History of the Chinese in Timor

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Guandi Temple (Dili)

The history of the Chinese in Timor goes back to the 10th century. Even before the Europeans reached the region, the Timorese had contact with Chinese traders who were visiting the island. Later the Chinese settled in Timor in the European colonies. A small Chinese minority still lives on the island today.

Pre-colonial period

Junk from the Song Dynasty in the 13th century

As early as the 10th century, Timorese sandalwood was transported to China through the Strait of Malacca .

Chinese overseas trade official Zhao Rukuo named Timor a place rich in sandalwood in 1225. Santalum album is not only found on Timor, but also on various Pacific islands , Madagascar , Australia and India, but only Timor, Sunda and Solor deliver the highest quality of white sandalwood . Around 1350, the Chinese wrote in the Tao-i chin-lueh :

“No other trees grow in Timor's mountains except sandalwood trees. The wood is traded for silver, iron, cups and fabrics from the West and colored taffeta. There are a total of twelve places called harbors. "

For the sandalwood, which was used in China as a medicine and incense, the Chinese traded porcelain, glass beads and silver. However, the traders did not settle on Timor, which is far from the trade routes between China, India and the large islands, but only stayed as long as they had to to conduct their business. After all, for centuries, Chinese traders were the only foreigners who penetrated the interior of Timor.

Colonial and occupation times

A Malay and a Chinese grave in Kupang, 1846
Chinese in Portuguese Timor around 1900
Chinese traders on a ship in the port of Dili (1901)
Ruins of the Chinese school in Aileu / Portuguese Timor (1970)

In 1551, Emperor Jiajing banned all sea trade. Shortly before, the Portuguese had reached East Asia, so they initially closed the gap in trade between the Lesser Sunda Islands and China. But the Chinese traders soon returned.

In the middle of the 17th century, around 20 junks a year called the island of Timor and brought rice and barter goods. Chinese traders from Macao established trade relations with the Timorese in the areas pacified by the Portuguese and later the Dutch and also began to settle in Timor. First in Kupang and Lifau , later also in Atapupu and Dili . They were so successful in this that Dutch traders complained in 1614 that the Chinese would outbid the Dutch with their inexpensive goods produced in China. Another Dutch source reports that Macau traders made a 200% profit on Timorese sandalwood. According to a report from 1646, 1,000 bahars of sandalwood were brought from Timor to Macau annually . In 1723, Emperor Yongzheng again approved foreign trade, so that a trade triangle between Canton - Timor - Batavia (today's Jakarta ) was created, but this made trade from Macau unprofitable.

In 1775 there was a separate Chinese quarter in Kupang, from where the food trade was controlled. In addition, they now mastered the sandalwood trade via Makassar to China and the beeswax trade to Java , where it was needed for the manufacture of batik . The Chinese also made candles from the wax. Other commodities were honey and slaves. There was also a lot of smuggling. Later, the Chinese from Kupang and Atapupu also went inland as migrant traders. At that time there were already about 300 Chinese families living in Kupang, Atapupu and Dili; most were from Macau.

At times, in the 19th century, Portuguese Timor was subordinate to Macao. In addition, the now loss-making colony was co-financed with money from rich Macao. In 1832 there were around 300 Chinese families in Portuguese Timor alone . Chinese traders and smugglers from Atapupu accused the Portuguese governor José Celestino da Silva end of the 19th century, they were the Dutch West Timor from insurgent Timorese provide them with firearms. The Chinese, however, mostly shared the fate of the Portuguese colonial population. When Dili was threatened by Timorese rebels in 1861 , Governor Afonso de Castro himself issued weapons to the Chinese population to defend the capital. During a revolt by local troops, the leader of the Chinese community in Dili, the Capitão China , was killed. A. Marques Perreira , Commissioner for Chinese Emigration from Macau to Timor, attested the Chinese that they were the most useful part of Dili's population. They were important handicrafts because the Timorese lacked the necessary knowledge, for example in wood processing. They also did a large part of the trade. A missionary of Chinese origin was entrusted with the care of Chinese school children in Dili from 1877.

With the establishment of the steamship line between Macau and Dili, the immigration of Chinese to Portuguese Timor increased. Among the immigrants there were also many who fled China as opponents of the Chinese Manchu emperors . The Chinese community was already well organized in 1912. There was a club building, a Buddhist temple and a school. Clube Chum Fuk Tong Su , the first Chinese school in the colony, offered classes in Chinese as well as English, zoology and botany. In 1926 a Buddha statue was brought from China and from 1928 it was placed in the new Guandi Temple in the vicinity of the government palace. The statue and temple still exist today, as does the ancient Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The Chinese people originally spoke Hakka , Standard Chinese, and Cantonese . Today around 95 to 97 percent of Chinese Timorese are descendants of Hakka, the rest of them have Cantonese roots. In addition, Chinese traders married the daughters of Timorese nobles in order to consolidate business relationships.

