Chinese revolutionary movement in Malaya (1900-1911)

Abstract

This study has three main purposes. One is to describe and analyse the Chinese revolutionary activities in Singapore and Malaya between 1900 and 1911 to show how the movement grew and developed in these areas, and later became one of the main streams of the movement overseas, what difficulties it encountered, and what techniques were adopted to solve the problems. The second purpose is to analyse and explain how overseas Chinese in Singapore and Malaya responded to the revolution and what difference were the responses amongst different classes of people. The third is to estimate the importance of the activities in Singapore and Malaya to the revolutionary movement as a whole, and to assess the contribution in manpower and finance from the region towards the 1911 revolution. Studies on the Chinese revolution and monographs on its personalities and organizations are not lacking. However, overseas Chinese involvement and contributions have been only barely touched and the present study is but a modest attempt to delve into this neglected field. Activities of Chinese revolutionaries in French Indo-China, Burma, Thailand, the Dutch East-Indies, Canada, Japan and the United States and their contributions to the revolution deserve more attention than has hitherto been paid . Overseas Chinese involvement in internal Chinese politics was started by the revolutionaries. Later, the Kuomintang's attempt to mobilize overseas Chinese against the Yuan Shih-k'ai regime (1913-1916) showed the tendency to use organizations and practices established during the anti-Manchu phase. Thus, newspapers, public speeches, mass rallies, reading clubs and drama troupes were used to popularize anti-Yüan feeling, and these practices are traceable to the period under study. The choice of 1900 and 1911 as terminal dates is not a matter of convenience. The year 1900 marked the beginning of formal contact between the Chinese revolutionary movement and Malaya. The year 1911 was a turning point in the modern history of China and China's relations with her overseas subjects. This period also saw the growth of nationalistic and patriotic feelings in the Chinese communities in Singapore and Malaya. It was a period of transition from indifference to active participation in China's politics, and from a divided and disorganized society to a more united and more national conscious one.The title, 'Chinese Revolutionary Movement in Malaya, 1900-1911’ needs explanation, Malaya at the time included the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, The

existence of Malaysia and Singapore to-day makes the use of Malaya as a general term for the region under study objectionable or even misleading to present day readers if they do not bear in mind that Malaya from 1900 to 1911 did cover the region under study. The use of 'Chinese in Singapore and Malaya' instead of 'Malayan Chinese' in the text might help to avoid misunderstandings. The research is based mainly on Chinese newspapers published in Singapore and Malaya during this period, the KMT archives (published and unpublished), memoirs, letters and pamphlets written by leaders actively engaged in the revolution. In collecting sources, the author came across many technical problems: the Chinese newspapers used are not indexed, and information had to be gathered laboriously page by page; microfilmed copies of the newspapers were not available until 1966, one year after this study had been started. The newspaper used are party organs for revolutionaries and reformists: the Chung Hsing Jih Pao, the Sun Pao and Nan Ch'iao Jih Pao for the revolutionaries; the T’ien Nan Hsin-Pao, Jih Hsin Pao, the Union Times and the Penang Hsin Pao for the reformists. In using these newspapers, some mistakes made by published works and archives have been corrected. They are pointed out in the notes. Additional difficulties were encountered in trying to locate the archives of the Ch'ing Consulate and of the Chinese Protectorate in Singapore. These two important archives no longer exist, possibly lost during the Japanese occupation. In interviewing descendants of revolutionary leaders, the author also had difficulty in obtaining information. Most of their private records were lost during the Japanese occupation, and their memory of their fathers or grandfathers was often vague and inaccurate. Some of the living revolutionaries were either too old to give accurate accounts or declined to give any information. An old T’ung Meng Hui member in Ipoh, Lee Ah Weng (age 88) declined to say anything because he was afraid of revenge by Manchu descendants! A former manager of the Kuang Hua Jih Pao in Penang refused to be interviewed although the author had visited his residence four times. This fear of involvement is a common attitude among the overseas Chinese in Singapore and Malaya. Romanizations in the text generally follow the Wade- Giles system. However, when the persons and institutions cited have their own transliterations in English, the original transliterations are retained. A glossary is provided for reference.