Being Privileged Overseas: Taiwanese People in Jakarta (海外優勢移民：雅加達的台灣人)

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-231
Author(s):  
Ping Lin (林平)
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
International Migration ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Taiwanese People ◽  
Firm Relocation

During the 1980s, many Taiwanese firms moved to the prc or Southeast Asia due to rising production costs in Taiwan. This trend of firm relocation caused many Taiwanese people to move to the prc or Southeast Asia as entrepreneurs, firm managers, or accompanying family members. While many studies have explored the experiences of Taiwanese immigrants in the prc, studies on the lives of Taiwanese people in Southeast Asia are still limited. This pilot study is based on my fieldwork in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2015. Through conducting 24 interviews and participant observation of Taiwanese people affiliated with the Jakarta Taipei School (hereinafter jts), I argue that a certain number of Taiwanese people live their lives as ‘privileged migrants’ in Jakarta as most respondents lead a life that is of significantly higher quality than most locals. Those who marry rich Sino-Indonesians are accorded a status higher than what was available to them in Taiwan. Their life experiences show the intertwining relationship between international migration and social mobility. While some studies have suggested the importance of ethnic affinity in the process of integration, respondents’ complicated perception on the native Indonesians and Sino-Indonesians predicts that more studies on the issue of ethnicity in the field of privileged migration and overseas Chinese are necessary. 由於生產成本上升，台灣很多勞力密集產業自1980年代起便遷往中國大陸或東南亞地區。這樣的產業遷移吸引不少台灣人以企業經營者、高階管理人，或隨行家屬的身分前往相關國家。當不少研究關注移居中國大陸的台灣人時，關於台灣人在東南亞生活現狀的討論卻是非常有限。這份研究是以筆者2015年在雅加達針台北學校進行田野調查的資料為基礎，經過初步分析之後完成。藉由對24位受訪者進行訪談及參與觀察，筆者認為不少台灣人在當地享有相當優渥的生活。與當地華人通婚的受訪者，更擁有在台灣無法獲得的生活條件與發展機會。這些受訪者的遷移經驗顯示，社會階層的向上流動是有可能與地理邊界的跨國流動發生連結。此外，受訪者對印尼華人與印尼原住民的不同反應，更顯示族群因素依然是優勢移民及海外華人研究的重要議題。 (This article is in English.)

Between cooperation and survival

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
JongHo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
South China ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Japanese Empire ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Japanese Occupation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Migrant Communities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the survival capability of Chaoshan people in the maritime world of the South China Sea amidst the changing monetary systems of the rival empires and political regimes from 1939 to 1945. It particularly focuses on overseas Chinese remittance business in Shantou under the Japanese rule. Local societies in coastal China and overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia experienced severe hardships due to the Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War and the Chinese Civil War. As fighting among the rival empires and regimes intensified, Chinese migrant communities straddling between Southeast Asia and South China had to negotiate and adapt to survive these crises, regardless of whether they were government-affiliated or local autonomous subjects. Design/methodology/approach This research draws on archival materials to investigate the reactions of Chinese migrant communities in Chaoshan region in times of war and regime change. How did local maritime societies and overseas Chinese adapt to the harsh realities of the wartime? How did the Japanese Empire use Wang Jingwei’s puppet government in Nanjing to control the Chaoshan remittance network? How did the remittance network shift its operational structure in face of a wartime crisis? Findings Faced with the wartime crisis and the Japanese occupation, Chaoshan communities used a variety of survival strategies to protect and maintain the overseas Chinese remittance business. In dealing with remittances from Singapore, British Malay and Indonesia, they cooperated with the Japanese military authority and its puppet government to maximize the autonomy of their business operation in the Japanese-controlled East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. On the other hand, to secure the flow of remittances from French Indochina and Thailand, the indirectly controlled territories in the Japanese Empire, Chaoshan merchants sought an alternative path of delivering remittances, known as the Dongxing route, to bypass the Japanese ban on private remittances from these two regions. Research limitations/implications It would be a better research if more resources, including remittance receipts and documents during the Japanese occupation, could be found and used to show more detailed features of Chaoshan local society. Originality/value This research is the first one to investigate the contradictory features of local Chaoshan society during the Japanese occupation, an under-explored subject in the Chinese historiography.

Social Mobility in the Later Roman Empire: The evidence of Ausonius

1961 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 239-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Excellent Opportunity

The description Ausonius has given us of his family and of the teachers and professors of Bordeaux in the mid-fourth century is exceptional among our sources because of its detail and completeness. There is no reason to suppose that the picture he gives is untypical of life in the provinces and it makes a welcome change from the histories of aristocratic politics at Rome or Constantinople. It provides an excellent opportunity for a pilot study in which we may see how the conflicting elements of social status were in practice reconciled and applied. In the traditional, and still prevalent view, the society of the Later Roman Empire was ‘crushed … in the iron clamp of castes separated from one another by barriers which could not be passed’. The evidence of Ausonius suggests that this judgement should be qualified. The society of the fourth century may have been stable. It was not static.

Hailam Chinese in Sabah: A Study of Occupational Patterns and Changes

1975 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Han Sin-Fong
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
General Survey ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Occupational Patterns

Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have received substantial attention in the past two decades. Some studies focus on the Chinese of a particular place or country; others seek to make a general survey of Chinese communities throughout all of Southeast Asia. Most studies, however, concentrate on the problematic aspects and political implications of these Chinese communities. Due to the generalized treatment, without regard to place and length of residence abroad, the Chinese in Southeast Asia are often viewed as an undifferentiated mass, homogeneous in outlook and behaviour.

