Chinese people in Lithuania

Chinese people (Lithuanian: kinai) in Lithuania form a very small part of the Overseas Chinese community. There were 112 Chinese people living in Lithuania according to the 2011 Lithuania Census, roughly 500 according to the Chinese ambassador to Lithuania Mingtao Tong, although it is believed that the actual number is higher.

Chinese are among the most recent immigrants to Lithuania, the vast majority of them arriving some years after its independence, and particularly from 2004 on, when Lithuania joined the European Union. There is a small Chinese community living in Vilnius, as well as some small communities exists in other big cities in Lithuania, such as Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. There was a discussion about the establishment of Chinatown in Algirdas street in Vilnius, but it has been rejected recently due to the dwindling of Chinese immigrants as a result of economical crisis.[2]

The most typical and indeed most visible occupation of the Lithuanian Chinese is the management of Chinese restaurants and other significant enterprises, though they are also known as shopkeepers and factory workers on Chinese companies.

The Chinese is only the 24th biggest ethnic minority in Lithuania, though their community is the biggest Asian community in Lithuania, the second being Koreans and Vietnamese.

According to the Soviet Census, there were as few as 11 Chinese living in then-Lithuanian SSR.[3]