自19世纪80年代首批中国人到达萨摩亚至今，华人华侨在萨奋斗的历史已逾130年，其公共形象和社会地位发生了巨大变化。1949年前，来萨华人的主要身份是契约劳工，被看作“付费奴隶”和“廉价商品”，工作环境艰苦恶劣，社会地位低下。1949～1975年，在萨华人华侨主体是此前来萨劳工，此时已获得萨籍身份，在萨多个领域进行自主经营，而且与欧洲人一样，拥有了议员竞选权，二代以上华裔已彻底融入当地社会。1975年中萨建交以来，来萨华人主要由国家外派人员、承揽援萨基础设施建设的中国建筑工人和个体经营者三部分组成。在萨中国建筑工人和国家公派人员受到当地民众的高度认可，被誉为黄皮肤的男子汉和“东方茉莉花”。个体经营者则一般拥有一定的经济实力，经营范围广，投资规模大，多已获得永久居住权，以能干的富人形象出现在公众面前。华人华侨在萨公共形象和社会地位的变迁，与祖国的日益强大和华人华侨在萨自身的奋斗息息相关。
The earliest history of Chinese in Samoa can be dated back to the 1880s. Those Chinese were transported to Samoa as indentured labour. They were treated as paid slaves and cheap commodity with poor working conditions and low social class at that time. From 1949 to 1975，the majority of Chinese in Samoa were those indentured labourers who arrived before 1949. At that time，these Chinese ran their shops in several areas and gained the voting power of parliament members like European people. But the second Chinese Generation could not speak Chinese and they were thoroughly integrated into the local society. Since Samoa established diplomatic relations with China in 1975，there have been three categories of Chinese who came to Samoa，in terms of Human Resources Aid，Infrastructure Aid and owners of Chinese shops and factories. Those volunteers from China Aid were called Yellow-Man and Jasmine from the East. In addition，these owners became increasingly influential and wealthy through the expansion of their businesses. Most of them became permanent residents and they were regarded as the rich people in Samoa. These changes of the public image and social class of Chinese in Samoa and Chinese-Samoan are in accordance with the Chinese modern history，which is also related closely to China's rapid development and Chinese people's hard work.
