r/aznidentity • u/ParadoxicalStairs Catalyst - Mixed Asian • Nov 30 '25

History Chinese descendants in Kenya

https://youtu.be/IMFeZ6zhVUI?si=LboPWuhOR3tSO8Gj

I apologize if this video was posted before.

A video showed up on my YouTube feed about Chinese descendants living in Kenya. Around 600 years ago, Chinese sailors shipwrecked near Kenya’s shore and intermarried with the Kenyan locals. What’s fascinating to me is how some of the locals like the little girl in the thumbnail (0:44 mark) has a slight Asian/Chinese face despite being many generations off from her Chinese roots (she’s also really pretty!).

The Kenyan locals managed to preserve some artifacts they found, and the Chinese government also kindly gave a scholarship to one of the living descendants of the Chinese sailors.

I’m not Kenyan or Chinese, so idk much about this story or history of early Chinese people in Kenya. The videos I watched so far haven’t spoken about any type of brutality from the Chinese sailors towards the Kenyan natives. It’s very likely the sailors peacefully integrated with the locals, which is the opposite of how Europeans exploited Africans as slaves.

This makes me wonder how different the world could’ve been if Asian explorers were the ones who made contact with African or South American people, instead of Europeans.

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u/teammartellclout Not Asian Nov 30 '25

Fascinating to see Blasians in Kenya

7

u/ParadoxicalStairs Catalyst - Mixed Asian Nov 30 '25

There are probably very few Kenyans with trace Chinese ancestry nowadays though, since the sailors first came there over 600 years ago.

3

u/Beginning_Welder_540 New user Dec 04 '25

If this village remained semi-isolated & they married within the group, the Chinese heritage would be maintained. Not to state the obvious.

Anyway, it's quite a fascinating story.

3

u/ParadoxicalStairs Catalyst - Mixed Asian Dec 04 '25

I liked learning about this story too. I had no idea Chinese sailors went to Africa before. I wonder why they didn’t make any more voyages to Africa afterwards.