The British once boasted that where the sun shone, there was the Union Jack.
A comparable boast of the Chinese is that where there is sea water, there are people of China.
The United States has 237,000 and Gabon 1. Little Luxembourg counts 20, and in 1948 there were 1,236 in the Soviet Russia. Malaysia has 4,145,000 and the Society Islands 6,948.
These are the overseas Chinese, literally spread From Tahiti to Thule—almost 17 million of them, still finding new homes, still growing, still going strong. In Brazil, where there was a handful just a few years ago, the count is up to nearly 7,000.
In the United States they are restaurateurs, importers, owners of businesses large and small-including perhaps the best hand laundries in the world. They went to join the Irish in building a continent's railroads and stayed to prosper ,and win Nobel prizes in the sciences.
In Europe, Latin America, and Northeast Asia, most of them are restaurateurs and retailers.
In Southeast Asia, where nearly 15 million of them live, they became the heart of the mercantile system and more recently the financiers of burgeoning industry.
Early overseas Chinese emigrants rarely considered themselves permanent settlers. They were always planning to "go home" to China and they did, although usually only in death, for burial in the precious soil of their native places. Gradually that has changed. Overseas Chinese consider that they have a stake and a responsibility in their countries of residence. Many have become citizens. In such a country as Malaysia, they hold office as government ministers and constitute a strong force in the parliament.
Statistics compiled by the Chinese and foreign governments show this distribution of overseas Chinese:
Hongkong 3,600,000
Macao 183,000
The Philippines 145,000
Vietnam 1,035,000
Thailand 3,690,000
Cambodia 260,000
Malaysia 4,145,000
Indonesia 2,500,000
Burma 360,000
Korea 23,300
Japan 45,500
India 46,829
Saudi Arabia 10,000
Canada 33,890
Peru 30,000
United States 237,292
Australia 18,780
New Zealand 9,266
Fiji Islands 4,943
Union of South Africa 5,105
Malagasy Republic 7,894
Mauritius 13,000
Netherlands 2,400
Great Britain 7,000
France 2,000
Denmark 900
West Germany 800
People of Tang
Emigration of Chinese dates at least to 1122 B.C. when the Chou dynasty overthrew the Shang dynasty. A high-ranking official of the Shang government, Chi-tse, led 5,000 people in a flight to Korea. In 1121 B.C., he was designated by the Chou dynasty as the ruler of Korea. It is suggested the Chinese were already in Korea when Chi-tse went there.
In the Shih Huang-ti (First Emperor) era, during which the Great Wall was built, 1,000 youths headed by a conjurer were sent to Japan to seek the elixir of life. These young men and women did not return to China.
Books written during the Han dynasty at the beginning of the Christian era indicate that of Chinese emissaries and merchants who sailed along the coasts of the Indian ocean, many stayed permanently.
As a result of progress in shipbuilding, foreign trade developed rapidly during the Tang dynasty (618-905 A.D.). In the ninth century, thousands of Arabians arrived in China for trade and many Chinese businessmen went abroad. Proud of their national strength and cultural development during the prime years of the Tang dynasty, the overseas Chinese then called themselves the "Tang People" and their motherland "Tang Shan" or "Tang Mountain."
Political unrest arising from changes of dynasties in China in the 13th and 17th centuries compelled many Chinese to seek asylum in Southeast Asia.
In 1810, Brazil recruited 100 Chinese tea farmers in Fukien province to go to South America and grow tea.
Most overseas Chinese are from Kwangtung and Fukien Provinces in southern China. Because Kwangtung and Fukien were largely mountainous, lacked irrigation, and produced insufficient food for a rapidly expanding population, and because these provinces were easily accessible to Southeast Asia, many poverty-stricken Cantonese and Fukienese left their homeland to seek a better livelihood abroad. Some were sold as slave-laborers in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is estimated that in the 30 years from 1848 to 1878, Chinese emigrants to Peru, Cuba, Canada, Hawaii, and the western coast of the United States totaled 500,000. But because of the proximity of Southeast Asia, a much larger number went there in the same period.
