Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times

by Philip A. Kuhn

In this book, distinguished historian Philip A. Kuhn tells the remarkable five-century story of Chinese emigration as an integral part of China's modern history. Although emigration has a much longer past, its "modern" phase dates from the sixteenth century, when European colonialists began to collaborate with Chinese emigrants to develop a worldwide trading system. The author explores both internal and external migration, complementary parts of a far-reaching process of adaptation that enabled Chinese families to deal with their changing social environments. Skills and institutions developed in the course of internal migration were creatively modified to serve the needs of emigrants in foreign lands.

As emigrants, Chinese inevitably found themselves "among others." The various human ecologies in which they lived have faced Chinese settlers with a diversity of challenges and opportunities in the colonial and postcolonial states of Southeast Asia, in the settler societies of the Americas and Australasia, and in Europe. Kuhn traces their experiences worldwide alongside those of the "others" among whom they settled: the colonial elites, indigenous peoples, and rival immigrant groups that have profited from their Chinese minorities but also have envied, feared, and sometimes persecuted them. A rich selection of primary sources allows these protagonists a personal voice to express their hopes, sorrows, and worldviews.

The post-Mao era offers emigrants new opportunities to leverage their expatriate status to do business with a Chinese nation eager for their investments, donations, and technologies. The resulting "new migration," the author argues, is but the latest phase of a centuries-old process by which Chinese have sought livelihoods away from home.

Genres: History, China, Asia, 21st Century

452 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2008

About the author

Philip A. Kuhn (Chinese name: simplified Chinese: 孔飞力, 孔复礼; traditional Chinese: 孔飛力, 孔復禮; born September 9, 1933) was an American academic, sinologist and the Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

Reviews

[TG Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

孔復禮的《華人在他鄉》，如副標題所示，是研究近現代以來華人移民海外的歷史。「中國」，這個概念太龐大了，雖然我們標準教科書上只能依循首都圈的中央觀點來認識，但在這片偌大的土地上，各個地區的人民都會產生許多與中央不同的行為。比如，我們一向都以為中國是陸地的農民特性，不愛出國放洋，而政府也常常發布「片板不許入海」類的命令，也在通論上跟著老外愛講「鎖國」。但實際上，只要研究近現代的國際貿易（也就是打造我們現代世界樣貌的大轉型），時不時都會在各地冒出「華人社群」這個組織。因此，作者直接講明了，「海外移民」這件事，向來都是常態——更精確地說，就是在遠離明清北京中央的東南地帶，近現代以來從來就未曾停止過。

本書談論到的面向十分豐富，隨便一個章節都值得細細研讀。對我而言，本書帶給我的幾項比較深刻的認知是︰

1. 「方言區」是華人海外移民的分類方式，同屬一方言區的移民，不僅會在移居地自成一個社群，也會在原來的方言同鄉找來新移民加入。東南亞諸地華人會館以方言作為分類，如福建會館、廣東會館；而北美地區因為移民人口較受限制，所以便以打破方言區君隔閡而統為中華會館。

2. 「准奴隸移民」、「賣豬仔」是項好生意。自從英國施行廢奴之後，歐洲列強海外殖民地的農場勞力嚴重欠缺，於是便開啟了這項替代性的方案。因此，我才總算知道，為何在英法聯軍之後，清廷所簽訂的《中英北京條約》中，出現了一條跟「華工」有關的條目，因為利益太龐大了。

3. 作者將華人的大規模移民進入的地區，分作兩種種類︰殖民地移民社會、移民社會；具體而言，前者指早有當地政權的東南亞各地，後者則指北美和澳大利亞的「新大陸」。

4. 殖民地社會的華人移民，原本就與東南亞諸地的統治者合作，後來轉而與新來的歐洲殖民者合作（甲必丹制度），因此這些地區的華人移民社群，一向都能夠與統治者合作共存共容，直到二戰之後殖民地政權崩潰。而在移民社會的華人，特別是美國，在他們結束南北戰爭之後的各種政治經濟矛盾紛爭，後來各派政客都不約而同地發現，將華人當成箭靶子是個好主意，因此搞了個近百年的「排華法案」。而「Chinaman」這個乍看之下似乎十分中性的用語，沒料到它正是在美國排華情緒高張時的負面詞彙。（有時不免在想，我們在幫黑人向歐美各國聲援人權時，歷史上的演變，都像大風吹一樣，他們便將先前歧視與壓迫的對象，由黑人轉成華人／黃種人了……）

