Review: Distant Shores: Colonial Encounters on China’s Maritime Frontier, by Melissa Macauley

Abstract

Book Review| May 01 2023 Review: Distant Shores: Colonial Encounters on China’s Maritime Frontier, by Melissa Macauley Distant Shores: Colonial Encounters on China’s Maritime Frontier. By Melissa Macauley. ( Princeton University Press, 2021. 376 pp.) Elizabeth Sinn Elizabeth Sinn The University of Hong Kong Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pacific Historical Review (2023) 92 (2): 320–321. https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2023.92.2.320 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Elizabeth Sinn; Review: Distant Shores: Colonial Encounters on China’s Maritime Frontier, by Melissa Macauley. Pacific Historical Review 1 May 2023; 92 (2): 320–321. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2023.92.2.320 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentPacific Historical Review Search The story of Chaozhouese migration to Southeast Asia, where they have permeated all levels of society, is well-known—but in this thoroughly researched and fluently written book, Macauley offers refreshingly new perspectives on the subject. In broad brush, she provides a deeper and wider picture than ever before by studying a period of several centuries and, spatially, its “frontier” from Shanghai to Hong Kong to continental and island Southeast Asia. Using the idea of “entanglement” to depict the multidimensional interconnectivity of events over time and space, and between the local and the global, she shows critical insights into a complex phenomenon. Yet, the broad brush aside, the minutely detailed information makes this book a gold mine for historians interested in “brotherhoods,” Fang Yao’s qingxiang activities, the “Swatow opium syndicate,” overseas Chinese remittances, and other fascinating topics. Macauley creates a masterly profile of the local official Fang Yao, relatively unknown to scholars,... You do not currently have access to this content.