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Chinese migration also known as Chinese Diaspora, occurred thousand years ago but the mass migration occurred between 19th century to 1949, it was mainly caused by wars and starvings in mainland China as well as political corruptions. Most immigrants were illiterate or poorly educated peasants and coolies (Chinese: 苦力), who were sent to countries such as the Americas, Australia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Malaya and other places, also known as the Chinese disapora.
According to Lynn Pan's book 'Sons of the Yellow Emperor', the Chinese coolie emigration begun, after the Slavery (African slave trade) had been abolished throughout the British possessions. Facing a desperate shortage of manpower, European merchants were looking to replace African slave with indentured labourers from China and India. A British Guiana planter found what he was looking for in the Chinese labourers "...their strong physique, their eagerness to make money, their history of toil from infancy..."
Large numbers of unskilled Chinese were sold as labourers, under coolie trade, to the colonies oversea in exchange for money to feed their families, this type of trading was known as 'mai chwee chai' (selling piglets : 賣豬仔) by the Chinese, and their life were extremely miserable. Some tricky labor recruiters promised good pay and good working conditions to get them signed 3 year labor contracts. It was recorded in one of a pepper estates, 50 chwee chais hired, only 2 survived in half a year. Most coolies were treated badly and many died in route to South America and South Africa because of bad conditions. Usually they were cheated out of their wages, and were unable to return to China after contracts.
Chronology of Migration
- 1100 BCE, after the collapse of Shang dynasty (1600 BC - 1027 BC), general You Houxi led 250,000 troops to the South Pacific and the Americas.
- 210 BCE, Qin Shi Huang dispatched Xu Fu to sail overseas in search of elixirs of immortality, accompanied by 3,000 virgin boys and girls. History is entangled in legend; Xu Fu may have settled in Japan.
- 1405 CE Ming dynasty, Tan Sheng Shou, the Battalion Commander Yang Xin and others were sent to Java's Old Port to bring the absconder Liang Dao Ming (Cantonese) and others to negotiated pacification. He took his family and fled to live in this place, where he remained for many years. Thousands of military personnel and civilians from Guangdong and Fujian followed him there and pushed Dao Ming forward as their leader.
- 1459 CE, Ming emperor sent Hang Li Po to Malacca along with 500 other female attendants, many attendants later married officials serving Mansur Shah as Li Po married the sultan after she accepted the conversion to Islam.
Malaya (Nanyang)
Majority Chinese immigrants to the Malaya came from southern China, mostly of Hokkien and Cantonese provinces. History recorded, in the 1800s, coolie trade came to Penang. One year of contract for a Chinese coolie cost 30 Chinese yuan. The coolie trade went on successfully and many of them were kidnapped, cheated and badly treated by their employers, using all kinds of ways to make them work free for life. In the early 1800s, a boat could carry 1200 passengers, and in the year 1911, the Chinese population had reached 269,854, and around a million in the year 1949.
Information of overseas Chinese and Chinese migrations can be found in books written by author Lynn Pan, Sons of the Yellow Emperor and the Encyclopedia of the Overseas Chinese.
See also
- Coolie
- Chinese Protectorate
- Oversea Chinese
- Labour
- Industrial Revolution
- British East India
- Opium War
References
- Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora by Lynn Pan ISBN: 1568360320
- The ENCYCLOPEDIA of Malaysia : vol. Languages and literature, edited by Prof. Dato' Dr. Asmah Haji Omar.
External links
- http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/COM_COR/COOLIE.html
- http://www.newton.mec.edu/angier/DimSum/Emigration-%20Reading%20Lesson.html
- 南來的緣由
"Chinese Migration"