Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Overseas Chinese political links with China have been a subject of interest for many years. Travellers, journalists, officials and scholars have constantly made speculation, assessments and predictions about the political loyalties of overseas Chinese, and their future in their host countries. Although the overseas Chinese share a common historical and cultural background, they live in different economic environments and political climates, and in different stages of transition. Their political loyalty is especially difficult to assess. It is not just moulded by cultural, economic and political environments; it is also affected by other, less predictable factors. The rise of nationalism in the overseas Chinese communities at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries was a major factor in shaping the political life of the overseas Chinese. Using Singapore and Malaya as case studies, this paper seeks to explain how and why overseas Chinese nationalism arose during this period.
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110 It was claimed that there were a few hundred signatures collected in Singapore, and seven hundred collected in Kuala Lumpur. The telegrams were sent separately to the Tsungli Yamen in Peking; the Singapore telegram was under the leadership of Lin Yun-lung (), a native of Nan-an district of Fukien, who was also a rich merchant; the Kuala Lumpur telegram was sent under the names of Fan Ch'ang () and Wang Tse-min (). See Thien Nan Shin Pao 13/11/1899, p. 2, 15/11/1899, p. 2Google Scholar; Jit Shin Pau, 11/11/1899, p. 4; 17/11/1899, p. 4.Google Scholar
111 Ibid.
112 The protest movement which received a great deal of coverage in the reformist newspapers in Singapore was the one in Thailand. It was claimed that the reformists in Thailand had obtained 80,000 signatures to petition the return of the Emperor's rule. See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 8/3/1900, p. 2, 20/3/1900, p. 2Google Scholar; Jit Shin Pau, 12/3/1900, p. 4, 13/3/1900. p. 7. 19/3/1900, p. 4.Google Scholar
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114 A full-scale celebration of the Emperor Kuang-hsu's 30th birthday took place in Ipoh, Perak. See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 31/7/1900 p. 7.Google Scholar
115 See Lo, Jung-pang, ‘Sequel to Autobiography of K'ang Yu-wei’, in Lo, Jung-pang ed.), K'ang Yu-wei: A Biography and A Symposium, p. 184.Google Scholar
116 Ibid.
117 See Hsien-tzu, Wu, Chung-kuo min-chu hsien-cheng-tang shih (A History of the Chinese Reformist Party) (San Francisco, 1952), pp. 34–6Google Scholar; Fung, Edmund, ‘The T'ang Ts'ai-ch'ang Revolt’, in Papers on Far Eastern History, No. 1 (03, 1970), pp. 70–114.Google Scholar
118 See Tzu-yu, Feng, Chung-hua min-kuo k'ai-kuo ch'ien Ko-ming shih (A Revolutionary History Prior to the Founding of the Chinese Republic) (Taipei, 1954), Vol. 2, p. 105.Google Scholar
119 Interview with Tan Chor-nam on 7 August 1966 at his residence in Singapore. Tan was a close friend of Khoo at that time; his information could be depended upon.
120 See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 22/10/1901, pp. 1–2Google Scholar; ‘Letter from Khoo Seok-wan to the Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, T'ao Mo’, reprinted in Thien Man Shin Pao, 23/10/1901.Google Scholar
121 Khoo's move had greatly affected Tan Chor-nam and Teo Eng-hock, two reformists supporters at the time, who later became the leaders of the revolutionaries in Singapore. See Ching-hwang, Yen, The Overseas Chinese and the 1911 Revolution, p. 56.Google Scholar
122 For details relating to the publication of the two newspapers, see Hock, Chen Mong, The Early Chinese Newspapers of Singapore, pp. 63–80.Google Scholar
123 For details, see Thien Nan Shin Pao and the Jit Shin Pau between 1899 and 1900.
124 Hsien-tzu, Wu, Chung-kuo min-chu hsien-cheng tang shih, p. 28Google Scholar; Gung-wu, Wang, ‘Chinese Reformists and Revolutionaries in the Straits Settlements 1900–1911’ (unpublished B.A. Honours thesis, University of Malaya, Singapore 1953), p. 40 and Appendix B.Google Scholar
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126 See the announcement of the formation of the Hao Hsueh Hui by Dr Lim Boon Keng published in the Thien Nan Shin Pao, 9/9/1899, p. 1.Google Scholar
127 Ibid.
128 Writing about the Chinese Philomatic Society (Hao Hsueh Hui), Song Ong Siang stated that it ‘for a few years carried on a vigorous existence and brought together a number of young men and some of the older folks for the regular study of English literature, Western music and the Chinese language.’ (See Siang, Song Ong, One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore (reprint, Singapore, 1967), p. 236.Google Scholar This statement appears to have contradicted the professed aims of the society and was not in line with the early part of its activities. Thien Man Shin Pao, 9/9/1899, p. 1.Google Scholar
129 See Thien Nan Shin Pao, 5/10/1899, p. 1, 12/10/1899, p. 1 24/10/1899, P. 1, 31/10/1899, p. 1, 9/11/1899, p. 1, 16/11/1899, P. 1Google Scholar; Jit Shin Pau, 6/10/1899, p. 4, 9/10/1899, p. 4, 11/10/1899, p. 1.Google Scholar
130 See Jit Shin Pau, 6/10/1899, p. 4, 9/10/1899, p. 1, 11/10/1899, p. 1Google Scholar, Another reformist leader, Huang Nai-shang, who was in Peking during the Hundred Days' Reform, was invited to give his account in the 8th public lecture organized by the Hao Hsueh Hui on 18 November 1899. See the advertisement for the talk in the Thien Nan Shin Pao, 16/11/1899, p. 1.Google Scholar
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134 Ibid., pp. 104–5.
135 See DrYat-sen, Sun, ‘Min-tsu chu-i’ (Nationalism), in Sun Chung-san hsuan-chi (Selected Works of Dr Sun Yat-sen) (Hong Kong, 1962), Vol. 2, p. 593.Google Scholar
136 The revolutionaries traced their anti-Manchu forerunner to the Koxinga (Cheng Ch'eng-kung) who led the resistance movement in South China and Taiwan against the Manchu conquest. For the relationship between the revolutionaries and the Koxinga's anti-Manchu nationalism see Crozier, R. C., Koxinga and Chinese Nationalism (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), pp. 50–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
137 See Yat-sen, Sun, ‘Min-tsu chu-i’, pp. 626–37.Google Scholar
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