Chinese people in Finland (Chinese: 芬兰华人; pinyin: Fēnlán huárén; Finnish: Suomen kiinalaiset) form one of the largest immigrant groups in Finland. As of 2023 there were 17,501 speakers of Chinese in Finland. About 60% of them reside in the capital region (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen).[1] As of 2023 there were 14,020 Chinese citizens living in Finland.[2] From 1990 to 2023, a total number of 2,640 Chinese citizens had been granted Finnish citizenship.[3] Between 1987 and 2023, 1,036 Chinese children were adopted in Finland, making China one of the most common countries of origin for international adoptions there.[4][5]
History
Chinese street vendor in Helsinki in the 1910s
Chinese migrant workers (1916–1917)
In 1916, while Finland was still an autonomous state within the Russian Empire, a large number of Chinese migrant workers were brought by the Russians to the Helsinki metropolitan area for fortification work and the supporting task of logging. The workers were apparently Honghuzi (lit.'Red Beards') prisoners from Manchuria. In the Russian Far East, the Honghuzi were notorious for being fierce train robbers and highway bandits.[6] A total of around 3,000 Chinese workers were brought to Finland. The decision to resort to Chinese labor is believed to have been due to the fact that Finnish migrant workers had proven to be unsuitable for the construction work on Peter the Great's Naval Fortress.[7]
Chinese labor was deployed in places such as Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Korso, and Söderkulla in Sipoo, primarily for logging work. They were also used in Kustavi for paving the artillery roads of the naval fortress, as well as for miscellaneous tasks in various parts of the country. The Chinese workers were often housed in cold barns or shacks without proper fireplaces. Although the workers were men, many Finns mistakenly thought they were women because they had long braids at the nape of their necks.[7]
Alongside the fortification work, the Chinese soon began committing thefts, robberies, assaults, and robberies involving murder in Finland.[6] They would also sometimes intimidate local residents to make them leave their homes, allowing the houses to be looted. Many of them also suffered from diseases such as syphilis and scabies.[7] The criminal activities provoked both fear and anger among the Finnish population. For example, painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela was no longer able to work in the restless conditions at Tarvaspää in Espoo, and he decided to flee with his spouse to Ruovesi.[6]
It is reported that there were up to 1,200 Chinese individuals residing in the Espoo area.[6] Starting from the turn of 1917, Chinese workers began to be sent back to Manchuria. After the Russian Revolution in the spring of 1917, the fortification work was halted, and most of the remaining Chinese left Finland.[7] According to contemporaries, there also remained a Chinese-Finnish heritage in Finland as a result of relationships between Finnish women and Chinese men.[8][9]
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