 조선족). This immigration started mostly in 1910, when Japan annexed Korea and a great percentage of the population fled towards the south. Today, many Koreans come to China due to easier visa access. Since August 1992, Korea and China have established strong diplomatic relations. Additionally, a whole “Korean Tide” is taking place at the moment in China: Korean music, fashion and TV shows are booming in China.
The second largest immigrant group, U.S. Americans, mostly come to China due to employment and are lured by Chinas faster-growing economy and lower jobless rate. Most of those people are in their 20s and 30s.
According to a Japanese survey, China is the country with the third largest percentage of Japanese immigrants, right behind the U.S. and Brazil. However, just like for Koreans, you have to distinguisch Japanese immigrants between those who came to China during the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945 and Japanese immigrants today. Just like the other groups, young ambitious Japanese people come to China for business.
Here are the places 4-10 of home countries of foreigners in China:
4. Myanmar
5. Vietnam
6. Kanada
7. France
8. India
9. Germany
10. Australia
Why do foreigners come to China and what cities do they live in?
According to CCTV, over 60% percent of the foreigners come to China for business, work, and study. Unfortunately, there is no information about the remaining 40%. However, I believe that a lot of foreigerns come to China for illegal activities such as drugs, prostitution/human-trafficking.
Most foreigners prefer cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, places around Guangzhou, i.e. the whole Pearl River Delta, including Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhuhai, is attractive for foreigners. Due to its fast growth, Chengdu has recently become a more and more popular destination for foreigners.
Do foreigners in China speak Chinese?
This is a tricky question I think. There is no real information about this topic and I have met foreigerns who can speak awesome Chinese and some who know almost nothing. However, I think that the longer a foreigner lives in China, the better his/her Chinese. If someone only comes there for a couple of months for work, they probably won’t bother to learn Chinese. On the other hand, if someone is planning on staying in China and having a life their, I believe they tend to be able to speak Chinese and always want to improve it.
There are a lot of “famous” foreigners with great Chinese skills, check them out here.
I personally can definitely identify myself with some facts: I come from the country with the 9th highest immigration rate in China, I lived in Guangzhou, the third most popular destination for foreigners, I came to China for work/study and I speak Chinese.
What about you?
Are you living, lived or are planning to live in China? Do you fit in one of those “categories” above? Let me know and leave a comment!
Linda Living in China 
A lot of Americans actually come there with no teaching degree and because of they are native speaker they get hired in language schools etc. – that’s quite lucky, don’t really need to do much, just be born in a right place 🙂 I hope we can come back to Hong Kong ASAP. I love Mainland China to travel but it overwhelms me 🙂
Yes a lot of English speaking natives that look foreign (no american born Asians for instance) can find teaching jobs which are actually very well paid! 🙂
Great article! With the diplomatic tensions between China and Japan, I did not expect so many Japanese to live on the mainland.
I am originally from Switzerland and studied Chinese in Chongqing. After that, I taught English in Kunming in Yunnan. There is actually quite a large population of expats there. While traveling around I have met many American and Canadian who are teaching in pretty remote towns / unexpected cities (like Xining in Qinghai).
At the moment I live in Guangzhou, which was listed as one of the world’s most unfriendly city by Conde Nast Traveler. The advantage about Guangzhou is that we are close to Hong-Kong. And also, pretty much all the locals tell me I speak mandarin better than they do (it makes me feel good :).
Great comment! Yes, I thought so too about how many Japanese are in China.
Nice to see you lived in other cities than Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou! Hope you like Guangzhou anyway though 😉
Hey, one of your links references Dashan (AKA Mark Rowswell) and I’m just wondering what you think of him. From what I’ve heard, many expats regard him as the bane of their existence in China because they will, almost invariably, be asked by the locals whether they know him. Worse still, the conversation often ends with the locals giving the expat a backhanded compliment by saying something like this: “Your Chinese is very good, but you’re not at the same level as Dashan.”
Basically, many expats think Dashan is annoying. 🙂
Thanks for the comment Suigetsu! to be honest, I just heard about Dashan recently. I have never been compared to him or heard Chinese people ask about him. I have seen videos of course and I think his Chinese is great! I dont know anything else so I cant say I’m annoyed or anything haha
Are you sure about the demographics of the Americans? The US allows dual citizenship so I’d think many of those Americans are actually Chinese who were naturalized.
Thanks for your comment! it’s true that the US allows dual citizenship, but China doesnt. I’m sure those numbers include American Chinese people also but I also think that most of the Westerners in China really are Anericans for business. I know so many so this seems legit. But your point is true also i’m sure!
@suigetsu
I think I have never been asked about Dashan during these three and a half years. Actually just like Gaetan above, I also get compliments that my mandarin is better than the locals’. Of course it’s true only in some occasions, Chinese people like complimenting us foreigners about our Chinese skills.
I see. I guess, after all the years that Dashan has been in China, the hype surrounding him has died down. These days, the Dashan-like level of Chinese proficiency is no longer a big deal. Speaking of which, I think Charlotte MacInnis should top the list of foreigners with great Chinese language skills. If nothing else, surely she has the best — the most intimate — understanding of the culture in which the Chinese language is developed and expressed. However, MacInnis probably has an unfair advantage over the others given that she began living in China at the age of 7. MacInnis is practically Chinese herself.
But yeah, you’re right about how the locals appreciate foreigners who bother to learn their language. Still, it must suck when the compliment ends with “But you’re not as good as Dashan yet.” 🙂
I’m simply a trailing spouse in Shanghai. My husband has work here. I’ve learned all my Mandarin in Taiwan (hence, traditional).
Yes that’s probably another group too: Foreigners coming to China for LOVE!
In Guangzhou, there are a lot of immigrants from Africa that are drug dealers, probably due to the proximity to Hong Kong. I guess those belong to those 40%.
yeah thats true! a lot of them get a travellers visa but dont leave and remain in the counrty illegally.
A significant part of the unaccounted 40% will be foreigners doing missionary work in China (especially true for the Koreans and Americans in China).