Chinese labourers arrive in South Africa
Mine Worker
Date: 22 June, 1904
Following a severe labour shortage, the South African government, under Lord Milner, resolved to import indentured labourers from China. The earliest of these Chinese labourers arrived in 1904 to work on the gold mines of Transvaal. Within a year there were 34 000 and the number increased to 62 000. White mineworkers resented the move because it reduced the cost of labour and forced many White mineworkers out of employment. Black labourers returned to the mines in sufficient numbers eventually and in 1907 the government started to repatriate the Chinese workers. By March 1910 the repatriation was completed.
The present Chinese community do not spring from the labour force imported in 1904, but has developed from sporadic immigration, beginning in 1891 with the arrival of Chinese traders, originally from Canton. In 1950 immigration was prohibited, but in later years some Chinese entered the country through South Africa's neighbouring countries. Today, many immigrants to South Africa have emigrated from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Singapore. There are also some illegal immigrants coming from Mainland China. Unlike most non-White South Africans, the ethnic Chinese suffered to a lesser extent from discrimination before the end of apartheid, as they were admitted to White theatres, restaurants and residential sections.
Johannesburg's Chinatown has several multigenerational South African Chinese families. Unfortunately, Chinatown is in utter decline due to Johannesburg's crime rate. Chinese merchants are often robbed. There is a significant amount of Taiwanese investment in the economy of South Africa.
Click here read an article about the first Chinese in South Africa.
Sources:
Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau; Swart: Afrikaanse Kultuurdagboek.
Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 3, p. 197.