Hmm.
This is just theorizing on my part, so definitely check around on this, but...
...well, the Opium Wars started because of some rather strict limits on foreign trade within China. Like, at the start of the first one, traders were only allowed to set up shop in Guangzhou, from what I understand. (I don't know exactly what this means, but I get a general impression of "not here, buddy," if you know what I mean.)
...and in contemporary Southeast Asia, the Chinese are known as "the Jews of Asia," because they tend to be widespread and because they tend to hit the same trades and professions as Jews in America -- merchants, doctors, that sort of thing.
So my theory, which I've never read anywhere else, is that maybe Chinese import/exporters set up shop elsewhere (like Singapore?) to get foreign goods into the homeland. But they probably weren't interested in expanding influence or annexing foreign ports the way that, say, Belgium was in the Congo. More of a loose mercantile diaspora.
I dunno, the idea seems a little weird to me, now that I look it over.
Oh, and it occurs to me that European historians might make the classic mistake of calling any East Asian (I really want to use the politically incorrect "Oriental" here, but that's a rant for another time)... any Asian with epicanthic folds "Chinese." Whether or not they're actually from China, or have a culture that resembles Chinese. Like, Javanese or Philippinos look vaguely Chinese, but Bahasa and Tagalog have squat in common with Mandarin. That's a big "if," but seems within the realm of possibility. Having a servant who took the job because he was interested in getting the hell out of a rather claustrophobic and xenophobic country, that seems more likely. |