Many Persecutions
The struggles of the overseas Chinese for survival and then for recognition of their economic and legal status were strenuous. With a frontier spirit, they often toiled and sweated in the muddy, jungle areas of their countries, much as early European settlers developed the vast virgin lands in western America. They endured what the white man could not in tropical regions and did what the native people could not do. They supplied labor for mines and to a lesser extent for estates. Although many had been farmers in their native lands, they were usually not well disposed toward agriculture when they immigrated. Where they might have taken to rice cultivation, local laws prevented them from doing so. Generally speaking, they were the middlemen and the retail traders, providing the medium of economic intercourse between the Europeans and the natives of the Southeast Asian countries. Gradually they obtained a leading place in trade. Their traditional virtues of diligence, industriousness, frugality, patience, tolerance, and respect for authority won wide admiration.
The early history of Chinese emigration to foreign lands was written in bitterness, tears, and blood. Aside from the adverse natural conditions prevalent in their settlement areas and lack of medical care, the Chinese immigrants were ruthlessly exploited, oppressed, and even persecuted by Western colonial masters in their settlement lands. In 1603,and 1639, the Spanish in the Philippines carried out a wholesale massacre of Chinese nationals there. The declining Ming dynasty was too weak to do anything about it, while the succeeding Manchu government, which forbade emigration, was too ignorant to care anything about the protection of overseas Chinese. On October 9, 1740, the personnel of the Dutch East India Company pillaged the 80,000 overseas Chinese in Jakarta, confiscated their properties, and massacred nearly 10,000. The Dutch government deplored the incident rand apologized to the Manchu government, which, to the disappointment of the overseas Chinese, replied indifferently: "These outcasts of the Heavenly Dynasty deserted the grave lands of their ancestors and went abroad to seek profits. This Court has no concern for them."
Considered Rascals
The Manchu government again expressed its indifferent attitude toward the overseas Chinese in 1858 when the Sino-American Treaty was signed. The American delegation told the governor of Peiping that there were close to 200,000 overseas Chinese on the Pacific coast of the United States land that China should send officials there to take care of them. The governor described the overseas Chinese as rascals and said that they did not deserve the care and protection of the Manchu government.
Under such circumstances, the overseas Chinese had to organize associations and congregations to construct public schools and hospitals and to settle disputes among themselves. To facilitate administration, they formed the associations and congregations according to the places whence they came. Those from Canton formed the Cantonese Association, those from Hainan formed ,the Hainanese Association, and those from Fukien established the Fukienese Association.
Backers of Dr. Sun
Although the overseas Chinese took little interest in local politics, they were nevertheless dissatisfied with the corrupt and impotent Manchu government. When Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China, engineered a revolution against the Manchurian Court in the early 20th century, the overseas Chinese in Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas responded enthusiastically. They contributed large amounts of money and organized revolutionary troops to attack the Manchu forces in southern China. Many young overseas Chinese intellectuals from Southeast Asia died in the several armed revolts which eventually overthrew the Manchu government. Without the overseas Chinese, the revolution against the Manchus and the establishment of the Republic of China, the first republic in Asia, would have been impossible.
The general conditions in Southeast Asia from the First World War to World War II were favorable to overseas Chinese development there. Chinese from Kwangtung and Fukien provinces continued to flow into this vast undeveloped area. They were engaged in all sorts of occupations, ranging from longshoremen and fruit peddlers to shopkeepers, technicians, physicians, and the professions.
The overseas Chinese ,are concentrated in such big cities as Hongkong, Cholon (adjoining Saigon), Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, San Francisco, and New York.
The British crown colony of Hongkong is a Chinese city. The postwar population of 600,000 soared to the present total of more than 3,600,000 as a result of the unceasing exodus of Chinese refugees from the mainland. Thanks to Chinese industry and enterprise, Hongkong has become an important trade center of Southeast Asia.
