remittances by overseas Chinese. These averaged from $80 to $100
million from the early 1930s, a figure that doubled in 1938 following
the outbreak of the Sino–Japanese war.^1
The GMD was overtly anti-colonial. As its political activity
increased, colonial authorities began to be alarmed and to take meas-
ures to contain it. Chinese language schools were monitored and
Chinese organisations registered and kept under surveillance. Concern
was also expressed at the continuing high level of Chinese migration,
though little was done to limit it. Chinese political activity in South-
east Asia also alarmed indigenous elites, who looked with suspicion on
moves by families of mixed Chinese–indigenous ancestry to reassert
their Chineseness. Had indigenous leaders been in a position to
respond, their responses might well have been similar to that of Siam,
which showed its disapproval of GMD policies by refusing to establish
diplomatic relations with Nationalist China (see below). As it was,
Chinese nationalism served to stimulate indigenous nationalisms that
ominously allowed little room for alien communities.
Nowhere was political organisation more advanced among
overseas Chinese than in the British colonies of Malaya and Singa-
pore. As early as 1906, branches of Sun Yatsen’s Revolutionary
Alliance were formed in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. With the
formation of the GMD in August 1912, sympathisers in Malaya
enthusiastically formed their own branches. When local authori-
ties—concerned over anti-imperialist propaganda—demanded
membership lists, the organisation went underground. Supporters
continued to meet and collect funds for the party, however, and
in 1925 British authorities responded by banning the GMD as a
subversive organisation.
The British had several concerns. They were worried about anti-
colonial, and especially anti-British propaganda associated with the
GMD’s determination to avenge China’s past humiliation; they were
worried about GMD control over Chinese education (dozens of
Chinese school texts were banned); and they were worried about
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia