Chinese people in Serbia

The number of Chinese people in Serbia according to 2011 census is 1,373.^[4] The community resides mainly in Serbia's capital, Belgrade. Most have their origin in two provinces south of the Shanghai region.^[5] None of the Chinese have Serbian citizenship.^[6]

Blok 70, biggest Chinatown in Serbia

The Chinese immigration to Serbia was prompted after former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and his wife Mira Markovic visited China in 1997. They were 30 people in August 1998.^[7] There was a rumor that Milosevic imported over 50,000 Chinese people and gave them Yugoslav passports so that they could vote for him in elections. Other rumors say that the Chinese arrived here in order to take language courses. The newspaper, Vecernje Novosti, says one part of town in particular has had a complete Chinese village transplanted into it: "The entire population of the Chinese village of Jincun, Kaihua County in Zhejiang province has moved to Belgrade, specifically to Blok 70 where they have businesses in the local center (Kineski centar, "Chinese center") in the suburb of Novi Beograd."

The Chinese send their children to schools in China when they have reached age for primary school, to learn the Chinese language like natives, something that is important for the community.^[5]

Besides Belgrade (Blok 70), there is also a sizable Chinese community in the second largest Serbian city Novi Sad, which has a Chinese trade center, as well as many Chinese shops and restaurants.

Only 223 Chinese have working permits, meaning that Belgrade's 4,000-5,000 Chinese workers profit from Underground economy.^[8]

See also

• China-Serbia relations

References

• Little China in Belgrade 12 February 2001 -- BBC Monitoring
• (in Serbian)

Ethnic groups in Serbia
Serbs Hungarians Romani Bosniaks Albanians Croats Slovaks Montenegrins Vlachs Romanians Yugoslavs Macedonians Ethnic Muslims Bulgarians Bunjevci Rusyns Gorani Germans Jews Arabs Turks Greeks Chinese
See also Demographic history of Serbia