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A History of the Chinese in South Africa to 1912 Karen A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN SOUTH AFRICA TO 1912 by KAREN LEIGH HARRIS submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject of HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTERS: PROF S B SPIES PROF G C CUTHBERTSON Date: December 1998 111111111111111 00017?R0A'> ii 111111111111111111111111111111 0001728942 To my husband, Heni TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Dedication ii Abstract vi Acknowledgements vii Declaration ix Abbreviations X Preface xi Chapter 1 Historiographical Introduction 1 Introduction I: Terminology - China and overseas Chinese citizens - European colonial reports - Orientalism and discrimination - Chinese writing on overseas Chinese (pp. 1-8) II: Post Second World War historiography - Marginal position - Anti-Chinese focus - Stereotypical images - Chinese community focus - Comparative and contextualized studies (pp.9-16) III: Source material Colonial accounts and "orientalism" - Limited Chinese sources - Oral evidence and archaeological excavations (pp. 16-21) IV: South African sources on overseas Chinese - European travel accounts and legal records - Anti-"Asiatic" legislation augments sources - Documentation on Chinese indentured mine labourers - Post-1910 Chinese invisible (pp. 22-31) V: South African overseas Chinese historiography - Sociological analysis - Overseas studies - Colour, Confusion and Concessions - Transvaal Chinese mine labourers - Peter Richardson - The author and overseas Chinese studies (pp.31-55) Chapter 2 Early Overseas Chinese in Southern Africa 56 Introduction I: Chinese travel overseas - China's emigration policy- Trade and tributary missions - Chen Ho's travels - Ming isolationist policy - Manchu anti-emigration policy (pp. 57 - 66) II: Western colonization - Unskilled labour demands - Contract system - Natural calamities - South China coastal regions - Philip Kuhn's 11 school for emigration 11 -Psychological position­ Mid-nineteenth century emigration (pp. 66 -75) III: Early African encounters - Chen Ho' s seventh maritime voyage - DEIC and Chinese workers - Chinese as convicts and ex-convicts - Chinese community and life style - DEIC legislation against Chinese (pp. 75-90) IV: First and second British occupation - BEIC and St Helena convicts - Requests for Chinese labour - Contracted Chinese - Diminishing -··-'1-..~ ......... r..-...-. on _Qq) _ iv Chapter 3 The Indentured Chinese Labour Experiment 100 Introduction I: Indentured labour historiography Chinese indentured labour in South African historiography - "Orientalism" (pp. 101 - 107) II: Mine labour supply - British Empire and indentured labour - Indian indentured labourers in Natal -Labour crisis and the Bloemfontein Convention, 1903 - Post-war "labour shortage" -Transvaal Labour Commission, 1903 -(pp. 107 - 118) III: Draft Labour Importation Ordinance, 1903 Pro-Chinese campaign - Anti-Chinese lobby - Pro-Chinese lobby - (pp. 118 - 133) IV: Labour Importation Ordinance regulations Foreign Labour Department - Chinese Consulate-General in Transvaal - Labour Importation Ordinance compared (pp. 133 137) V: Conditions and treatment - Chinese outrages (pp. 137 - 142) VI: Party political mileage - Short and long term economic impact (pp. 143 - 147) Chapter 4 The Indentured Chinese Labourers 148 Introduction I: Sources and subaltern classes (pp. 148 - 151) II: Background of indentured Chinese - Chinese poverty - Chinese labour remuneration - Chinese "letters home" (pp. 151 - 162) III: Arrival on Transvaal mines - Chinese compound accommodation - Chinese employment (pp. 162 - 165) IV: Chinese tolerance - Chinese social activities (pp. 166 - 172) V: Chinese grievances - Chinese crime - Gambling, desertion, robbery, assault and murder - Combined resistance (pp. 172 - 181) VI: Chinese wives - Brothels - Homosexuality - Homosexuality on the mines: Chinese and Africans - The Bucknill investigation and recommendations - Homosexuality in China - Chinese indignation - Termination of Chinese indentured system (pp. 181 - 199). Chapter 5 Free Chinese at the Cape 200 Introduction I: Sources - "Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904" - Cape "liberal tradition" - Indians in the Cape - Indians in Natal, ZAR and OFS - "Immigration Act of 1902" (pp. 201 - 213) II: Chinese at the Cape before 1900 - Occupations - Chinese women - South African War (pp. 214 - 220) III: Indentured Chinese labourers and Cape politics - Afrikaner Bond and South African Party election campaign - Progressive Party election campaign - African and Coloured vote - Anti-Asiatic League (pp. 220 - 237) IV: Post­ election anti-Chinese campaign - Chinese Exclusion Bill - Chinese Associations - Select Committee on Asiatic Grievances - Chinese Consul-General - Immigration Legislation 1913 (pp. 