London: I.B. Tauris; New York: distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. xiii, 302 pp. (Maps, illus.) US$95.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-78706-134-3.
This is a very careful study of how the French extended their patchy control over various Chinese groups in the constituent states of what became Indo-China. The author used the archives in France and Vietnam to trace the steps taken to organize the Chinese in congregations, not only to control the numbers of Chinese entering and leaving but also to assist the colonial authorities in monitoring social behaviour and regulating business transactions. She is thus able to trace the origins of each of the congregations and show how effective they were for some purposes and how ineffective for others.
By using several remarkable examples of cases that came up for resolution, the study makes it clear that these congregations were not designed to limit Chinese enterprise but they did enable the French to keep check on a wide range of commercial and political activity in the Chinese communities. The book provides examples of manifold layers of networking that are rooted in well-established practice and shows how difficult it was for authorities to keep track of them even if they wanted to.
The chapters on the leadership of the congregations and how the leaders were “elected” in different parts of Indochina are very interesting. Between French ideas of what the process should have been like, and factors of age and seniority, and the preference among the Chinese for the wealthy to be responsible for their affairs, the congregations provided little assurance to the colonial governments that all was well in their relationship with the complex mix of Chinese communities. The example of the Ly family of Cholon (chapter 4) and the role of its members both inside and outside the congregation is particularly illuminating in this regard.
Other chapters outline the different concerns of each congregation. Among the most important were the mutual aid that each provided to its members, not least in matters of hospitals and health care as well as the rituals and procedures pertaining to the dead. Here it is significant to note how the congregations overlapped with traditional district and kinship organizations that the Chinese also expected to bear such community responsibilities.
In the early twentieth century, the Chinese communities became aware of the importance of education in modern schools. This was not only because of the growth of national consciousness in China but also because these schools awakened a fresh commitment to Chinese cultural identity. The development also meant that younger generations became more open to direct influences from revolutionary China. From the French perspective, this involved many Chinese in the politics of China and that was obviously unwelcome to colonial authorities. As this is a topic that had aroused much interest in the region since the 1920s, the book would have benefited from comparisons with similar manifestations in Dutch and British territories and how they were dealt with elsewhere. It would be obvious that British schools in the Straits Settlements and Dutch colonial schools in Java were more successful in drawing away the local-born Chinese from the new Chinese schools. Why that was so would also have illuminated the strategies employed by the Chinese to counter the challenge to their cultural autonomy.
The book also has two chapters to cover problems of gambling, crime and other deviant acts that threatened social order. Here French police actions were relatively effective. The contrast between this and the failure to curb malpractices in the world of commerce is striking.
The author provides evidence from rich and previously untapped sources to show that the French found in the congregation a useful way to keep track of tens of thousands of Chinese who were enterprising and able to operate effectively in the unruly environment on the colonial frontier. The records were often incomplete and it is a measure of the author’s meticulous research that she has been able to use them to illuminate the pros and cons of that system.
Books and reports on the Chinese of Indo-China have appeared over the decades in several languages, mostly in Chinese, French and Vietnamese. The literature in English has been relatively weak and historical interest has only recently been revived. This volume does not claim to be a full account of the Chinese communities in that territory, as suggested by the title. It really only describes some of them from the perspective of a very French institution. That way, the author focuses on the interaction between two sets of nonlocal protagonists, a series of colonial officials posted to the distant tropics trying to keep a lid on communities that consisted largely of sojourners out to make their fortunes. It was a fascinating relationship that was changing and evolving even as the native Vietnamese tried to organize themselves to drive the invading French out.
The data gathered together by the author offers fresh insights into the workings of a volatile situation and makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of overseas Chinese life in Southeast Asia. This is an important study that shows how the French efforts in each of the colonies and protectorates employed similar methods of congregation control and how Chinese communities made use of different local conditions to adapt and react creatively to their efforts.
Wang Gungwu
National University of Singapore, Singapore
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