The Chinese Community in Egypt: Population, Chambers of Commerce, Groceries and the Chinese Embassy

Egypt’s Chinese community is small: an estimated 10,000–20,000 people (about 16,000, made up of roughly 8,000 overseas Chinese plus 8,170 Chinese contract workers in Egypt at the end of 2024). Most live in Cairo, Alexandria and the Suez Canal Economic Zone and work for Chinese companies, on construction projects, in factories or in trade.

By the numbers, about half are contract workers; the rest are mainly Chinese company staff, traders and students, and community organisations are mostly chambers of commerce, hometown and trade associations. The Chinese embassy is in Cairo, and the consulate-general in Alexandria covers the four governorates along the canal and coast.

Size and history

These figures come from the 2025 edition of MOFCOM’s Guide for Outbound Investment and Cooperation: Egypt: about 8,000 overseas Chinese, and 8,170 contract workers at the end of 2024. The same guide says 17,357 foreigners held Egyptian work permits in 2023, of whom 6,257 were Asian.

China and Egypt established diplomatic relations in 1956, making 2026 the 70th anniversary (Chinese embassy in Egypt, September 2026). Part of the community are Chinese Muslim students at Al-Azhar University; more are staff of Chinese construction, energy and manufacturing companies and individual traders. In a 2014 New Yorker report, Peter Hessler described Chinese lingerie dealers in Upper Egypt, finding 26 of them along roughly 300 miles of the Nile Valley in towns including Sohag, Asyut, Mallawi, Minya and Beni Suef. For comparisons across Africa, see Chinese population in Africa.

Where Chinese people live

• Cairo: a report from around 2015 (Roads & Kingdoms) said Cairo had over 10,000 Chinese residents in three main areas: Maadi, mostly staff of large Chinese companies, with Chinese restaurants and hot pot shops; Nasr City, near Al-Azhar University, with many Chinese Muslim students; and Abbasiya, with halal Chinese restaurants. The picture may have changed since.
• Suez Canal Economic Zone: home to the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, which had nearly 100 Chinese companies at the end of 2024.
• Alexandria: Egypt’s second city and largest port, with a Chinese consulate-general.

Where Chinese people work

An appendix to the MOFCOM guide lists about 160 major Chinese companies in Egypt across finance, shipping, oil, power, manufacturing, construction and telecoms, for example the China Development Bank Cairo office, COSCO Shipping Egypt, Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production’s Egypt company, XD (China XD Group) Egypt branch, Jushi Egypt fiberglass, New Hope Liuhe, China State Construction’s Egypt branch, CETC’s Egypt office and Shandong Weichai Import and Export. In 2024 Chinese companies signed 73 new contracting projects in Egypt and completed US$3.25 billion of work; large projects included PowerChina’s Gulf of Suez wind farm and Energy China’s Kom Ombo solar and storage project. For contact details, the guide suggests asking the CCCE secretariat.

Chambers of commerce and associations

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (CCCE) was founded in 2004 by Chinese companies and organisations under the guidance of the embassy’s economic and commercial office. As of June 2023 it had 165 members, including two collective members, the Egypt Chinese General Association and the stone association. China State Construction’s Egypt branch holds the presidency and the CCPIT office in Egypt acts as secretary-general. For more on the chamber, see registering a company in Egypt.

Other Chinese associations listed in the MOFCOM guide (English renderings of the Chinese names):

• Egypt Chinese Friendship Council (埃及华人联谊理事会)
• Egypt Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China (埃及中国和平统一促进会)
• Egypt Northeast China Business Association (埃及东北华商总会)
• Egypt Chinese Stone Association (埃及中国石材协会)
• Egypt Chinese General Association (埃及中华总会)
• China-Egypt Friendship Association (中埃友谊促进会)
• Egypt-China Cultural Exchange Association (埃及埃中文化交流协会)
• Egypt Overseas Chinese Association (埃及华人华侨协会)
• Egypt Hebei Fellow Townsmen Association (埃及河北同乡会)
• Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Egypt (埃及中国学生学者联合会)

For contact details, the guide suggests asking the embassy’s consular and overseas Chinese affairs section. The embassy holds community events; for example, its September 2026 Mid-Autumn reception drew about 90 representatives of overseas Chinese, the students’ association, students and Chinese-teacher volunteers.

Chinese language and culture

• China Cultural Center in Cairo, opened in 2002.
• Four Confucius Institutes and two Confucius Classrooms; Peking University and Cairo University opened North Africa’s first Confucius Institute in 2007.
• Ten Egyptian universities offer Chinese degrees; secondary-school Chinese pilots began in 2022; China set up two Luban Workshops in Egypt in 2020.

Restaurants, groceries and information channels

Cairo has Chinese restaurants and small Chinese-run shops, but we found no verifiable, up-to-date list of Chinese supermarkets or China malls, so we do not name any here; ask colleagues or the chamber. For information, the embassy website and WeChat account post visa, safety and community notices. Most Chinese residents use WeChat groups day to day; treat group messages with caution, especially about visa agents and currency exchange. For safety advice, see Egypt safety guide.

Embassy and consulate

For visas and residence, see Egypt visas and work permits; for an overview, see the Egypt guide for Chinese residents.

References

1. Guide for Outbound Investment and Cooperation: Egypt (2025 edition) (MOFCOM / Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, 2025)
2. Embassy holds Mid-Autumn reception for the Chinese community (in Chinese) (Chinese Embassy in Egypt, 2026)
3. Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Egypt (Chinese Embassy in Egypt website)
4. The Delicious Chaos of Cairo’s Chinatown (Roads & Kingdoms, 2015)
5. Learning to Speak Lingerie (Peter Hessler, The New Yorker, 2014)
6. Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Egypt (MOFCOM)