Gregor Benton and Hong Liu
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298415
- eISBN:
- 9780520970540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298415.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Qiaopi is the name given to the “silver letters” Chinese emigrants sent home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These letters-cum-remittances, which were entered into UNESCO’s Memory of the ...
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Qiaopi is the name given to the “silver letters” Chinese emigrants sent home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These letters-cum-remittances, which were entered into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2013, document the changing history of the Chinese diaspora in different parts of the world and in different periods, as well as its linkages to China. The qiaopi trade played a big part in making China transnational. This book, the first in English on qiaopi and on the origins, structure, and operations of the qiaopi trade, makes an important contribution to our understanding of modern Chinese history and to the comparative study of global migration. It examines the culture, business, geography, and politics of the qiaopi phenomenon, both in China and abroad, as well as the special features of the qiaopi trade in each of its Chinese regions. It traces the history of the trade, including the shift from individual couriering to large-scale enterprise, and its role in China’s difficult transition from an agrarian bureaucracy under the Qing to capitalism and the start of modern statehood under the Kuomintang and then to collectivism and full statehood under the communists. The study argues that the qiaopi trade was indispensable to modern China’s economic and social modernization and the basis for one of China’s earliest excursions into the modern world. The changes that it wrought were built initially on primordial ties of locality, kinship, and dialect, and it later joined or created national, transnational, and international networks based on trade, finance, and general migration.Less
Qiaopi is the name given to the “silver letters” Chinese emigrants sent home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These letters-cum-remittances, which were entered into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2013, document the changing history of the Chinese diaspora in different parts of the world and in different periods, as well as its linkages to China. The qiaopi trade played a big part in making China transnational. This book, the first in English on qiaopi and on the origins, structure, and operations of the qiaopi trade, makes an important contribution to our understanding of modern Chinese history and to the comparative study of global migration. It examines the culture, business, geography, and politics of the qiaopi phenomenon, both in China and abroad, as well as the special features of the qiaopi trade in each of its Chinese regions. It traces the history of the trade, including the shift from individual couriering to large-scale enterprise, and its role in China’s difficult transition from an agrarian bureaucracy under the Qing to capitalism and the start of modern statehood under the Kuomintang and then to collectivism and full statehood under the communists. The study argues that the qiaopi trade was indispensable to modern China’s economic and social modernization and the basis for one of China’s earliest excursions into the modern world. The changes that it wrought were built initially on primordial ties of locality, kinship, and dialect, and it later joined or created national, transnational, and international networks based on trade, finance, and general migration.
John Fitzgerald and Hon-ming Yip (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9789888528264
- eISBN:
- 9789888528929
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528264.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Charity is common to diaspora communities the world over, from Armenian diaspora networks to Zimbabwean ones, but the forms charitable activity takes vary across communities and sites of settlement. ...
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Charity is common to diaspora communities the world over, from Armenian diaspora networks to Zimbabwean ones, but the forms charitable activity takes vary across communities and sites of settlement. What was distinctive about Chinese diaspora charity?
This volume explores the history of charity among overseas Chinese during the century from 1850 to 1949 with a particular focus on the Cantonese "Gold Rush" communities of the Pacific rim, a loosely integrated network of émigrés from Cantonese-speaking counties in Guangdong Province, centering on colonial Hong Kong where people lived, worked and moved among English-speaking settler societies of North America and Oceania.
The Cantonese Pacific was distinguished from fabled Nanyang communities of Southeast Asia in a number of ways and the forms their charity assumed were equally distinctive. In addition to traditional functions, charity served as a medium of cross-cultural negotiation with dominant Anglo-settler societies of the Pacific. Community leaders worked through civic associations to pioneer new models of public charity to demand recognition of Chinese immigrants as equal citizens in their host societies. Their charitable innovations were shaped by their host societies in turn, exemplified by women's role in charitable activities from the early decades of the 20th century.
