The Forgotten Faces of China: Unveiling the Black Chinese
https://images.app.goo.gl/hZs2N A whole identity seems to have existed in long, unspoken silence within China. The idea of the Black Chinese may not have crossed many people’s minds, largely due to the near-total absence of awareness about their existence in the outside world. The history of the Black Chinese, also referred to as “ Negritos, ” dates back over 30 millennia in the southern regions of what is now China. These people who hold ancestry in Africa are believed to have been among the earliest inhabitants of ancient China , due to early human migrations out of Africa (Barnett, 2024). They were widely known as “ Black Dwarfs ” up to the Qing Dynasty , which ended in 1911 (Rashidi, 2014). 'Manchu ladies at a meal table' by John Thomson. Peking, China, 1869. Credit: Wellcome Collection While the Black Chinese once clearly existed, the intriguing question remains: Do they still exist and why did they suddenly disappear from Chinese history? The mysterious existence...
