Overseas Chinese are designated to live abroad.

Overseas Chinese are natural persons with China nationality who are designated to live abroad.

According to the regulations of the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office on the interpretation of overseas Chinese identity, settlement means that China citizens have obtained the long-term or permanent residency in their country of residence, and have lived in that country for two years continuously, with a cumulative residence time of not less than 18 months.

In addition, a citizen of China who has obtained the legal residence qualification of continuously living in the country for more than five years (including five years) and has lived in the country for not less than 30 months within five years is deemed to have settled abroad and has the status of overseas Chinese.

The Central Committee has repeatedly stressed that the work of overseas Chinese is a political and policy-oriented work. The work of Chinese must be strictly different from that of overseas Chinese in concept, and they should not be treated as ordinary foreigners, but also pay attention to the nationality differences between Chinese and overseas Chinese.

development trends

First, the rapid growth of quantity and the rapid improvement of education and economic level. In recent years, the number of overseas Chinese has greatly increased due to the large number of new immigrants from China, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the natural growth of the population of overseas traditional Chinese communities.

Compared with the old immigrants, the education level and economic strength of the new immigrants have been greatly improved. Among the new immigrants, nearly 1/3 are students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Chinese mainland and their families, which is essentially different from the old immigrants who are mainly farmers.

Second, the distribution of overseas Chinese in the world has changed. The pattern that overseas Chinese in the world are highly concentrated in Southeast Asia has been changed by large-scale new immigrants. At present, the proportion of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia to the total number of overseas Chinese in the world has dropped to about 73%. There are 5.3 million overseas Chinese in North America, accounting for nearly 12% of the total overseas Chinese in 2007.

There are more than 2 million overseas Chinese in Europe, accounting for nearly 5% of the total overseas Chinese in 2007. Overseas Chinese live in communities all over the world, especially in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.