Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Section I Historical Antecedents and the Question of Nationality
- Section II The Meeting Ground: Indians and Chinese in Southeast Asia
- 4 China's Nationality Laws and the Chinese Overseas
- 5 A Comparison of the Home Remittance Systems of Indian and Chinese Migrants in Southeast Asia: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- 6 Identity, Transnationalism and Corporate Development: Chinese Business in Malaysia
- 7 Beyond the Glitterati: The Indian and Chinese Jewellers of Little India, Singapore
- 8 Indian and Chinese Communities in Contemporary Burma: A Comparative Analysis of Their Presence and Influence
- 9 Expressions of Faith in Hindu Processional Festivals: Case Studies from Singapore and Malaysia
- 10 Beyond Boundaries? Hindu Spaces in the Chinatowns of Kolkata and Singapore
- Section III Indians in China and Chinese in India
- Section IV Across the Globe: Indian and Chinese Diasporas
- Postscript Shifting Worlds and Changing Identities: The Reshaping of the Chinese-Indian Communities in India after the 1962 “Sino-Indian Incident”
- List of Contributors
- Index
4 - China's Nationality Laws and the Chinese Overseas
from Section II - The Meeting Ground: Indians and Chinese in Southeast Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Section I Historical Antecedents and the Question of Nationality
- Section II The Meeting Ground: Indians and Chinese in Southeast Asia
- 4 China's Nationality Laws and the Chinese Overseas
- 5 A Comparison of the Home Remittance Systems of Indian and Chinese Migrants in Southeast Asia: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- 6 Identity, Transnationalism and Corporate Development: Chinese Business in Malaysia
- 7 Beyond the Glitterati: The Indian and Chinese Jewellers of Little India, Singapore
- 8 Indian and Chinese Communities in Contemporary Burma: A Comparative Analysis of Their Presence and Influence
- 9 Expressions of Faith in Hindu Processional Festivals: Case Studies from Singapore and Malaysia
- 10 Beyond Boundaries? Hindu Spaces in the Chinatowns of Kolkata and Singapore
- Section III Indians in China and Chinese in India
- Section IV Across the Globe: Indian and Chinese Diasporas
- Postscript Shifting Worlds and Changing Identities: The Reshaping of the Chinese-Indian Communities in India after the 1962 “Sino-Indian Incident”
- List of Contributors
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Nationality or citizenship is the product of the modern nation-state. It began in the West, where the first nation-states emerged. When Westerners came to Asia they brought with them this concept with some modifications. In response, Asian countries began to formulate their own nationality laws or citizenship laws in the twentieth century, especially after they gained political independence. China was one of the first in Asia to announce its nationality law in 1909. It is also clear that nationality/ citizenship law is linked to foreign policy, or is meant to serve the “national interest” of a state as well as its domestic politics. This argument also applies to the case of China.
The history of nationality/citizenship law of China has not been long. The law began during the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), about three years prior to its demise. It was first reissued in 1912 by the Republic of China (1912–49) under the Guomindang, and again in 1929 after the Guomindang reunited South and North China. When the People's Republic of China (PRC) came into existence in 1949, the old nationality law was still in use, until the 1955 Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, when Zhou Enlai, then the prime minister of the PRC, offered the solution of dual nationality status for overseas Chinese between China and Southeast Asian countries. However, there was no PRC nationality law proper until September 1980.
Therefore when we talk about China's nationality law today, we are in fact referring to the 1980 nationality law. What are the differences between the 1980 nationality law and those prior to that? What are the contents of the 1980 law? Why was it promulgated and what has been the impact on the “Chinese overseas”? Has this law, which was issued over thirty years ago, been amended? Have there been any problems for China in implementing this law, and what have been the responses of the Afro-Asian states, especially the Southeast Asian states, where about 80 per cent of the Chinese overseas are residing? These are some of the issues that this paper attempts to address.
Prior to discussing the 1980 law, it is important to examine the earlier nationality laws issued by both the Qing dynasty and the Republican government.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Indian and Chinese Immigrant CommunitiesComparative Perspectives, pp. 43 - 54Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2015