Steven Miles. Opportunity in Crisis: Cantonese Migrants and the State in Late Qing China.

Abstract

Opportunity in Crisis: Cantonese Migrants and the State in Late Qing China is the second of two books written by Steven Miles to document the under-explored history of Cantonese diaspora moving along the West River into Guangxi in late imperial China. In these works, Miles advocates for understanding Cantonese diaspora in a truly global context by achieving a holistic view of their experiences in both domestic and overseas destinations. With rich individual stories, the book continues chronologically from the first book, Upriver Journeys: Diaspora and Empire in Southern China 1570–1850 (2017), and highlights the movements of Cantonese migrants who rode on currents amidst the regional and national crises in the second half of the nineteenth century to advance their statuses and transform the social, economic, and cultural landscapes of Guangxi. The book presents exemplary historical research of a highly mobile population lacking systematic records. By meticulously identifying and linking individuals across myriad sources—government archives, gazetteers, genealogies, the list of donors inscribed in stelae erected in huiguan (native-place associations) and temples in the market towns along the West River, and anthologies, to name a few—Miles brings to light the life stories of numerous migrants with varying social backgrounds. The work makes a significant contribution to the fields of migration studies, the social history of southern China, and the Qing Empire in the nineteenth century.