Distant Shores

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China has traditionally been viewed as a land empire, with its limited maritime and colonial reach contributing to economic decline after the mid-eighteenth century. This perspective is challenged by highlighting the economic expansion of southeastern China, which rivaled European colonial ambitions. The narrative begins with the Industrial Revolution and ends with the Great Depression, focusing on sojourners from Chaozhou, a region in Guangdong. These individuals became commercial leaders in the South China Sea, sharing a rich tapestry of ritual, culture, and economic practices. The author illustrates how Chaozhouese, both domestically and abroad, benefited from an overseas colonial system without establishing formal governance. Their influence was maintained through a network of familial, brotherhood, and commercial ties across major ports like Bangkok, Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Swatow. The emerging picture depicts not a divergence from European modernity but a convergence in colonial settings crucial for modern development and capital accumulation. This scholarly work reveals how the migration of Chaozhouese laborers and merchants connected the Chinese homeland to a vast frontier of settlement and economic extraction.