the japanese are the largest asian group in brazil. in fact, brazil has the largest population of japanese ancestry outside japan, with 1.8 million japanese-brazilians, most of them living in são paulo. some chinese and korean also settled brazil. most chinese came from mainland china, but others came from taiwan and hong kong, and also from portuguese-speaking macau—these chinese from macau could speak and understand portuguese, and it was not hard for them to adjust to brazilian life. those immigrant populations and their descendants still retain some of their original ethnic identity, however they are not closed communities and are rapidly integrating into mainstream brazilian society: for instance, very few of the third generation can understand their grandparents' languages.