The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas (second edition, 2006)
Publisher: The Chinese Heritage Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
399 pages
According to Wang Gungwu, the director of The East Asian Institute and writer of the Preface and Introduction to The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, the world placed a tremendous amount of attention on China's potential to become a superpower at the turn of the 21st century.
Friends of China welcome the new opportunities to conduct more trade with China. Foes see this potential as a threat because of China's increasing military strength.
What is the impact of this potential on overseas Chinese communities? In Southeast Asia, overseas Chinese see this as a multiplication of business opportunities in their ancestral homeland.
However, the opportunities may become a new source of tension that may contribute to identity conflicts at local and national levels.
With increasing numbers of fresh immigrants in North America, Australasia and Europe, the response of overseas Chinese is more varied. There are those who are concerned that immigration laws will tighten across the globe, and prejudice against the Chinese will increase.
Overseas Chinese who have settled for years abroad have often asked themselves what would happen if their fears materialized. Should they return to their ancestral land? Should they leave their communal identity as Chinese in favor of total assimilation?
Some overseas Chinese communities hope that their technical qualifications and professional skills can help them avoid such a fate. They all intend to maintain their hard-earned status in countries they consider to be their new homes. All overseas Chinese want China to go on being successful, not only in terms of power and wealth, but also to project a progressive, humane and law-respecting image.
The current situation of overseas Chinese may only be understood when we explore the history of the overseas Chinese and migration patterns within China itself.
The first part of this encyclopedia explains how the Chinese began moving from one place to another to look for better means of livelihood as soon as modes of transportation were invented.
Most migrated from villages to cities in search of better opportunities. While many moved, their traditions and cultural roots were still tied strongly to their place of birth. This was due to rituals that stressed ancestral worship such as the annual tomb cleaning (also known in Indonesia as ceng beng) and burning incense for departed parents and ancestors.
On the family grounds of wealthy Chinese, it was common to see ancestral halls housing the wooden ancestral tablets on which the names of the honored dead were inscribed. Such practices, repeated generation after generation, intensified the bonds of family, home and place. They also strengthened loyalties to clan and village.
The Chinese began to migrate outside China around the 12th century and continued through to the 21st century. The second part of the encyclopedia discusses six factors that have caused Chinese migration abroad.
First, China's maritime and commercial developments allowed Chinese to visit various places. Second, China's interactions with Southeast Asia made the region attractive to live in. Third, the growth of the Chinese population narrowed domestic opportunities to earn a living.
Fourth, Western military and industrial expansion in countries such as North America and England gave rise to job openings for Chinese laborers. Fifth, the arrival of European shipping enterprise in China eased cooperation within the commercial sector as they exchanged goods and services.
Sixth, domestic instability drove mass migrations of Chinese refugees abroad. It was this instability that caused mass migrations after World War II, specifically during Mao Zedong's era.
How did the overseas Chinese live after leaving their ancestral home? The third section of the encyclopedia explores the establishment of several key institutions in the lives of the overseas Chinese.
The most basic institution is the immediate family. There were members of the first generation of overseas Chinese who married locals (e.g. the peranakan communities in Southeast Asia). Then there were those who returned to China to look for suitable wives.
At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the mass migrations of women to Southeast Asia and other countries contributed to the rise in the overseas Chinese population.
Religion was an important factor that determined the continued practice of Chinese culture in overseas Chinese families.
For instance, for families whose religious beliefs are Buddhism and Taoism, affinity with Chinese culture is still strong because many of the religious rituals, such as the use of incense in ancestral worship, are linked with Chinese culture. Conversely, those who practice Christianity cannot burn incense in any way.
Other than the immediate family, the concept of guanxi or business relations forms the foundation of the second institution -- Chinese business organizations and networks. The conglomerate systems found in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are strongly connected with guanxi.
The fifth part of the encyclopedia examines the relationship of the overseas Chinese with China.
Before the 20th century, China regarded overseas Chinese communities as disloyal toward China because they chose to leave their ancestral land and emigrate.
This perception changed at the beginning of the 20th century when Chinese revolutionaries such as Sun Yatsen and Yuan Shikai used the material support from the overseas Chinese to fulfill their visions and political agendas.
During the era of Mao Zedong, schools that were closely associated with China stimulated overseas Chinese nationalism. Consequently many students wanted to return to China and some of those who did return decided to stay and become fully-fledged Chinese citizens.
However, not all overseas Chinese felt this nationalistic fervor, especially those who had married locals and assimilated with the culture of their "new homes".
Nowadays, overseas Chinese, especially those in Southeast Asia, are well-received by China. This is because China, which is experiencing tremendous economic growth, needs massive amounts of investment from the overseas Chinese.
The final section of the encyclopedia offers synopses of overseas Chinese communities all over the world.
Other than Southeast Asia, the encyclopedia also looks at the lives of overseas Chinese communities in the Americas, Australasia and Oceania, Europe, East Asia as well as the Indian Ocean and Africa.
The stories on overseas Chinese in this final section are exceptionally diverse and show how many overseas Chinese lead their lives as a minority group.
They still encounter discrimination and prejudice in their work as restaurant owners in Italy and Australia. They also come across many obstacles when they plan to enter the political arena in the United States.
However, their determination always pushes them to succeed. In Southeast Asia, Madagascar and Mauritius, overseas Chinese are known for their successes in the economic sector.
Their adaptation skills and ability to see which local commodities may be exported or processed (e.g. cloves, vanilla and coffee in Madagascar) have also made the overseas Chinese become important figures in the industrial developments of the countries where they have settled.
While they often experience difficulties in penetrating the glass wall of the political arena in the United States, Dai Yenchang became the first overseas Chinese to be elected as a senator, in Hawaii. Until now, overseas Chinese have endeavored not only to survive but also to become respected social, political and economic figures.
In the era of globalization, this encyclopedia presents a new conceptual framework as the world focuses more attention on the increasingly significant role of China and the overseas Chinese.
There are numerous other books that have explored the role of the overseas Chinese within the social, political and cultural contexts of the places where they have chosen to live in.
The uniqueness of this book is its discussion of overseas Chinese from an international perspective, which includes original research and little-known aspects of communities, including those in Mauritius, Samoa and Madagascar.