237 - 252) V: Chinese at the Cape after 1900 - Chinese occupations - Chinese wives - Imoact of "Chinese Exclusion Act" (pp. 253 - 259) v Chapter 6 Free Chinese in the Transvaal 260 Introduction I: Sources - Chinese in the ZAR - Law 3 of 1885 - Chinese and Indian relations with Britain Early Chinese political reaction - The South African War and the Chinese position (pp. 261 282) II: British Crown Colony rule Indemnity and Peace Preservation Ordinance, 1902 Post-War legislation - Chinese and Indian responses - The Black Act: Draft Asiatic Amendment Ordinance, 1906 Chinese and Indian delegations to London, 1906 (pp. 283 - 297) III: Het Volk and the Asiatic Law Amendment Act, 1907 - Passive resistance 1907 - Gandhi and the Chinese - Voluntary registration compromise - Chinese passive resistance, 1907-8 - Cartwright draft, 1908 (pp. 297 - 315) IV: Smuts and "foul play" - Asiatics registration Amendment Act, 1908 - Passive resistance and deportation, 1909 - Quinn and Polak in India and South Africa (pp. 315 - 327) V: Union of South Africa and immigration legislation - Chinese passive resistance ends - Conclusion (pp. 327 - 332) Epilogue 333 Sources 350 I. Manuscript collections II. Published archival sources III. Official publications IV. Interviews v. Newspapers VI. Articles VII. Unpublished papers VIII. Theses IX. Books and pamphlets X. Electronic sources vi Abstract The small Chinese community in South Africa has played an important part in the economic and political life of South Africa. From 1660 to 1912, it reflected the experiences of migrant Chinese who left the mainland during and after centuries of isolation. This thesis therefore examines the Chinese in South Africa in the context of a growing historiography of the overseas Chinese, noting particularly the comparisons with other colonial societies, such as the United States of America and Australia. It is also concerned with tracing the history of the free Chinese at the Cape in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before engaging in a more detailed discussion of the period of indentured Chinese labour on the Witwatersrand gold mines in the early twentieth century. Although the political economy of indenture has been copiously dealt with in recent historical research, the focus here is more on the social and cultural dimensions of Chinese labour, including aspects such as privacy, sexuality and living conditions in the compound system. This cultural history is interpreted against the background of political and legislative developments in South Africa leading to the formation of the Union in 1910. One of the main arguments of the thesis is that the indentured labour scheme had profound repercussions for the racial status of the free Chinese in the late colonial period. The different experiences of the Chinese in the Cape and the Transvaal are given special attention to illustrate regional patterns of social stratification, and explain the vicissitudes of race relations in South Africa up to 1912. In the Cape it led to subjection under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904, while in the Transvaal it resulted in political involvement in the initial phases of Mahatma Gandhi's "satyagraha". Cultural exclusivity and minority status are at the heart of this· analysis and are indices of how the Chinese were brought under the yoke of segregation, which anticipated the oppression of apartheid after 1948. Keywords: Overseas Chinese studies; Migration; Ethnic minorities; Anti­ Sinicism; Orientalism; Indentured labour; Chinese Exclusion Act; Passive resistance; Mahatma Gandhi; Race relations; South Africa. vii Acknowledgements I am grateful to numerous people who have assisted me over the past decade in the production of this study. As the subject was not in the mainstream of South African social history when I first began researching it in the late 1980s, I am most appreciative of all the support I received from my supervisors, the staff of various research facilities, friends, family, colleagues at the University of South Africa and other international academics, who encouraged and inspired me. This thesis was made easier by the dedicated interest and intellectual direction I received from my two supervisors, Professors Burridge Spies and Greg Cuthbertson. Professor Spies's enthusiasm and meticulous reading of the chapters was an inspiration in itself. His interest in this topic and warm encouragement was invaluable. From the outset, Greg revealed a belief in the viability of this field of cultural study, when others did not. Throughout the past decade he carefully read and commented on the numerous papers, articles and chapters I prepared. His support, understanding and hard work on the final product has been indispensable. My thanks are also due to the staff of the various institutions
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