Overseas Chinese

Overseas Chinese (traditional Chinese: 海外華人; simplified Chinese: 海外华人; pinyin: Hǎiwài Huárén) are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan) or Hong Kong and Macau. People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves overseas Chinese. Overseas Chinese can be of the Han Chinese ethnic majority, or from any of the other ethnic groups in China.

Terminology

The Chinese language has various terms equivalent to the English "overseas Chinese" which refers to Chinese citizens residing in countries other than China: Huáqiáo (simplified Chinese: 华侨; traditional Chinese: 華僑; pinyin: Huáqiáo) or Hoan-kheh in Hokkien (Chinese: 番客). The term haigui (海归) refers to returned overseas Chinese and guīqiáo qiáojuàn (归侨侨眷) to their returning relatives.

Huáyì (simplified Chinese: 华裔; traditional Chinese: 華裔; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hôa-è) refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China. Another often-used term is 海外华人 (Hǎiwài Huárén), a more literal translation of overseas Chinese; it is often used by the PRC government to refer to people of Chinese ethnicities who live outside the PRC, regardless of citizenship.