In 1834, the slaves who had been taken from Africa to the colonies of Britain 

were set free. In British Guiana a significant proportion of the freedmen chose to 

live off the fertile land and sought paid employment on an irregular basis. The 

resulting reduction in the labour force caused the sugar plantation owners to 

search for replacement workers. They obtained large numbers of labourers from 

Madeira (Portugal), India and China each bound by a contract of indenture. The 

Chinese were the smallest group of these indentured workers.

In 1853, the first 647 Chinese were brought into the colony of British Guiana in 

three ships. The first boat to dock on January 12, 1853 was the Glentanner, 

carrying 262 passengers from Amoy. These were distributed amongst the 

plantations of Windsor Forest (West Coast Demerara), Pouderoyen (West Bank 

Demerara) and La Jalousie (West Coast Demerara), while one lone soul was sent 

to Union in Essequibo.

In 1860, Chinese women began arriving in small numbers.

From 1860 to 1866, we saw a relatively large influx of immigrants, bringing the 

local Chinese population to a peak of 10,022 in 1866. Subsequently only two 

boats arrived with Chinese immigrants, one in 1874 and the other in 1879. After 

this Chinese immigrants came of their own free will and at their own expense.

By 1900, the Chinese population in British Guiana had dwindled to 2,919 since 

the majority of Chinese at that time preferred to marry people from their own 

country but there were too few Chinese women available. Many also left the 

colony to seek their destiny in other countries, particularly French Guiana, 

Surinam and Trinidad.

Politics Relationships

Guyana and China established diplomatic relations on June 27, 1972, a significant diplomatic step given the fact that many countries in the region were at that time under the influence of the United States dictation and were therefore timid in establishing diplomatic relations with China. 2016 marks 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Guyana and China. 

References

Rootsweb. (1999). Retrieved from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~guycigtr/

Trev Sue-A-Quan. (2003). Cane Ripples: The Chinese in Guyana. Retrieved from http://www.abebooks.com/Cane-reapers-Chinese-indentured-immigrants-Guyana/16621511918/bd