5. 作者談馬尼拉時，有提到菲律賓的華人／麥斯蒂所人（Mestizos，華原混血）逐漸被「西班牙化」，與巴達維亞的情況完全不同。想想也是，今天我們似乎很難聽到呂宋那邊有類似的華人會館或華人政經組織，也舉不出什麼名字像是中國式的人物，頂多就是某人的祖先與華人有關云云。不過，我總懷疑這是否與當年西班牙屠殺了三次華人社區有關？

6. 新加坡的建國派，正是馬來亞／馬來西亞的華人社群中，最不願意與華人扯上關係的一群人。

7. 本書 408 頁帶到在結束毛主義與馬列主義後，人民中國開始轉向「資本主義威權政治（Capitalist Authoritarianism）」，並認為這正是與中國長時期的政史相史吻合的。這個新詞彙「Capitalist Authoritarianism」——政治上採威權體制，經濟上採自由資本主義型式——深得我心。

8. 這部商務譯本有個貫穿全書的缺陷︰許多十九世紀的記年（18xx），不知為何都誤成了（19xx）。本書編輯和校閱者鬧了這件不可原諒的錯誤。

[Lordoftaipo · Rating 4 out of 5]

搭著從雅加達開往當地一個華人墳場的車，我對東南亞華人史的好奇心終於按捺不住。他們是如何看待自己所謂的「根」？1909年《大清國籍條例》列明華人，無論生於何方，可循血統獲中國國藉。然而到了1955年，中國則與印尼締約要當地華人在兩國國籍中二擇其一。萬隆是當天會議的舉辦地，周恩來赴會險成赴難，時至今日萬隆是一條中印合資興建的高鐵的起點站。選擇留下來的華人，新兩代儘管已經不太會說中文，又好像沒有放棄過這種曖昧的情感連結及雙重身份。

Philip A. Kuhn （孔飛力）的詳盡資料無疑餵得飽我的好奇心，這部看得出下了一輩子苦功才綜合得出的華人移民史也掃除了我的盲點。我們定當知道馬來西亞的華人不少，可沒想過菲律賓也有，更是融入當地的 mestizos。中南半島上，除了越南這種有明顯關係的，原來泰族為首的泰國甚至出過華人血統的泰王；再查一查，就連紅色高棉的頭號人物們都不乏華人後代的；再新一些的移民，我自然想起緬北孤軍。

孔說得非常對，沒有華人移民史的中國歷史不完全，取近的說，華僑資助了中國走向共和的革命，取遠的說，茶今天全世界所品，最少在歐洲的傳播上福建及廣東人功不可沒。只有看清華人在不同時期的走向，才能理解今天一些現象。孔塑造了一個很自然、通用的解釋系統，說白了就是政令與華商地位的來回互動。例如在克里奧化相當徹底的菲律賓，以及華商地位從不超然的泰國，排華是幾近不存在的。

此外，這本書值得有更謹慎的翻譯及審校。

[Zhouweiwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent survey of the circumstances and strategies of overseas Chinese.

[غبار · Rating 3 out of 5]

accessible & informative, but at times dry & repetitive in the way most academic writing is. read this for my chinese migrations class. i think this text is a great starting point if one knows little about the history of chinese diasporas & would like broad strokes across eras, regions, cultures. its portrayal of singapore (in chapter 7), though, comes across as frustratingly benign – which makes me wonder if kuhn's claims elsewhere might be flawed or oversimplified.

