Chinese in Cambodia
There are around 344,000 Chinese in Cambodia (2014). They make up approximately 2.2 percent of the population. These numbers do not always reflect the full extent of Chinese presence. Partially assimilated Chinese are often not counted as Chinese. There are many levels and degrees of mixed blood. Around 300,000 Chinese were counted in Cambodia (4 percent of the population) in the 2000s. Other estimates say there are more than 600,000 Chinese-Cambodians in Cambodia. [Source: Wikipedia]
Chinese in Cambodia tend to be assimilated and many have intermarried with Khmers (one reason for variance in population numbers is how mixed blood and intermarried Chinese are counted) . They speak Khmer, worship at Khmer Buddhist temples and have Cambodian style weddings. Few can speak Chinese. In many cases the only thing they seems to have retained from their culture is the Chinese cakes served at special occasions and the custom of living with the wife’s family after marriage.
The Cambodian Chinese are recognized as Cambodian citizens and as a sign of how influential they are, of the 24 member board of the Chamber of Commerce established in Phnom Penh in the early 2000s 17 members spoke Chinese, but only three were fluent in English. There has traditionally been much more intermarriage between Khmer and Chinese than between Khmer and Vietnamese, and relations between the groups has generally been cordial, or at least civil, although there have been periods of discrimination. The Chinese have been in Cambodia since the time of Angkor, but immigration increased greatly during the colonial period when the French ruled Cambodia. Chinese are particularly associated with urban areas; before 1970, there were more Chinese and Vietnamese than Khmer in Phnom Penh. [Source: Countries and Their Cultures, Gale Group Inc., 2001]