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Nations and Diasporas: Medan Chinese and Migration after the Second World War

Sat, March 18, 10:45am to 12:45pm, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Floor: Mezzanine, Norfolk

Abstract

In the early post-Second World War years, following the civil war in China and the rapid decolonization of much of Asia, the Chinese of Southeast Asia found themselves caught between nations that were coming into being. In the case of the Chinese of Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia, their political loyalty was sought by the Republic of China (ROC, in Taiwan), the newly formed People's Republic of China (PRC), and the newly-independent and sovereign Republic of Indonesia.

As these nations competed for the loyalty of the Chinese diasporic subject, some Indonesian Chinese elected to adopt Indonesian citizenship, while others remained caught in the ideological contest between the ROC and PRC. In Medan, both factions were significantly represented within the Chinese community, through schools, print media, community organizations and businesses. While the Medan Chinese community were influenced by nation-centered ideologies, their migratory paths made them transnational in practice. Many migrated to Mainland China for further education or to escape the discriminatory politics of Indonesia, while others flocked to Taiwan for the purposes of marriage, further education or work. This paper will compare the trajectories of these two sets of migrants, and seeks to map the formation of a diaspora with Medan as a point of origin. In so doing, the concept of diaspora is also decentered and given multi-nodal imaginings.

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