By focusing on charitable practices in the Cantonese diaspora over a century of trans-Pacific migration, this collection sheds new light on the history of charity in the Chinese diaspora, including institutional innovations not apparent within China itself, and on the place of the Chinese diaspora in the wider history of charity and philanthropy.Less
Charity is common to diaspora communities the world over, from Armenian diaspora networks to Zimbabwean ones, but the forms charitable activity takes vary across communities and sites of settlement. What was distinctive about Chinese diaspora charity?
This volume explores the history of charity among overseas Chinese during the century from 1850 to 1949 with a particular focus on the Cantonese "Gold Rush" communities of the Pacific rim, a loosely integrated network of émigrés from Cantonese-speaking counties in Guangdong Province, centering on colonial Hong Kong where people lived, worked and moved among English-speaking settler societies of North America and Oceania.
The Cantonese Pacific was distinguished from fabled Nanyang communities of Southeast Asia in a number of ways and the forms their charity assumed were equally distinctive. In addition to traditional functions, charity served as a medium of cross-cultural negotiation with dominant Anglo-settler societies of the Pacific. Community leaders worked through civic associations to pioneer new models of public charity to demand recognition of Chinese immigrants as equal citizens in their host societies. Their charitable innovations were shaped by their host societies in turn, exemplified by women's role in charitable activities from the early decades of the 20th century.
By focusing on charitable practices in the Cantonese diaspora over a century of trans-Pacific migration, this collection sheds new light on the history of charity in the Chinese diaspora, including institutional innovations not apparent within China itself, and on the place of the Chinese diaspora in the wider history of charity and philanthropy.
Gregor Benton and Hong Liu
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298415
- eISBN:
- 9780520970540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298415.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This introductory chapter provides a detailed account of the origins of qiaopi and their significance for Chinese international migration and modern Chinese history. Emigrants’ letters and ...
More
This introductory chapter provides a detailed account of the origins of qiaopi and their significance for Chinese international migration and modern Chinese history. Emigrants’ letters and remittances home were an important link between China and Chinese overseas, who were tied—emotionally, socially, and economically—with a China in transition to a modern society and state. During the period of the qiaopi trade, from the late Qing and the Republic through to the People’s Republic, modern mechanisms and institutions of finance and communication such as banks and post offices became a cornerstone of the modern Chinese state, and the qiaopi trade in South China played a part in that process. This chapter also introduces key concepts, terminologies, and usages concerning qiaopi and qiaopi trade.Less
This introductory chapter provides a detailed account of the origins of qiaopi and their significance for Chinese international migration and modern Chinese history. Emigrants’ letters and remittances home were an important link between China and Chinese overseas, who were tied—emotionally, socially, and economically—with a China in transition to a modern society and state. During the period of the qiaopi trade, from the late Qing and the Republic through to the People’s Republic, modern mechanisms and institutions of finance and communication such as banks and post offices became a cornerstone of the modern Chinese state, and the qiaopi trade in South China played a part in that process. This chapter also introduces key concepts, terminologies, and usages concerning qiaopi and qiaopi trade.
Gregor Benton and Hong Liu
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9789888528264
- eISBN:
- 9789888528929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528264.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Qiaopi and yinxin are Chinese names given to letters written home by Chinese emigrants, in the 150 years starting from the 1820s. Estimates of the number of qiaopi collected in China range from ...
