[5] One of the more well-known of these, the ABC Chinese Restaurant, founded by Li Dianxian (李殿贤) in the 1930s, was once patronised by Zhou Enlai, and continued operating until 1988.

Instead, many of their parents had previously lived among the Chinese community in British Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and worked as dental assistants; when they came to Pakistan in the 1940s, they began practicing as full dentists themselves.

As of 2007[update], there were roughly 3,500 Chinese engineers temporarily residing in Pakistan for work on various state-run projects in various locations, especially in the construction of the Gwadar Port.

[11] Then, between 2008 and 2009, the number of Chinese working in Pakistan grew sharply, to an estimated 10,000, even as expatriate workers of other nationalities left the country.

[12] Year to date numbers of migrant Chinese approximate half a million due to the string of pearls policy for China oil consumption.

Some members of ethnic minorities of China, primarily Muslim Uyghurs and Tajiks from Xinjiang, have also settled in the northern parts of Pakistan.