The “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere”: A New Boundary for Taiwanese People and the Taiwanese Capital, 1940–1945 (臺灣人的對外移民與投資, 1940–1945)

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-houng Lin (林滿紅)
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Taiwanese People ◽  
Overseas Investment ◽  
Direction Opposite

This article deals with Taiwanese civilian emigration and overseas investment in the period of 1940–1945 when Japan engaged the Greater East Asian War. Taiwan in general, and some Taiwanese in particular, helped the reconstruction of Japanese occupied areas in this war. Overseas Taiwanese mainly worked as employees for Japanese stores, companies, mines, plantations, and Japanese government offices, but also opened stores, factories, plantations and banks by themselves. As overseas ethnic Chinese, the Taiwanese civilian emigrants examined in this paper moved in the direction opposite that of other overseas Chinese holding Chinese nationality. The Taiwanese populace expanded overseas to Greater East Asia, while Chinese nationals withdrew from this area and returned to China. Thus, this paper will illustrate how the phrase, “people should fight for their country,” bore different meanings for these two different types of overseas Chinese in the Asia-Pacific War theater of wwii. 1930至40年代，中日學者曾就華僑的定義進行討論。吳主惠將華僑定義為定居於海外的中國人及其後裔，不包括駐外政府官員和留學生。吳氏認為華僑的最嚴格定義，是指定居海外但仍保有中國國籍者。1933年日本大藏省為替局統計臺灣地區約有46,000至47,000名華僑，便是依據這樣的定義。吳氏指出，在此嚴格定義下，華人後裔如不具中國國籍者，便非華僑。另有一種較為寬鬆的定義是: 無論是否具中國國籍，凡定居或曾赴海外的中國人及其後裔皆為華僑，井出季和太即持此見。關於日本統治臺灣時期的臺灣人國籍，根據日本大藏省為替局的解釋，由於馬關條約簽訂後的二年內，臺灣人得自由決定離去與否，留下臺灣者為日本國民。這些成為日本國民的臺灣人或其祖先曾具有中國國民的身分，因而1933年的340萬臺灣人也被視為較寬定義下的華僑。在日本建構所謂的「大東亞共榮圈」時期 (1940–1945)，許多不具軍人身分的臺灣人向海外移民或投資，與之相反的是，擁有中國國籍的華僑在此時期則多回歸故里。在大東亞戰爭時期的華人，由於出身不同，「為國而戰」一詞對於他們的意義也因而分歧。 (This article is in English.)

scholarly journals Archaeology of Early Chinese Settlement in Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
John Miksic
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Historical Information ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Historical Literature ◽  
Significant Size

Abstract Little historical information is available about early Chinese settlement in Southeast Asia. By the 15th century several Chinese settlements of significant size had formed, but they vanished by the time the Portuguese reached the region. This article surveys the historical literature on these early overseas Chinese settlements, and summarizes the contributions which archaeology can make to clarifying the timing and nature of the process.

scholarly journals PERUBAHAN SOSIAL BUDAYA MASYARAKAT PEDESAAN PASCA REVOLUSI HIJAU

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93
Author(s):  
Adam Saleh
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Rural People ◽  
Industrial Transformation ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas

It is assumed that changes in village community will become even clearer if related to changes in village society at this time. Changes in society will look good in the fields of education, economics, social relations and other fields. Modernization is a change in society that moves from traditional conditions or from pre-modern society to modern society. The process of change was driven by various community efforts in fighting for their hopes and ideals, namely changing lives and existing livelihoods for the better. General characteristics of modernization are related to the fields of social social traditions, population science and technology and social mobility. The various fields are proceeding so as to achieve new patterns of behavior that are manifested in the life of modern society. Major changes that have taken place since the post-green revolution, villages in Southeast Asia have undergone fundamental changes. Rural life and the fulfillment of the needs of life of rural people in Southeast Asia have undergone a fundamental change, can no longer assume that the fulfillment of rural life needs are obtained from agriculture, nor can it assume that rural people face and expect their future in the field agriculture, these events affect each other or the interconnection between rural and urban areas, such as increased movement of rural people to cities or vice versa (urbanization and migration), the shift from agriculture to non-agriculture (agrarian-industrial transformation), as well as increased aspirations and education (social mobility Another thing that seems to change is lifestyle in the form of material, in this case related to household appliances, vehicles and communication tools.

Overseas Chinese Commerce, Decolonization, and the Cold War in Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Lim
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Cold War

The term “overseas Chinese” refers to people who left the Qing Empire (and later on, the Republic of China or ROC) for a better life in Southeast Asia. Some of them arrived in Southeast Asia as merchants. They were either involved in retail or wholesale trade, or importing and exporting goods between the Qing Empire/ROC and Southeast Asia. With the decolonization of Southeast Asia from the end of World War II in 1945, overseas Chinese commerce was targeted by nationalists because the merchants were seen to have been working together with the colonial authorities and to have enriched themselves at the expense of locals. New nationalist regimes in Southeast Asia introduced anti-Chinese legislation in order to reduce the overseas Chinese presence in economic activities. Chinese merchants were banned from certain trades and trade monopolies were broken down. Several Southeast Asian states also attempted to assimilate the overseas Chinese by forcing them to adopt local-sounding names. However, the overseas Chinese continued to be dominant in the economies of Malaya (later Malaysia) and Singapore. Malaysia introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which has an anti-Chinese agenda, in 1970. The decolonization process also occurred during the Cold War, and Chinese merchants sought to continue trade with China at a time when governments in Southeast Asia were suspicious of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Attempts by merchants from Malaya and Singapore to trade with the PRC in 1956 were considered to have failed, as the PRC had other political concerns. By the time Singapore had gained independence in 1965, the door to investment and trade with the PRC was shut, and the Chinese in Southeast Asia turned their backs on China by taking on citizenship in their countries of residence.

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