The Case of Chen Yilao 437
his application to purchase an ofβicial title, and yet his former ofβicial
appointment in Luzon did not seem to have caused him problems.
Huang Zhao was not the only one who had formerly served a foreign
government in one of the two supposedly troublesome spots, Luzon and
Batavia, and returned to China without being subjected to punishment.
Several overseas Chinese who served the Dutch authorities in Batavia also
returned safely to their ancestral country. Guo Junguan (or Queeconko
in Dutch records) was appointed Chinese Captain in 1685. According to
the Kai ba lidai shiji (A Chronicle of Batavia), he took leave of absence to
return to China for three years. He was back in Batavia in February 1690
and was appointed to the Board of Estate-Executors, a post he probably
held until his death in 1694.^77 Another example is He Lianguan (Ho
Lienko in Dutch records), a Chinese Lieutenant appointed in 1707. He
returned to China after his retirement.^78 The most revealing is the case of
Lian Lianguang (Ni Lienkong), who served as a member of the Board of
Estate-Executors. His brother, Lian Fuguang (Ni Hoekong), was a Chinese
Captain of Batavia at the time of the 1740 tragedy. The two brothers were
made the scapegoats for the atrocity and arrested and put on trial by the
Dutch authorities. Although the Captain was later banished to Ambon (he
had earlier requested to return to China), Lian Lianguang was cleared of
the charges and released.^79 The Kai ba lidai shiji records his return to his
ancestral country in 1742.^80 As far as I can tell from the sources available,
his homecoming did not cause a stir among the Chinese ofβicials, even at a
very sensitive time when the high-ranking ofβicials were involved in long
deliberations on how the Court should react to the tragedy.
Tightening the Grip
The tribute-bearer incident was just one more addition to many other
security problems making themselves felt in Fujian in the later part of the
- K ai ba lidai shiji jiaozhu ben 開吧歷代史記校注本 [The Early Account of Chinese
in Batavia (Revised and annotated edition)], reprint, Nanyang xuebao 9, 1 (June
1953): 15, 18, 33‒5; see also B. Hoetink, “Chineesche ofβicieren”, p. 8 for Guo’s
appointment to the Chinese Captaincy. - Kai ba lidai shiji, pp. 16, 33; and B. Hoetink, “Chineesche ofβicieren”, p. 88. There
is a discrepancy in the two sources. Lieutenant He’s retirement date is recorded
as 1685 in the former. - The events ar e fully discussed in B. Hoetink, “Ni Hoekong, Kapitein der
Chineezen te Batavia in 1740”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indie 74 (1918): 447‒518. - Kai ba lidai s hiji, pp. 45, 46.