People Group Profiles

“All nations will come and worship before you."

- Revelations 15:4

Chinese, Mandarin of North America


People Group Info

Total Population: 2,594,345

ROP3 Code: 103686
IMB Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Affinity Bloc: East Asian Peoples
People Cluster: Chinese
Language: Mandarin Chinese - (cmn)
Religion: Buddhism - Mahayana
Country of Origin: China

Majority Located Where

  Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA - 399,481

  San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA - 334,498

  New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY - 250,000

  Vancouver (Surrey), BC - 180,885

  Toronto (Mississauga, Brampton), ON - 153,065

Click here to recommend other locations where this People Group resides.

Learn More

Brief Profile

Chinese have resided in North America for many years but many are arriving on a monthly basis. The United States has several Chinese-language newspapers. Many larger cities have enclaves where one can go and only see Chinese and hear Mandarin being spoken. Chinese are industrious and hard-working. In addition, they value family ties and keeping close links to Chinese arts and culture. Rather than just pure Buddhism, religious practices focus on ancestor veneration and Chinese folk religion. Moreover, Chinese adhere to atheism, especially those from Mainland China.

A need exists for Christians to build relationships and invite Chinese to their homes, activities, and Christian events. The greatest need is of course the peace that comes with a personal relationship with Christ. The Buddhist philosophy that suffering is the basic human problem offers an opportunity to give witness that Christianity is the only religion that adequate deals with this problem.

Prayer Points

  • Pray that Christians will become true friends with Chinese, inviting them to their homes and learning from them their cultural preferences and specific needs.
  • Pray for new work, house churches, now being planted among Mandarin Chinese speakers.
  • Pray for existing Mandarin speaking churches to send members out to plant more Mandarin speaking evangelical congregations.
  • Pray for churches to develop intentional church planting strategies specifically focusing on Mandarin Chinese speakers.


People Group Resources

Bible.is - New Testament (Mandarin)
Faith Comes By Hearing has Bible recordings in many languages spoken by billions of people.


Learning Resources

Learn more about "Learning Paths"
Online Courses for embracing, encountering and engaging diaspora people. Work at your own pace. Begin anytime and complete the course according to your schedule. Interactive, Hands-On Application.

Learn more about "Reaching the Nations"
This book delineates five disciplines Christians should develop in order to effectively reach the nations. More specifically, it will guide Christians to develop an engagement strategy in their locale.

World Religions - Beliefs Overview
An overview of major world religions and cults - their beliefs and practices.


Other Resources

Know God in 98 Languages
A CRU resource with 9 different witnessing models (e.g. 4 Spiritual Laws, etc.) in 98 languages.

Prayer Guide for Unreached Peoples
A 30 day guide to pray for unreached people groups.

Online Talking Bible - Chinese, Mandarin
The purpose of Talking Bibles is to give non-readers and the blind access to the Bible in their native language.

Prayer Guide using the GOSPELS acronym
A prayer guide that utilizes the acronym GOSPELS to pray for workers among diaspora.

Displaying 1-30 of 86 results.
Country City Metro Area Name State / Prov. Baseline Population
CanadaVancouverVancouver (Surrey)BC75,190
United StatesTucsonTucsonAZ3,090
United StatesCleveCleveland-ElyriaOH9,264
United StatesTampaTampa-St. Petersburg-ClearwaterFL4,268
United StatesJefferson CityJefferson CityMO50
United StatesColliervilleMemphisTN2,354
United StatesKatyHouston-The Woodlands-Sugar LandTX32,000
United StatesamariloAmarillo-DumasTX670
United StatesKCMOKansas CityMO1,685
United StatesGreenvilleGreenvilleNC875
United StatesDurhamDurham-Chapel HillNC7,231
United StatesLittle RockLittle Rock-North Little Rock-ConwayAR1,700
United StatesFayettevilleFayetteville-Springdale-RogersAR1,000
United StatesKnoxvilleKnoxvilleTN2,100
United StatesColumbusColumbusOH1,887
United StatesHonoluluHonoluluHI16,182
United StatesTylerLongview-TylerTX458
United StatesClaytonSt. LouisMO6,307
United StatesEdmondOklahoma CityOK2,681
United StatesLas VegasLas Vegas-Henderson-ParadiseNV11,218
United StatesHickoryHickory-Morganton-LenoirNC150
United StatesAustinAustin-Round RockTX6,500
United StatesMcAllenMcAllen-Edinburg-Mission-BrownsvilleTX500
United StatesTempePhoenix-Mesa-ScottsdaleAZ11,400
United StatesTulsaTulsaOK1,170
United StatesCentennialDenver-Aurora-LakewoodCO7,025
United StatesThousand OaksOxnard-Thousand Oaks-VenturaCA4,164
United StatesRichmondRichmondVA2,807
United StatesWilmingtonWilmingtonNC880
United StatesFresnoFresnoCA2,003