|
|
跨国华人社会的脉动
——近代潮州人的侨批网络探析(1911-1949)
The "Veins" of Chinese Transnational Communities: A Study of the Teochew Remittance-mail Networks, 1911-1949
by
陈丽园
Liyuan Chen
Ph.D Candidate
Department of Chinese Studies
National Univeristy of Singapore
Societies of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and their hometowns in South China during the first half of the 20th century can be regarded as an organic whole that embodies many interactions. Among these relationships, Chinese remittance-mail networks are the primary "veins" connecting these two societies. By studying the formation and characteristics of the remittance-mail networks in the Teochew community, one of the most important locality-cum-dialect groups of the Chinese diaspora, this paper explores the mechanism of interactions among the Chinese transnational community scattered in Southeast Asia and South China.
Guided by recent theoretical formulations of transnationalism and based upon a wide range of primary data as well as field research in South China, Singapore/Malaysia, and Thailand, this paper first provides an overview of the remittance-mail networks that are linked by multiple levels of sub-networks. Then, by investigating the formation and operation of remittance-mail networks at the grass-roots level of society vis-à-vis the macro-financial system, I argue that the interactions of the Chinese transnational community are embedded in the system of reciprocity in traditional Chinese society, based on geo-consanguineous connections. Finally, I analyze how family networks incorporated with business agencies to bridge the long distance across the South China Sea. In the conclusion, this paper examines the factors that maintain the survival of the Chinese transnational communities and the dynamics of their interactions. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the understanding of the inner workings of overseas Chinese business networks and the complex ties between Southeast Asian Chinese and their hometowns.
|
|
