The Chinese in Southeast Asia, with their growing economic clout, have been attracting attention from politicians, scholars and observers in recent decades. The rise of China as a global economic power and its profound influence over Southeast Asia has cast a spotlight on the role of Southeast Asian Chinese in the region s economic relations with China.

The Southeast Asian Chinese as an economic force and their growing importance with China are, to a certain extent, determined by the nature and development of their communities. This book uses a multifaceted approach to unravel the forces that helped to transform the communities in the past. Containing 17 papers written within a span of six and a half years, from 2000 to 2006, the book focuses on the social, economic and political aspects of these communities, with special emphasis on the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore.

Contents:The Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore: Malaysian Chinese Society in Transition (1903 2003); A Century of Chinese Business in Malaysia (1904 2004); The Role of Hokkiens in the History of Malaysia and Singapore; Kinship and Organization: The History of the Gan (Yan or Yen) Clansmen in Singapore and Malaysia (1850 1993); The Development and Future of the Chinese Kinship Associations in Singapore and Malaysia; Reflections on My Study of Ethic Chinese History in Singapore and Malaysia; Sun Yat-Sen and the Chinese in Singapore and Malaya (1900 1911); Tongmenghui, Sun Yat-Sen, and the Chinese in Singapore and Malaya: A Revisit; Lim Lian Geok and His Struggle for the Chinese Education in Malaya (1949 1961); The Chinese in Southeast Asia and Beyond: Social Change in the Ethnic (Overseas) Chinese Communities: A Historical Perspective; A Preliminary Study of Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia (1842 1941); Confucianism and the Ethnic Chinese Business in East and Southeast Asia; The Overseas Chinese Nationalism: A Historical Study; Nanyang Chinese and the 1911 Revolution; Hakka Chinese in Southeast Asian History; Hong Kong, China, and the Overseas Chinese; Dr Sun Yat-Sen and 21st Century China.