8 Southeast Asian Studies in China and Taiwan: A Comparative Perspective

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Southeast Asia is closely linked with the Chinese society, not only because of a great number (more than thirty million) of ethnic Chinese in the region but also because of its multilateral connections with China. Historically speaking, China and Southeast Asia started interactions which could be traced back to as early as 111 B.C. when China took over Vietnam during the Han dynasty. Both parties expanded bilateral contacts since Admiral General Cheng Ho's voyages to Southeast Asia during the Ming dynasty in the fifteenth century. China and Southeast Asia have gradually strengthened various interactions since the late nineteenth century when more Chinese immigrated to Southeast Asia due to China's internal chaos and the economic opportunities in this part of the world. Geographically speaking, Southeast Asia has long been regarded as China's rear door or the neighbour in the South. It is particularly true for the people in China's provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, because peoples (particularly minority ethnic groups) over there often migrate from one area to another, regardless of the concepts of borders and territories of the modern nation-state. Culturally speaking, in addition to the minority ethnic groups along the borders of China and Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar where these minority groups share similar cultures, ethnic Chinese (mainly Cantonese, Fujiannese, Hainanese, and Hakkanese) have also appeared in all countries in Southeast Asia since the late seventeenth century, making Chinese culture significant in the local countries. Economically speaking, the minority groups in the north of mainland Southeast Asia and the above four ethnic Chinese groups along the coast of the South China Sea have already established a long economic history with the local people and among themselves. Politically speaking, it was since the late Ching dynasty that the Chinese Government began to be officially in touch with Western colonial powers, and China began to establish counselor offices in a number of Southeast Asian countries after the Republic of China (ROC) was established in 1911. Given these close connections between China and Southeast Asia, the study of Southeast Asia in China only began in the early twentieth century, much late than the beginning of bilateral interactions of the two sides.