Over the past 15 years Kyrgyzstan’s Chinese population has swelled from zero to around 100,000 in a total population of a little more than 5 million, says Daniel Allen, a freelance writer and photographer from London who has lived in China for the past three years.

These immigrants marry locals, obtain Kyrgyz citizenship, ramp up their business interests, and buy apartments. Current plans to make the yuan fully convertible in Kyrgyzstan will only serve to accelerate the flow of both Chinese currency and people.

He also comments about the growing influence of China through the SCO: “One of the principal mechanisms by which China is expanding its influence in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The grouping was initially formed as the Shanghai Five in 1996, bringing together Russia, China and the three Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, being renamed when Uzbekistan joined in 2001″.

I wish to give the cue - 100 000 Chinese in Kyrgyzstan means that every fiftieth person in Kyrgyzstan is from China.