402 Boundaries and Beyond
have probably called, on their way up, for the purpose of obtaining
a port clearance.^190Call it “irregularities” or by any other name, their survival tactics do have
to be admired.
Migrating to Greener Pastures
When the Nanyang-bound junk trade was running out of steam around
the mid-nineteenth century, intra-regional junk trade in Southeast
Asia was at its prime. This regionalized trading mode did not arise at a
certain turning point. It was the outcome of a gradual development in
tandem with the Chinese overseas junk trade and large-scale migration
over several centuries. John Crawfurd aptly describes the creation of the
Chinese regional junk trade as follows:
[T]here is another numerous class, which may be denominated the
colonial shipping of the Chinese. Wherever the Chinese are settled
in any number, junks of this description are to be found, such as
Java, Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca &c., but the largest commerce
of this description is conducted from the Cochin China dominions
... [and] especially from Siam....^191The trading ports in Southeast Asia were closely connected with the
junk trade that in turn contributed to regionalization of the trade. The
transfer of business from home ports to those abroad testiβied to the
merchants’ continuous search for greener pastures, especially when
the trading conditions at home had become uncertain in comparison to
those abroad. Siam is a case in point. For a couple of centuries, it had
been a major destination of the Chinese junks sailing from China and had
attracted Chinese migrants. A considerable number of Chinese settlers
not only participated in the China trade, but also branched out to invest
in the local shipbuilding industry. The strong support of the Siamese
Court and the availability of abundant construction materials meant that
an increasing number of junks were being constructed in Bangkok. It
was a cost-effective measure for the junk investors, as John Crawfurd’s
investigation revealed. The costs of building per ton in the early 1820s
in Siam, Cochin China, Canton and Fujian were respectively 15 dollars,
16.66 dollars and 30.58 dollars.^192 John Phipps also observed that the
- FO 228/136, no. 151, Harry Parkes in John Bowring to the Earl of Malmesbury,
Encl. 10, pp. 61b‒62a. - John Crawfurd’s testimony, 1830, p. 453.
- John Crawfurd, Journal of the Embassy to the Courts, p. 49.
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