410 Boundaries and Beyond
jealousy. Not surprisingly, they were accepted as welcome guests.^219
In the case of Siam, the Chinese and the nobility formed a symbiotic
relationship that, in its turn, greatly encouraged the Chinese to integrate
themselves willingly into local society.
The localization of the Min-Yue merchants can also be seen elsewhere
in Southeast Asia. Immediately after its opening to trade by the British,
Singapore, a port city with a large concentration of Chinese population,
had attracted the arrival of the business-smart Amoy merchants from
China as well as the Quan-Zhang merchants from Malacca. There were
also Teochiu (Chaozhou), Canton, Hainan and Hakka (Kejia) migrants
arriving in this colonial outpost. The Chinese population in Singapore
between 1821 and 1830 increased from 1,159 to 6,555.^220 Four years
later it was 10,767.^221 The Quan-Zhang people built a common burial
ground, known as the Hengshan Ting (the Hengshan Pavilion) in 1 827
and founded the Thian Hok Kiong (Tian Fu Gong) Temple devoted to the
worship of Goddess Mazu in 1850. The latter was also the location of the
principal organization of the Quan-Zhang community, the predecessor
of the Hokkien Huay Kuay (Fujian Hui Guan, The Fujian/Hokkien Guild
Hall). The organization was βinancially solid and therefore inβluential in
local Chinese society thanks partly to the contributions of funds from the
rich Amoy junks visiting the port. Naturally, the colonial government also
attached great importance to it and saw it as the leading organization
for the whole Chinese community. It was in the colonial government’s
interest to have the community leaders play a role in assisting the
government to maintain social order and help manage the restless and
often violent labor migrants.^222
Each of the other same-dialect-based communities, whether they
were Cantonese, Teochiu, Hainan or Hakka, had its own temple and
community organization, the guild hall (hui guan). This does not mean
that native-place ties formed the only basis for organizations. The smaller,
less powerful native-place associations might bind themselves together
to form an umbrella organization. This allowed them to be more effective
in vying with the stronger, more powerful associations. Competing
for economic or social space could have been another factor in the
- The description of the Chinese nature is found in John Crawfurd, History of the
Indian Archipelago, Vol. 3, pp. 185‒6. - Lim How Seng, Xinjiapo huashe yu huashang, p. 19.
- John Phipps, Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade, p. 280.
- David K.Y. Chng 庄钦永, Xinjiapo huaren shi luncong 新加坡华人史论丛
[Collected essays on the Chinese in nineteenth-century Singapore] (Singapore:
South Seas Society, 1986), pp. 16‒7, 20.
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