[Florence Loh · Rating 4 out of 5]

看到後面進入20世紀國共相關的章節就覺得不對勁，這真是臺版書？看了譯後記瞭然，原來譯者係中國人，這是此書敗筆。作者原書應當極好，脈絡清晰，對於我近期的思考大有助益。自願離開華夏之地的海外華人就像無根浮萍，想融入新的移入國 卻長着一張易於辨識的黃人相，中國政府既不會真心關懷海外僑胞 更不會給僑胞長臉，對於希望有歸屬感的華人來說，出國移民就成爲一個敏感的兩難題，你到底想要什麼？

[keallelogram · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very interesting book about Chinese emigration in modern times. It starts around the 18th, 19th century as Chinese trade was at its apogee and giant armadas were traveling around phillipines and Malaysia and all the way to India. The emigration was connected to that trade. There were 4-5 ethnic groups that made up most of the emigres, all connected to that southern trade. It also detailed the ways that the emigres assimilated into the cultures of the places where they landed. They were mostly there for trade, and they would often form affinity groups of their own tribe, village or neighborhood of origin. Then it went into how the other societies treated them. Since this all started during colonial times (indeed the apogee of trading times), there was a lot of the western colonizers using the chinese as middlemen against the native people. Since every country had different situations, there were varying levels of antipathy towards the chinese, from the natives. The chinese were useful to the westerners both for business and to separate themselves from the natives, but they feared and hated them. The book gets into what happened to the emigres after colonialism ended, due to war. It was different everywhere. In some countries, there was a concerted effort at assimilation, in others (Thailand), it didn’t make too much of a difference because of the strength of the Thai culture, and in still others (Indonesia) there was some persecution, but all led to assimilation at different levels. It does get into the Chinese in the west, especially the US, and including Australia. The extent in Europe was lesser simply because the discrimination and barriers were extremely high. But a lot of chinese went to the US and Australia looking for gold. The westerners are very consistent in their discrimination against chinese. They fear replacement, and they are confident in their superiority. It’s quite depressing. The book ends in the modern era, up to the millennium. It discusses how the countries always feared chinese being more loyal to China, and the practicalities of that, from the perspective of the Chinese government, which has been in flux for most of the period that we are discussing. In short, although the chinese abroad have nurtured their cultural ties to their homeland, practically speaking they adapted to their adopted countries and tend to use both their china connections and their adopted country birthright to their own advantages. I guess this is what happens when you are talking about a group of people who emigrated for reasons of trade and profit! This book really went straight to my deepest fears and experiences. For one thing, I realized, not a day goes by today where I am not on some level worried and afraid of the way that Americans view the Chinese. The book just confirmed everything I’ve already experienced about westerners and their deep-seated prejudices. It seems to be truly civilizational and constant throughout history. The second thing I realized is that all of us children of asian immigrants share many of these experiences. The book discusses how emigres “decide” to stay in the place that they have landed, given that the constant feature of the chinese emigres was the ways of remaining true to their own culture. It’s often just a matter of world events. The Japanese side of our family was active in a Japanese affinity group, and remained true to their culture in many ways, even 4 generations down. But during WWII, they basically had to choose a side and staying in Hawaii must have seemed an obvious choice.

[AnnatarHe · Rating 5 out of 5]

在改革开放章节戛然而止，结束了四个月漫长的地铁阅读。
这本书基本是从大明末期开始，讲述了一个我们从未听过的东方版出埃及记。只是圣经里有上帝帮他们开红海降惩戒。而华人是彻彻底底地一无所有。
我已经不记得具体的时间节点和细节，但还忘不掉 Batavia 的甘蔗林，吉隆坡的锡矿，去往 Victoria 的土路，三藩市的枕木之下。那里全是华人的尸体 ...
进入到近代，从第一共和开始，游子在外的苦难是如此地沉重以至于那些逃出去的华人就想通过各种方法帮扶 mainland 做大做强，但结果是... 这里不是家...

这是一本质量极高的海外华人史，非常推荐。但是由于后半段牵扯到第二共和的内容，还是只能看英文版。
作者虽然经常用一些高级的单词和语句，但是语气和态度上还是比较正常的，几乎没有阴阳怪气和暗讽，也少有典故。像我这样的幼儿园英文花四个月也能看得下来。

或者实际一点儿，至少也是个很不错的国际视角读物，对于要出海的项目，了解海外外族对于华人的态度还是非常重要的。(比如老板要是把 to c 业务出海第一站放在印尼，那差不多可以开始准备简历了。😅)

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Kuhn, he takes on the surprisingly tough task of knitting together a thousand different threads followed by Chinese emmigrants around the world.

