Anywhere there is a large grouping of Chinese nationals living in a community there will be a mini-economic boom as a consequence of the businesses they have established. This is due purely to their hard work and always bettering the prices of their competitors instead of hoarding their stocks.
This is the view of President of the Chinese Association of Guyana Chow Shi Loung, who said too that their success can also be put down to the fact that the Chinese help each other and they spend most of their time working.
While January 12 marked 160 years since the first Chinese came to Guyana as indentured workers, in recent years there has been a large influx of Chinese coming to Guyana referred to as the ‘new Chinese.’ And unlike an earlier wave of Chinese immigrants whose main businesses were restaurants, those coming in recent years have expanded their business interests and they have now established themselves in the commercial spaces.
Chow, who has been in Guyana since the late 1970s and refers to himself as a third generation Guyanese Chinese, said more and more Chinese are coming to Guyana because the Guyana Embassy in China has been promoting the country as a place to start business.
“They feel that it is good to do business in Guyana because Guyana is a rich resource country and the people are friendly people, so they come here and try to see if they could better their lives,” Chow told the Stabroek News in a recent interview.
He feels that the Chinese might be the smallest population of the six races in Guyana and noted that they mainly exist in the coastal communities. While they are friendly and want to live in harmony with the other races, Chow said they mainly focus on helping each other.
This is due to the fact that most are Buddhists which is a religion that preaches peace, so “Chinese are very peaceful people,” Chow said. He pointed out that even though they have been here for so many years there are hardly any incidents of them being in trouble. “We are just hard-working people,” he declared.
And because of their cultural differences, Chow said that the Chinese most times marry within their own ethnic grouping because it will be difficult for them to live in other cultures. “Probably that is the reason why we would not so much marry into other races, but we do, but not plenty,” he said.
While most of the ‘old time Chinese’ came from Guang Zhou (area), the ‘new Chinese’ come from various parts of China, and although they have the same culture they speak different languages. But it is easier for them to understand each other than a person who speaks English, because the writing is the same no matter which Chinese language is spoken.
The ‘new Chinese’ find it very difficult to learn English, Chow said, and one of the reasons is they live in their own community and speak among themselves. Their children on the other hand find it easier because they attend school and will be bilingual. If they remain here for a very long time, from one generation to the next, you may find that they no longer speak or write Chinese.
But the “new generation of Chinese” now return their children to China for various reasons, one of which, according to Chow, is the fact they are too busy to take care of them as they attempt to establish their businesses. “They don’t have time to take their children to school and collect them back or direct them how to do homework…,” he said.
Because of this they would send the children to stay with grandparents who may have retired, although when they are older and can take care of themselves they would return to Guyana to ensure they learn English, and some may then join the family business.
‘Timing’
While in the past, Chinese were mainly known for being in the restaurant business, they are now into boutiques, hardware and haberdashery stores among other pursuits. Chow said it is a matter of timing; in his day China was not as developed as it is today and citizens did not have money to bring to Guyana and invest. The fact that it was difficult to bring foreign currency into Guyana at one time, Chow said, was also a problem. “We had to start from small; restaurants were easy to start,” he said adding that at that time they saw the need for Chinese food in Guyana.
And he said Chinese children learn at a very early age how to cook and it was not difficult for them to start businesses.
According to Chow, for many years Chinese chose to invest in the more developed countries, but “after that market maybe full, so then they coming in down to other countries.” Before also it would have been difficult to ship goods from China to Guyana as it took as long as three months. “If you want to ship some foodstuff… when they arrive they done expire,” he said.
Asked why the Chinese don’t stay and invest in their homeland, Chow replied that “China is a large population and is plenty competition so is better to do business outside.”
Chow believes in another ten to 15 years Guyana may see Chinese operated factories. He said once the Guyanese are skilled and there is better security and electricity supply and “everything is normal,” they would start to build factories.
‘Grew up in China’
The association president, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the New Thriving Restaurant, recalled that while he was born and grew up in China his father and others were brought to Guyana by their uncle.
“When I grow up my father and my uncle advise me come to Guyana, so I am third generation,” Chow, who has been here since 1979 but who still speaks with a heavy Chinese accent, said.
Initially, when he came to Guyana he worked with relatives but he later “pick up my English and it was easy to contact people for business and after a while about two to three years then I start my own business, a restaurant.”
At that time it was a restaurant in Plaisance, but he later owned the then popular Bamboo Garden Restaurant at the corner of Camp and Regent streets which burnt down in 1989, and he subsequently bought a place in Barr Street, Kitty. While initially he operated it as a restaurant he later closed it and it is now rented out to persons who operate it as a hardware store.
Chow said he no longer owns businesses in Guyana; he works with the New Thriving Restaurant since his wife and children now live in Canada. He himself lived in Canada for quite some time − he is a Canadian citizen − but now operates between the two countries.
“When my children ready to go to school and because the education here [in Guyana] was not in standard and also in that time the security problem was a little worse than now, so for their safety and better education we moved to Canada,” he said.
But after his children grew up he decided to come back to Guyana and travel between the two countries because, “I love Guyana; Guyana is my second homeland so I come back to work.” He added that while he works for the New Thriving Restaurant he also works for the Chinese community.
He said if Guyana’s education “pick up back” there would be no need to send children to other countries for a better education commenting that many of the older generation Chinese were schooled in Guyana and later became well-known professionals.
Speaking about the association, Chow said it does not keep a count of the Chinese coming to Guyana since they do not register with the association. He said that it basically exists to assist Chinese who live in Guyana or those who visit and who may be encountering difficulties.
“That includes feeding them if they have problems, and housing them or helping them solve any problem if we could,” he told this newspaper.
He said the language barrier is a big issue, and because Chinese cannot understand English and likewise Guyanese do not understand them there are sometimes “misunderstandings.
“Sometimes they may feel a little like a victim or insulted… and it’s only a misunderstanding…,” he said. Chow went on to say that because Guyanese have a culture of flocking to an area where something might have happened, if it involves Chinese they would feel intimidated. “If they could speak English then they could explain themselves very well, so that there would not be any misunderstanding,” he said.
