Cantonese anthropologist records Chinese diaspora history

By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 18, 2026

   Chinese anthropologist-historian Wu Xin Xiong, of the Guangdong Overseas Cultural Exchange Center, is on a global mission to document the history of Cantonese Chinese who have emigrated to other parts of the world, before their history is lost.

   In Belize, he has teamed up with Mr. Guan Fen-Xian of the All China Federation of Overseas Taishanese, a non-governmental, non-profit organization which does fund-raising to assist charitable causes, such as flood relief during recent natural disasters.

   Wu arrived in Belize from China by way of San Francisco and Salt Lake City, and he plans to visit 186 countries to document the history of the Chinese community in each country. By his conservative estimate, there may be 60 million of his countrymen living in the diaspora. His next stop when he leaves Belize will be Peru, from which he will explore other parts of South America.

   His preliminary research revealed documented evidence in British records of a group of Chinese immigrants arriving in Belize in 1865. He hopes to track down the descendants of those first Chinese arrivals in Belize today.

   Wu intends to publish the results of his research and the record of his 186-country pilgrimage in an illustrated book, a coffee table volume, when he has completed his travels, in Chinese of course. Later on, it may be translated into English.