Chinese Trade and Society in Southeastern Burma in the Nineteenth Century

Previous studies of the Chinese in Burma have focused upon Chinese activities in Upper Burma, along the Sino-Burmese border. Thus, much attention has been given to their connections with Yunnan and their role in tying Burma to mainland China through overland trade. As smaller Chinese groups elsewhere were ignored, they were generally assumed to fall into the same category as these more northerly Chinese migrants. The Chinese community in Southeastern Burma, however, differed significantly from Chinese groups active further north and should be viewed more from the perspective of the Straits than from Yunnan. In this paper, the commercial and social underpinnings of Chinese settlers in Lower Burma will be examined, as well as their role in connecting Lower Burmese commerce up with other areas, especially Penang. The argument is that the Chinese in Southeastern Burma played a pivotal though frequently ignored role in the development of the nineteenth-century Burmese economy. This paper is based upon previously unexamined archival materials and Burmese primary documents. Note that this paper was prepared for the conference, but ultimately I could not attend