The Historical Origin of Overseas Chinese in China

Overseas Chinese refer to China citizens who are designated to live abroad, and China people refer to people of China origin who have joined or acquired foreign nationality.

The origin of the word "overseas Chinese"

China people have a long history of emigration. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was no fixed title for China people who emigrated abroad. Only since the Qin Dynasty, China people have moved to Japan. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the number of people who immigrated to Japan gradually increased, so Japan called them Qin people. In the Jin Dynasty, expatriates were also called Han Chinese or overseas Chinese, "Sui Shu? "Shihuozhi" contains: "Jin rebelled against the Central Plains, lived in the left of the river, and those who rescued themselves from the south were also called overseas Chinese." After the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to the development and exchange of economy and culture, the expansion of foreign trade and the development of transportation, the number of people who emigrated abroad increased sharply, and most of them were called "Tang people" by people living in the country. "Biography of Foreign True Wax in the History of Ming Dynasty" contains: "People in the Tang Dynasty called for more. All overseas countries are definitely. " Later, he also called himself "Tang people." For example, in Nanyang, the word "Tang" is often hung on China's objects, such as Tang tombs, Tang boats, Tang suits, Tang shirts, Tangshan, Tang Wen, Chinatown and so on. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, they were still called "Tang people" and "Tangshan people". "Tangshan" is a kind of customary address for overseas travelers to the motherland, some of which are called "China people" and "China people". In the Qing Dynasty, there were such appellations as "Han", "Min Yue" and "China", and after the late Qing Dynasty, there were such appellations as "China", "South China University of Technology", "Chinese businessman" and "China".

"China" and "overseas Chinese" are very clear in terms of the meaning of one word. "Hua" is the ancient name of China, and "Overseas Chinese" means living as a stranger or a guest. In ancient China, people living in other countries were called "overseas Chinese" and "overseas Chinese". With the rapid increase of the number of people living abroad, the words "Hua" and "Overseas Chinese" have been linked together to address China people living abroad.

1878, Chen Lanbin, Minister of the Qing Dynasty to the United States, called China people living abroad "expatriates" in his memorial. "Expatriate" has become a special term. 1883, Zheng used the word "overseas Chinese" in his memorial to Li Hongzhang. 1904, the foreign affairs department of the Qing government mentioned in a petition about setting up consulates overseas that "setting up consulates overseas costs little and overseas Chinese benefit a lot." Since then, the word "overseas Chinese" has become a special name for China people living abroad. The origin of the word "China people"

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the term "overseas Chinese" refers to people of China origin living abroad. According to the laws at that time, overseas Chinese also had China nationality. The Nationality Law of the Qing Dynasty (1909), the Amendment to the Nationality Law of Beiyang Government (19 14) and the Nationality Law of the National Government (1929) all stipulate that overseas Chinese who "never return for generations" will continue to retain their China nationality. Therefore, anyone with China descent and living abroad is regarded as an overseas Chinese.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the situation was different. In order to establish friendly relations with other countries, the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC) officially declared that it would not recognize dual nationality of overseas Chinese during the Bandung Conference in 1955, and signed treaties with relevant countries to solve the problem of dual nationality of overseas Chinese. Since then, the term "overseas Chinese" only applies to China citizens who still hold China nationality, while those who join or acquire foreign nationality are no longer China citizens and are called "China people" or "foreign Chinese". 1980 In September, the China government promulgated the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, which stipulated that "People's Republic of China (PRC) does not recognize dual nationality of China citizens" (Article 3) and that "China citizens who have settled in foreign countries will automatically lose their China nationality if they voluntarily join or acquire foreign nationality" (Article 9).

Due to the above changes, the number of overseas Chinese has dropped sharply. According to current statistics, overseas Chinese account for 7.7% of the total number of overseas Chinese, and Chinese account for 92.3%. That is to say, more than 90% of the absolute majority are Chinese, not overseas Chinese. Although the number of new overseas Chinese is increasing day by day, compared with Chinese, the number is still very small.

This change has led to great changes in overseas Chinese society. With the gradual decrease of the first generation of immigrants who were born in China, spoke Chinese (including dialects) and held China nationality, the population of the second, third and subsequent generations who were born in the country of residence, spoke the language of the country of residence (also Chinese) and held the nationality of the country of residence increased. The former is called "overseas Chinese", while the latter is called "China people" when it is different from it. More localized people are called "China people", while others call those who have the nationality of their country of residence "China people" and those who were born in their country of residence "China people".

There is a historical causal relationship between overseas Chinese and Chinese, and overseas Chinese evolved from overseas Chinese. Therefore, when people study and describe them, they take "overseas Chinese" as their title in books, periodicals and articles, such as Studies on Overseas Chinese History and World Dictionary of Overseas Chinese. At present, in some occasions, such as gatherings of overseas Chinese with China nationality and overseas Chinese with foreign nationality, the comprehensive title of "overseas Chinese" is sometimes used uniformly for convenience.