Nearly 600 Armenians live in China. The Armenian community of China has formed and registered institutionally in 2013.
Former president of China’s Armenian community Mher Sahakyan told ARMENPRESS the community has an executive body, members of which represent the interests of Armenians living in various cities across the country.
“It is due to this body that we were able to unite our compatriots living thousands of kilometers apart”, he said, adding that Armenians mostly live in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Gwangju and Nanjing.
Armenians in China are represented in various fields, some Diaspora Armenians who graduated the best Western universities now work in leading companies, mostly attorneys and financiers.
“The other group of Armenians are students who came from Armenia, who are either studying currently or stayed there after graduating and continue working. We also have entrepreneurs. By the way, a new tendency is seen lately, Armenians come to China to teach English”, Sahakyan said.
Sahakyan said local Armenians are rather active, they organize various events in different cities.
He highlighted actions for preserving the Armenian language among the community, with a virtual college functioning.
A member of the executive body, Meri Knzyazyan, delivered an Armenian language course in one of Beijing’s Universities, with many Chinese citizens in attendance.
Sahakyan says the Armenian community has organized several events aimed at raising awareness for Armenia, with one of the noteworthy being the 2015 events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The young members of the community were also very active during the April War of Artsakh. The press releases of the defense ministry were being translated, and information sources in Chinese were published, which revealed the Azerbaijani aggression.
The student union of the Armenian community is also active in raising awareness of Armenia’ culture, with culture evenings being often organized in various cities.
The community also holds the annual online workshop titled Armenian researchers and students, presenting the scientific work of Armenians studying and working in China.
On November 27, Vache Petrosyan was elected as the new president of the community.