[Qi Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book, it states the traits of the Chinese migrants and the challenges they came across. Recommend!

[Taotao Ouyang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book earlier

[Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

《他者中的华人》（美）孔飞力。

[Lula · Rating 5 out of 5]

这本可能是因为离现在时间最近，看起来也比之前看的基本全面

[he chow · Rating 4 out of 5]

最後解決第五縱隊的忠誠問題的方法就是：
經濟利益高於一切
全球化經濟下華人與毛時代以後的新中國
找到了自己合適的苦力位置
大家悶聲發大財。

可以預告最新一波排華高潮
要等第二次太平洋戰爭
忠誠的考驗勢必以前代財富的灰飛煙滅為代價
因為沒有解決的問題還是沒有解決。

奴隸的財富沒有保障可言。

_______________
摘錄：https://manjuorg.wordpress.com/2022/0...

排華運動的源起和影響

因為華人做偽證的習性與藐視法律多的手段，這些事情的真正內幕永遠不會被揭露。

華人在本質和傳統上就是「奴工」（serfs），而且「從事奴隸勞動是他們的天生本質和不可改變的命運

反對華人的證詞集中在以下三個課題：(1)白人勞工階級對於自身處境的焦慮感（status anxiety）；(2)華人雖無「奴隸」之名卻有「奴隸」之實；(3)工業時代早期的勞、資衝突

一些證人在證詞中指出，白人勞動者不願意和華人一起工作。工人「不樂意在工作時旁邊有中國佬（Chinaman）」，9因為他覺得「中國佬的社會地位和自己不同」，而且，他認為自己如果和那幫中國佬一起工作，就貶低了自己的身分。

澳大利亞的排華之路

自從華人開始進入北美和澳大利亞移民社會，他們就只能在充滿敵意的環境中謀生。所謂的「適應」整體而言就意味著他們只能在當地白人不屑從事的經濟領域中去尋找機會

我們知道，有色人種工人和白種工人是不能比肩共處的；我們深知，中國在每一個年頭裡所增加的人口就足以將我們吞沒；我們還知道，如果為了開發幾座礦井和經營幾個甘蔗種植園就要犧牲一個民族的生存的話，那麼不僅是澳大利亞的英國人，甚至整個文明世界，都會因此而蒙受損失……我們正在守衛著這個世界的最後一片土地，在這裡，我們高等種族可以為了我們的高等文明而自由生活、自由繁衍。我們拒絕任何黃種人，他們完全可以生活在他們自己的出生地，或者，生活在諸如印度群島那樣的地方（即馬來亞和荷屬東印度），在那些地方，除了某些特例，我們白種人絕對無法在那裡長期生活……我們正在為崇高的理想而奮鬥，我們認為，這個世界注定只能屬於我們的雅利安（Aryan）種族，屬於我們所信仰的基督教文明……我們將會發現我們被人推擠出局，而驅趕我們的竟然是那些我們根本看不起且像奴隸[…]

在美國，對於華人的恐懼源於經濟因素（即工資被拉低和華人那種像奴隸一樣的勞作方式），和政治因素（華人不適合於美國的民主政治）。

具備靈活的適應性，利用在此地獲得的資金和技術在另一地投資經營企業，利用所享有的比較優勢避開與他人的競爭，實現比較優勢的最佳組合，這些都是成功企業的共同標誌；然而，作為移民企業，他們特別需要學會利用自己處於邊緣地位的槓桿作用，即發現處於不同法律規範之間的那一特殊的邊緣縫隙，尋找獨特的機遇，善於在任何一個環境中發現自己的相對優勢，並以此鞏固自己在另一環境中的地位。

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just wish I could sit in this seminar ... Kuhn is an absolute master! the best kind of historian.

[Tianxiao · Rating 5 out of 5]

500年跨度的华人移民的历史，这些在「他者」群体中求生存的华人，虽与中华大地相隔千里万里，却在不知不觉中将中华文化对自身的影响折射到世界舞台上，在求生、发展和角逐中，也自然成为中华文化扩散到全球的传播者。