“There are good Chinese restaurants here. I can go to the supermarket and buy lots of food from China, food that’s exported from China. It’s like living back in my hometown,” said Zhu.

“I can speak my own language. For my kids, they can speak Mandarin."

He added he also picked Markham to move to for the high-quality education his eldest daughter was able to receive at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School.

“Chinese families are very serious for education. Every year they have a high school rank. I also chose Markham for the next generation,” Zhu said.

His oldest daughter went to the University of Toronto where she majored in mathematics and science and is now an investment banker for the CIBC in Toronto.

“Here, there is less stress than in China,” Zhu said.

“My daughter is comfortable here (in Canada).”

For those newcomers who need more help than Zhu, there are always the two Markham Welcome Centres where they can go to for assistance.

Alfred Tam is the manager of the Markham South Welcome Centre, at 7220 Kennedy Rd., Unit 8.

He said Chinese clients are a “huge part of our clientele, and English classes are a big part of the services we offer.”

Tam said newcomers are also looking for settlement services, workshops, one-on-one counselling sessions and applications for government services.

Tam added the centre also serves some Tamil clients, as well as those who speak Urdu and Punjabi.

“In the client surveys that we do, we find the services that we offer are the things that newcomers tell us that they need the most,” he said.