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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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The Malay Chinese of Malaysia

The Malay Chinese of Malaysia, numbering approximately 34,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a people of Malaysia. They mostly adhere to Chinese Folk Religion and Mandarin Chinese is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Malay Chinese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Other Southeast Asian
Primary Language(s): Mandarin Chinese (cmn)
Primary Religion(s): Chinese Folk Religion
Population: 34,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG018262
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Pray for the Malay Chinese of Malaysia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Chinese Folk Religion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%
Chinese Folk Religion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mandarin Chinese
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Chinese, Mandarin Speakers

Media Resources in Mandarin Chinese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mandarin Chinese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Revised Chinese Union Bible Shen Edition✓✓
Union Version✓✓
Union Version✓✓
Tianjing (Huizuban Shengjing)✓✓✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mandarin Chinese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Malay Chinese are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Malay Chinese:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Malay Chinese of Malaysia

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
readEphesians 6:10

Ask God to strengthen believers with His mighty power so that as they cross cultures to share the gospel, they will stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.

Sino-Malay Across Countries (ROP3 - 109313) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Malay ChinesePG018262Malay ChineseMalaysia34,500Engaged yet UnreachedMandarin ChineseChinese Folk Religion

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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