Expanding Possibilities 411
formation of associations.^223 There were also same-surname associations
representing a form of alliance in early Singapore, whose organizing
principle was similar to that of the βictitious lineage organizations in the
native villages.^224
It was not all plain sailing. Clashes might occur now and then between
the local authorities and the Chinese communities. In the fallout from
the “Batavia Fury” in 1740, for example, when most of the Chinese
population of Batavia had either been killed by the Dutch authorities
or had βled, the junk trade to Batavia was in jeopardy. Neither party
thought the situation desirable. To remedy the situation, in 1742 the
Dutch government ordered the setting up of the Chinese Council of
Batavia to manage Chinese affairs and mediate between the authorities
and the Chinese community. The Chinese leadership of the Council was
made up mainly of the local Hokkien (South Fujianese) commercial
elite who were major tax-farmers.^225 Despite the Dutch monopoly on
trade, the government still found it expedient to work with the Chinese
merchants for their mutual beneβit, as both sides needed to βind ways
to accommodate each other’s economic interests. Consequently, as
pointed out by Leonard Blussé, Amoy did not stop dispatching its junks
to Batavia. Blussé also mentions the faraway Ocean Firm (yanghang) in
Amoy that continued to send friendly letters to and exchange gifts with
the Batavian authorities in the early nineteenth century. Obviously, close
relationships established through mutual accommodation would better
serve their respective business interests.^226 The Chinese merchants in
the Nanyang did exactly what their counterparts on the China coast had
been doing all along. The situation in the Spanish Philippines was similar.
The expulsion of migrant Chinese by the Spanish colonial government in
1755 and 1766, for instance, did not result in the withdrawal of Chinese
- For the organizing principle of community associations, see Chen Ching-Ho 陳
荊和 and Tan Yeok Seong 陳育崧 (eds.), Xinjiapo huawen beimin jilu 新加坡
華文碑銘集錄 [A Collection of Chinese inscriptions in Singapore] (Hong Kong:
Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1970), pp. 3‒29; also Lim How Seng, Xinjiapo
huashe yu huashang, Chs. 1, 2, & 4. - C.F. Yong 扬进发, Zhanqian xinhua shehui jiegou yu lingdao ceng chutan 战前
星华社会结构与领导层初探 [A preliminary survey of Chinese community
structure and leadership in prewar Singapore] (Singapore: South Seas Society,
1977), p. 7. - Leonard Blussé and Wu Fengbin, Bacheng gongguan dang’an yanjiu, pp. 4‒17;
and Chin Kong James, Merchants and Other Sojourners, pp. 248‒9. - Leonard Blussé, “Vicissitudes of Maritime Trade: Letters from the Ocean
Hang Merchant, Li Kunhe, to the Dutch Authorities in Batavia (1803-09)”, in
Sojourners and Settlers, ed. Anthony Reid, p. 163.