Beyond Borders

Wen-Chin Chang

Description

The Yunnanese from southwestern China have for millennia traded throughout upland Southeast Asia. Burma in particular has served as a "back door" to Yunnan, providing a sanctuary for political refugees and economic opportunities for trade explorers. Since the Chinese Communist takeover in 1949 and subsequent political upheavals in China, an unprecedented number of Yunnanese refugees have fled to Burma. Through a personal narrative approach, Beyond Borders is the first ethnography to focus on the migration history and transnational trading experiences of contemporary Yunnanese Chinese migrants (composed of both Yunnanese Han and Muslims) who reside in Burma and those who have moved from Burma and resettled in Thailand, Taiwan, and China. Since the 1960s, Yunnanese Chinese migrants of Burma have dominated the transnational trade in opium, jade, and daily consumption goods. Wen-Chin Chang writes with deep knowledge of this trade's organization from the 1960s of mule-driven caravans to the use of modern transportation, and she reconstructs trading routes while examining embedded sociocultural meanings. These Yunnanese migrants' mobility attests to the prevalence of travel not only by the privileged but also by different kinds of people. Their narratives disclose individual life processes as well as networks of connections, modes of transportation, and differences between the experiences of men and women. Through traveling they have carried on the mobile livelihoods of their predecessors, expanding overland trade beyond its historical borderlands between Yunnan and upland Southeast Asia to journeys further afield by land, sea, and air.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Burma
• History of Asia
• China
• Migration

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 25 août 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801454516
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders

StoriesofYunnanese Chinese Migrants of Burma

WenChinChang

CornellUniversityPress IthacaandLondon

Cover photograph: Chinese school in Kengtung, a major Chinese migrant town in eastern Shan State. Photograph 2008 by WenChin Chang.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the HarvardYenching Institute. All royalties earned from sales of this book are donated to the Thabyay Education Foundation (Yangon, Burma) and the Aung Myin Monastery School (Namaw village, Shwe Bo township, Sagaing Region, Burma) to assist their education projects.

Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2014 Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Chang, WenChin, 1964– author.  Beyond borders : stories of Yunnanese Chinese migrants of Burma / WenChin Chang.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801453311 (cloth : alk. paper) —  ISBN 9780801479670 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. Burma—Emigration and immigration. 2. China—Emigration and immigration. 3. Thailand—Emigration and immigration. 4. Chinese— Migrations. 5. Chinese—Burma. 6. Muslims—Burma. I. Title.  DS732. C439 2015  305.895'10591—dc23 2014019460

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 10 9 8 7 6 5

4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1

To my parents

Acknowledgments

Contents

NoteonFieldwork,Names,Transliteration, and Currency

Introduction

PartI.MigrationHistory

1. The Days in Burma: Zhang Dage

2. Entangled Love: Ae Maew

3. Pursuit of Ambition: Father and Son

4. Islamic Transnationalism: Yunnanese Muslims

PartII.(Transnational)Trade

5. Venturing into “Barbarous” Regions: Yunnanese Caravan Traders

ix

xiii

1

19 21 46 80 114

147

149

v i i i C o n t e n t s

6. Transcending Gendered Geographies: Yunnanese Women Traders 7. Circulations of the Jade Trade: The Duans and the Pengs Epilogue:FromMulestoVehicles

Glossary References Index

176

207 237

245 255 271

Acknowledgments

IencounteredmyethnographicfieldamongmigrantYunnanesebychance while backpacking in northern Thailand during the summer of 1993. The launchofmyfieldworkamongaYunnanesemigrantcommunityayear later was, however, followed by a series of grave challenges, primarily due to the sensitivity of the research, which almost compelled me to aban don it. Without numerous people’s kindness and trust in me, I would not have been able to overcome the initial obstacles and persist on my quest to learn about Yunnanese migrants’ history. Although challenges have never ceased, following my informants’ networks of connection I have expanded my research field from Thailand to Burma and other places. I owe enor mous debts to these informants, and my retelling of their stories in this book is my humble repayment. Unfortunately, I am not able to thank them individually, not only because the thankyou list is too long, but primar ily in consideration for their security. In addition to my informants, many local people and scholars in Thailand and Burma have helped me enor mously. Again, for safety concerns, I can name only a few here: the late