Before the outbreak of the Second War, about 2,000 Chinese lived in the colony. However, they suffered badly from the Japanese occupation of Timor ( see: Battle of Timor ). 60 Chinese were killed by the occupiers, 200 died from starvation and abuse. In the 1960s, the Republic of China (Taiwan) , which at that time was still officially representing China at the United Nations, opened a consulate in Dili. In 1970 there were 6120 Chinese residents in Portuguese Timor. Various sources give the number of Chinese people much higher. According to this, 18,000 to 20,000 Chinese are said to have lived in the colony in 1975. Many of them were Taiwanese .

When East Timor unilaterally declared its independence from Portugal on November 28, 1975, the People's Republic of China was one of the few states to recognize it. At that time there was a large and lively Hakka community in East Timor. Between 12,000 and 20,000 Chinese lived in Dili alone. They were guaranteed full citizenship in the new country by the FRETILIN government. But just nine days later, Indonesia occupied East Timor. Many of the native Chinese died in the invasion or fled to Australia . Members of the Chinese minority were targeted victims of persecution by the Indonesian occupying forces because of their ethnicity. There have been reports of massacres of the Chinese minority from Dili, including the refugees from the Toko Lay , and from Maubara . Here alone 50 Chinese men were executed by the invaders. In the first days of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor , more than 10,000 ethnic Chinese are believed to have died. However, other estimates put the number lower. During the occupation, the population of East Timor made a very clear distinction between the Chinese from Timor (Orang Cina Timur) and Chinese from Indonesia (Orang Cina Jawa) , some of whom did lucrative business with the Indonesians, for example in the local coffee trade.

According to research by Loro Horta , the People's Republic of China tried to support the FALINTIL freedom fighters with arms deliveries. A naval blockade by Indonesian and Australian warships prevented this and the weapons for 8,000 fighters including medium anti-aircraft guns, light artillery and anti-tank weapons for the infantry were ultimately transported to Mozambique and used by the local government in the fight against RENAMO . After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, the People's Republic's commitment to East Timor declined and in 1978 it ended almost entirely. Unofficial contacts through individuals continued. Financial aid for the Timorese resistance was channeled through Chinese businessmen.

East Timor in independence

Chinese New Year 2018 in Dili

Today, many Timorese Hakka live in Darwin and other Australian cities such as Brisbane , Sydney and Melbourne . In East Timor, 827 people named Chinese as their first language in the 2015 census. Former East Timorese Minister of Transport and Communication Pedro Lay and his brother, incumbent Tourism Minister Francisco Kalbuadi Lay , are of Chinese origin. Pedro Lay fled to Australia in 1975 and returned after East Timor's independence. The Associação Comercial da Comunidade Chinesa Timorense (ACCCTO), which was founded on October 22, 1912, represents the interests of the Chinese in East Timor .

Siu Peng Lay , President of the ACCCTO until 2019

In addition, according to the Chinese embassy, ​​2342 Chinese citizens lived in independent East Timor in June 2008. The immigration bureau estimated the number at 3,000, many of which are illegal in the country. They work as street vendors and owners of small shops and restaurants. Chinese small traders also supply residents in rural areas, where there are often no shops. In 2019, the size of the entire Chinese minority in East Timor was estimated at 4,000 people who run 300 to 400 businesses. For example the Timor Plaza shopping center , the Toko Lay , the Toko Aru bakery and the Hotel Turismo . During the 2002 riots, several Chinese shops in Dili were set on fire.

The Chinese minority in Timor has assimilated more than in Indonesia. Even the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival has adopted a mix of local and Catholic traditions, food, fashions and cosmological concepts.

See also

Hakka wedding in East Timor (2006)

literature

Web links

Commons : Chinese people in East Timor  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Laura Suzanne Meitzner Yoder: Custom, Codification, Collaboration: Integrating the Legacies of Land and Forest Authorities in Oecusse Enclave, East Timor , p. 57 ( Memento of March 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Yale University 2005 (PDF file; 1.46 MB)
  2. ↑ Monika Schlicher: Portugal in East Timor. A critical examination of the Portuguese colonial history in East Timor from 1850 to 1912 . Abera, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-931567-08-7 , ( Abera Network Asia-Pacific 4), (also: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 1994).
  3. ↑ a b c d Randy Mulyanto: Chinese in East Timor: former Portuguese colony a model of integration by immigrants from China , Southern China Morning Post, September 30, 2019 , accessed October 1, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c Loro Horta : Timor-Leste - The Dragon's Newest Friend , 2009 (PDF file; 100 kB)
  5. ^ John Hajek: Towards a Language History of East Timor ( Memento of December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: Quaderni del Dipartimento di Linguistica - Università di Firenze 10 (2000): pp. 213-227
  6. ↑ Ben Kiernan: War, Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia , Yale East Timor Project, page 202 ( Memento of November 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 219 kB)
  7. ↑ a b c Vaudine England: Chinese legacy of fear in Dili , South China Morning Post, August 30, 1999 , accessed March 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Direcção-Geral de Estatística : Results of the 2015 census , accessed on November 23, 2016.
  9. ↑ Timor Post: Chinese community mark a history in TL , October 22, 2012.