The Chinese Community in Dutch Indonesia: Population and Socio-economic Characteristics

Authors

William TAI Yuen, KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, Netherlands.Follow

Abstract

The Chinese in Dutch Indonesia had evolved over the centuries into a largely settled community by the 1930s, with a distinct urban population and a high proportion of locally born peranakans, although they remained a small minority in the Indonesian population. The transition to a settled community was coupled with a process of gradual integration with the indigenous communities through the acquisition of local language, customs and culture. The immigrant/peranakan divide was continuously shifting as immigrant settlers became acculturated and brought forth a new generation of peranakans. As middlemen traders par excellence in the archipelago, the Chinese provided the vital links between the indigenous peasantry and the world market and contributed to the socio-economic transformation of Indonesian society. In their constant adaptation to the local environment, the Chinese community became firmly embedded in the Indonesian society as a vibrant element in its richly variegated sociocultural landscape.

Recommended Citation

TAI Yuen, William (2014) "The Chinese Community in Dutch Indonesia: Population and Socio-economic Characteristics," Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies: Vol. 3: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://mjcs.newera.edu.my/journal/vol3/iss2/3