Introduction

The essays reprinted here trace the history of Chinese emigration into the Pacific region, first as individuals, traders or exiles, moving into the "Nanyang" (Southeast Asia), then as a mass migration across the ocean after the mid-19th century.

The papers include discussions of what it meant to be Chinese, the position of the migrants vis-à-vis China itself, and their relations with indigenous peoples as well as the European powers that came to dominate the region.

Together with the introduction, they constitute an important aid to understanding one of the most widespread diasporas of the modern world.