Ethnic Chinese in Panama

The first group of Chinese labourers arrived in the country on 30 March 1854 aboard the Clipper Sea Witch to work on the Panama Railroad and later established in Jamaica.

Immigration slowed during the 1960s and 1970s, but resumed during the reform and opening up of China, as Deng Xiaoping's government began to relax emigration restrictions.

[7][8] In the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, many mainland Chinese fled to Panama by way of Hong Kong on temporary visas and short-term residency permits; estimates of the size of the influx ranged from 9,000 to 35,000.

[10] The latest wave of immigrants are less educated than earlier arrivals, and their presence has caused internal tensions within the Chinese community.

Both sides have funded the building of schools and other community facilities and donated millions of dollars worth of Chinese textbooks.