Philip A. Kuhn - Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times

Chinese Among Others

STATE AND SOCIETY IN EAST ASIA
Series Editor: Elizabeth J. Perry

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By Elizabeth J. Perry

Of Camel Kings and Other Things: Rural Rebels against Modernity in Late Imperial China

By Roxann Prazniak

Underground: The Shanghai Communist Party and the Politics of Survival, 19271937

By Patricia Stranahan

Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times

By Philip A. Kuhn

Emigration in Modern Times

Philip A. Kuhn

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America

by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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Copyright 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

First paperback edition 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

The hardback edition of this book was cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows:

Kuhn, Philip A.

Chinese among others : emigration in modern times / Philip A. Kuhn.

p. cm. -- (State and society in East Asia)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-1070-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-7425-1070-0 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. ChineseForeign countriesHistory. 2. ChineseSoutheast AsiaHistory. 3. Southeast AsiaEmigration and immigrationHistory. 4. ChinaEmigration and immigrationHistory. I. Title.

DS732.K77 2008

304.80951dc22

2007041757

ISBN 978-0-7425-1070-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-7425-6749-8 (pbk : alk. paper)

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

For
Anthony, Lisa, and Debby

Dialect Groups and Their Mandarin Referents

In the course of my sojourn among the Chinese overseas, I have incurred debts to many patient creditors who (as far as I know) never gave up hope of an eventual payoff. This book is an expansion of six lectures delivered in Korea in October 2006 as part of the Distinguished Scholars series sponsored by the Korea Academic Research Council (KARC) and the Daewoo Foundation. I am grateful to the Director of KARC, Kim Yongjoon, and to Kim Youngdeok of Seoul National University for the generous reception accorded my wife and me in Seoul and to other Korean friends who supplied helpful critiques at the talks. I particularly thank Yoon Seungjoo for his expert Korean interpretation and for being my guide and companion in Seoul, along with Koo Bumjin and Park Eunjin. The early stages of research were generously funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and by Harvards Asia Center.

Friends and colleagues who read all or parts of the manuscript, Wang Gungwu, Lin Man-houng, and Edgar Wickberg, broadened my outlook and suggested timely midcourse corrections. Over the years, I have benefited immensely from the deep learning of Him Mark Lai, both in person and in print. And I am particularly indebted to G. William Skinner for his encouragement and his invaluable suggestions.

Scholars in Singapore who oriented me in the field include David Chng, Gwee Yee Hean, Paul Kratoska, Ng Chin-keong, Lynn Pan, Leo Suryadinata, Twang Peck Yang, Diana Wong, and Wong Hong Teng. I thank collectively the Department of History and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, my institutional homes in Singapore. In Penang, Tan Liok Ee shared her knowledge with me. In Thailand, our path was smoothed by the kindness of Supan Chantavanich, Umphon Panachet, and Nuttapong Panachet. Shiroyama Tomoko guided me expertly around Japan, where I also learned from Chen Tien-shi, Chen Laixing, Fuma Susumu, It Izumi, Kagotani Naoto, Shiba Yoshinobu, and Sugihara Kaoru. In Australia, our hosts, John Fitzgerald and Antonia Finnane, showed us around Chinese sites in Melbourne and Bendigo. C. F. Yong in Adelaide shared valuable materials and insights. Kindly Canberra colleagues included Geremie Barm, Mark and Diane Elvin, and Li Tana. Leonard Bluss and Li Minghuan provided essential guidance in Holland, one of the worlds great centers of Sinological and Southeast Asian learning.

Closer to home, I owe thanks to James Cheng, Raymond Lum, and Ma Xiaohe of the Harvard-Yenching Library and to Reed Ueda of Tufts University. My series editor, Elizabeth Perry, and my acquisitions editor at Rowman & Littlefield, Susan McEachern, encouraged me patiently for longer than I care to admit.

Over the years, many talented graduate students have worked with me on this project: Alexander Akin, Par Cassel, Chen Hsi-yuan, Han Seunghyun, Denise Ho, Lee Tsong-han (who prepared the maps), Jin Li, Ivy Maria Lim, Liu Guanglin, Micah Muscolino, Ong Chang Woei, Tan Tien-yuan, Linda Thai, Wang Xiangyun, and Zhao Hui. Vivian Fan and Amanda Rasmussen sent me valuable source material.

My heartfelt thanks to the cohorts of Harvard students who attended History 1834, The Chinese Overseas. As good students will, they challenged me to face the important questions.