If someone says, "Africa is black everywhere," it must be a misunderstanding of Africa! Because countries such as Egypt and Morocco in north Africa are not major black settlements, there are also many yellow and white people in South Africa. Especially in several island countries east of the African continent, the proportion of black people is relatively small, the most typical is the Indian Ocean African island country Mauritius.
Mauritius is 2,200 kilometres from the African continent and is embedded in the Indian Ocean like a lonely star; with an area of 2,040 square kilometres.
The Republic of Mauritius is an island nation in eastern Africa, located in the southwestern Indian Ocean, about 800 km from its nearest neighbor, Madagascar. As a volcanic island nation, Mauritius is surrounded by coral reefs and has a variety of landscapes, with narrow plains along the coast and plateau mountains in the middle, with multiple mountains and isolated peaks.
The entire territory consists of the island of Mauritius and other small islands, and after being colonized by the Dutch, French and British countries, it gained independence from British colonialism on 12 March 1968, and there are many Chinese on the island. According to statistics, there are about 38,000 overseas Chinese in Mauritius, accounting for 3% of its total population, and most of its ancestral homes are Meizhou and Shunde in Guangdong.
Why are there Chinese in Mauritius, far from China? The ethnic composition of the population of Mauritius is diverse, mainly including Chinese, Indian and French, and the Chinese have a high status in Mauritius and are the third largest ethnic group in the country. Like the rest of the island, the first Chinese to come to Mauritius were not voluntary, but were "abducted" from Sumatra to Mauritius in the 1740s. But then, with a series of events, in the 1780s, thousands of Chinese workers voluntarily moved from Guangzhou to Port Louis in the country on British, French, Danese and other ships. At the beginning of their arrival, the Chinese were mainly engaged in blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors and other occupations in the local area, and quickly formed a small Chinatown in Port Louis.
After the British occupied the island in 1810, the Chinese immigration to the island did not decline, and between 1840 and 1843 alone, 3,000 Chinese contract workers came to the island; in the mid-19th century, the island's Chinese residents reached more than 5,000; by the 1860s, the whole island could see Chinese shops. With the Chinese entering Mauritius and Chinese culture, all the inhabitants of the island have eaten Chinese food regardless of their background, of which fried noodles are the most popular, and meat balls, yakyo, dumplings, risotto balls and other balls originating in Meixian are also indispensable dishes in the local area.
The Chinese have a high status in Mauritius and are the second richest ethnic group on the island. Due to the Chinese's business aptitude, their network of contacts spread throughout the region, and the Chinese monopolized the local retail trade in Mauritius.
The Chinese have made outstanding contributions to the local economic development, the Mauritius 25 rupee note is printed with chinese Zhu Meilin, he is the only overseas Chinese whose head is printed on foreign currency; after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhu Meilin heard that his hometown was invaded by Japan, full of indignation, first set up a Chinese homeland defense team, calling on the Chinese to return to Japan to resist Japan, all the expenses were borne by him alone. In the 1970s, Chu Meilin suggested that Mauritius develop a processing and export industry, and investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan set up factories in the export processing zone, helping Mauritius to become the third largest exporter of wool fabrics and promoting the local economy to take off. They operate restaurants, retail or wholesale stores and import and export companies. In a business magazine survey, 10 of the 50 largest companies in Mauritius were Chinese.
The ties between the Chinese and overseas Chinese in Mauritius and their hometown and motherland have basically not been interrupted, and even in the most difficult historical period, they still miss their distant motherland and relatives and try to help the people of the motherland and hometown tide over the difficulties. At present, through the efforts and primitive accumulation of their predecessors, the overseas Chinese in Mauritius have become a force relied on in the construction of the government of the country of residence, and have become the super intermediaries for in-depth cooperation between Mauritius and Mauritius. Before the reform and opening up, the Overseas Chinese in Mauritius mainly supported and promoted the economic construction of their hometown through overseas Chinese remittances. After the reform and opening up, especially since the new century, the Chinese have become the forerunners of the "Belt and Road" practice, and also an important support point for testing the effectiveness of China's "Belt and Road".
In short, the Mauritian Chinese have a heartfelt love for China, the vast majority of Chinese have gone to China to find roots, they have a high local economic and political status, but also an important force to promote the development of China-Mauritius relations.
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