China-Panama ties at a glance

Students from Huadu district's Qixing Elementary School in Guangdong show off their jump-roping skill during a "storytelling event" in Panama City, Panama, on Nov 22, 2018. [Photo by Liu Yinmeng / Provided to China Daily] 

In 1854, a ship carrying Chinese workers, many from South China's Guangdong province, landed in Panama to work on the Panama Canal Railway.

More than 300,000 people of Chinese descent, or 10 percent of the total population, currently live in Panama, according to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, but the Central American country's connection with China goes back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

It's estimated that around 80 percent of the Chinese residents in Panama hail from Huadu, where some villages are nicknamed "Panama Village" due to the high number of locals who have migrated to Panama.