As the Chinatowns of San Francisco and New York me to the United States, so is Cholon to South Vietnam. Shops and stores in Cholon are owned by Chinese. Because of close cultural relations with China and the influence of overseas Chinese, the Vietnamese people have a way of life almost identical with that of the Chinese.
Of the 1.7 million residents of Singapore, more than 90 per cent are Chinese. Overseas Chinese in Malaysia own tin mines, rubber plantations, and industries.
Postwar disturbances and the rise of nationalism in Southeast Asia have brought hardships and difficulties to overseas Chinese. While striving to reduce the economic influence of overseas Chinese by imposing restrictions on retail trade, the Southeast Asian governments tried to assimilate the late comers through education. Class hours for Chinese language have been decreased and that for the local language increased in the Chinese schools.
Chinese Way of Life
Another way to assimilate the Chinese minorities is to naturalize them. In 1956, the South Vietnamese government of President Ngo Dinh Diem issued a decree compelling all Vietnamese-born Chinese to become Vietnamese citizens. Because the Chinese government practices "jus sanguinis" (nationality by blood), no success has attended the various attempts to reconcile the conflict of laws between "jus soli" (citizenship by place of birth) and "jus sanguinis."
All attempts to absorb the overseas Chinese through harsh and hasty means have failed. Overseas Chinese are loyal to their countries of residence, but they still speak the Chinese language, preserve Chinese traditions and customs, and live the Chinese way of life. The only effective means of assimilation seems to be intermarriage.
Chinese and the peoples of Southeast Asia have intermarried extensively with good results. A Chinese husband is considered a good match for a Southeast Asian girl. In former times, immigrants from China were usually hard-working and more provident than natives. Children of mixed marriages were healthy, intelligent and frequently became wealthy. Many prominent Southeast Asian leaders of today are descendants of early Chinese immigrants. Others have some Chinese blood, although it may not be generally known.
Since 1951, about 15,000 overseas Chinese students have come to Taiwan for study. Many have been graduated from colleges and returned to their host countries. It is the policy of the Chinese government to encourage them to return and help in economic development and the promotion of social welfare. Reports indicate these overseas Chinese graduates are doing well.
Pledge to Malaysia
Young Chinese scientists in the United States have distinguished themselves in research. Lee Tsung-dao and Yang Chen-ning jointly won a Nobel Prize in physics for their discoveries in connection with the Principle of Conservation of Parity. Others are among top-ranking American scientists.
Overseas Chinese support of host countries is dramatized in the pledge of the Chinese of Malaysia to defend that country. On February 9, 1965, more than 2,100 overseas Chinese organizations and public bodies throughout the Federation of Malaysia pledged themselves to defend the nation against external aggression. Malaysian Prime Minister Tengku Abdul Rahman expressed his appreciation "for this striking demonstration of royalty by the Chinese land their preparedness to defend the nation against any external threat."
On February 25, 1965, the third Asian Chinese Traders' Convention in Manila issued a manifesto pledging economic support to their countries of residence and opposing Communist commercial infiltration and political subversion. Overseas Chinese businessmen said they will refuse to trade with Communists.
The convention was attended by 149 Chinese businessmen from 12 Asian countries and territories. Delegates also pledged promotion of trade among their host countries. The industry, enterprise, and endurance of Chinese nationals have played an indispensable part in the development of the countries of Southeast Asia. Without them it would have been far less easy, if not impossible, to have utilized the vast natural resources of the area.
Fear sometimes has been expressed that overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and elsewhere will give up their support of the government of the Republic of China and become a fifth column of the Peiping regime. However, all the known facts indicate that these overseas Chinese remain loyal to the government of the Republic of China. Dedicated to freedom and peace, they have a stake as great as any other people in defense of the Republic of China and their countries of residence against aggression and totalitarianism.