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‘The Turbulent But Commercially Valuable Chinese’ A Comparison of French and British Colonial Policies Towards the Chinese in Southeast Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 June 2011
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All over Southeast Asia, the perception that the European colonizers had of the Chinese was characterized by a fundamental ambiguity. On the one hand, the Chinese were recognized to be very useful, and even indispensable to the economic development/exploitation of the colonial territories, as they were hard-working labourers, possessed needed entrepreneurial, commercial and technical skills and had already established trade contacts with the indigenous populations. But, on the other hand, the Chinese were perceived as a potential political threat because of their strong communal organization and solidarity, their secret societies and their frequent clan fights.
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References
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