More
Qiaopi and yinxin are Chinese names given to letters written home by Chinese emigrants, in the 150 years starting from the 1820s. Estimates of the number of qiaopi collected in China range from 160,000 to more than 300,000, sent back to China from main regions of settlement of overseas Chinese, in Southeast Asia and in the Americas and the Pacific (the focus of this chapter). Recent scholarship on qiaopi has focused on remittance networks associated with these letters or the analysis of their content. This chapter examines a hitherto overlooked dimension in qiaopi studies and diasporic Chinese studies, its function as charity, and the operational mechanisms, impact, and theoretical implications of qiaopi charity. We argue that qiaopi and the associated qiaohui networks served as important arenas of diasporic Chinese charity, which in turn connected overseas Chinese and China and thus contributed to the formation of transnational China. This chapter concludes that qiaopi exemplified a key characteristic of diasporic Chinese charity, its systemic combination of individual and family giving and donations to institutions. In China, charity truly “began at home” in two senses: family and friends came first, and the charitable idea was in large part indigenous in shape and conception.Less
Qiaopi and yinxin are Chinese names given to letters written home by Chinese emigrants, in the 150 years starting from the 1820s. Estimates of the number of qiaopi collected in China range from 160,000 to more than 300,000, sent back to China from main regions of settlement of overseas Chinese, in Southeast Asia and in the Americas and the Pacific (the focus of this chapter). Recent scholarship on qiaopi has focused on remittance networks associated with these letters or the analysis of their content. This chapter examines a hitherto overlooked dimension in qiaopi studies and diasporic Chinese studies, its function as charity, and the operational mechanisms, impact, and theoretical implications of qiaopi charity. We argue that qiaopi and the associated qiaohui networks served as important arenas of diasporic Chinese charity, which in turn connected overseas Chinese and China and thus contributed to the formation of transnational China. This chapter concludes that qiaopi exemplified a key characteristic of diasporic Chinese charity, its systemic combination of individual and family giving and donations to institutions. In China, charity truly “began at home” in two senses: family and friends came first, and the charitable idea was in large part indigenous in shape and conception.
Gregor Benton and Hong Liu
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298415
- eISBN:
- 9780520970540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298415.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This concluding chapter argues that the qiaopi trade was the basis for one of China’s earliest excursions into the modern world economy. The trade quickly progressed from the one-man operations of ...
More
This concluding chapter argues that the qiaopi trade was the basis for one of China’s earliest excursions into the modern world economy. The trade quickly progressed from the one-man operations of the early years to the piju formed by qiaopi entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the swift growth of Chinese emigration and remittance. It eventually matured into a stable industry with its own perfected mechanisms, patched onto China’s other modern institutions like banks and the post office and linked to modern forms of communication and transport. The trade gave an impetus to other forms of transnational and domestic industry and to urban growth in coastal cities adjacent to the qiaoxiang. Initially based on networks of blood, place, and tongue, it later joined or created national, transnational, and international networks based on trade, finance, and general migration, mainly in territories around the South China Sea but also in the gold-rush Pacific—the Americas, Australia, and the South Pacific. These networks, maritime and terrestrial, were not just economic but also had deep cultural and social dimensions. Along them ran not just cash, capital, and goods but also people, ideas, and information. The flow of capital, ideas, and population between Chinese in diaspora and their families and communities in China was a key driver in the remaking of China along modern and transnational lines.Less
This concluding chapter argues that the qiaopi trade was the basis for one of China’s earliest excursions into the modern world economy. The trade quickly progressed from the one-man operations of the early years to the piju formed by qiaopi entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the swift growth of Chinese emigration and remittance. It eventually matured into a stable industry with its own perfected mechanisms, patched onto China’s other modern institutions like banks and the post office and linked to modern forms of communication and transport. The trade gave an impetus to other forms of transnational and domestic industry and to urban growth in coastal cities adjacent to the qiaoxiang. Initially based on networks of blood, place, and tongue, it later joined or created national, transnational, and international networks based on trade, finance, and general migration, mainly in territories around the South China Sea but also in the gold-rush Pacific—the Americas, Australia, and the South Pacific. These networks, maritime and terrestrial, were not just economic but also had deep cultural and social dimensions. Along them ran not just cash, capital, and goods but also people, ideas, and information. The flow of capital, ideas, and population between Chinese in diaspora and their families and communities in China was a key driver in the remaking of China along modern and transnational lines.