Disruptions and Continuity in the Singaporean Chinese Community: Social Networks, Collaborationists, and the Black Market under the British and Japanese Administrations, 1819-1960

Authors

Alison Fong, University of Arkansas

Keywords

Singapore, China, Great Britain, kinship, migrant workers, sojourners

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Chinese community of Singapore and their experiences under the British colonial administration and the Japanese military administration from 1819 to 1960. It argues that the Chinese community utilized and transformed social networks formed during the British colonial era (1819-1942) to adapt to the upheavals that the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-1945) and the return of the British administration (1945-1960) introduced. These social networks shifted to meet the needs of the Chinese community in response to changing social hierarchies and status quos. Some were based on traditional kinship systems, and others were based on mercantile and trading relations. The strength of these social networks as they persisted from the prewar era to the postwar era demonstrated a continuity that most historians overlooked.

Recommended Citation

Fong, Alison (2022) "Disruptions and Continuity in the Singaporean Chinese Community: Social Networks, Collaborationists, and the Black Market under the British and Japanese Administrations, 1819-1960," The Ozark Historical Review: Vol. 50, Article 4.

Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/ohr/vol50/iss1/4