ChungSite.com/Roots: 1. Reasons to Emigrate

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At the turn of the 20th century, China was in turmoil with the intrusions of Western powers including Japan threatening war and clamoring for more concessions from the Chinese. The Qing Emperor's ineptitude, the corrupt government, the heavy taxes, the impairment of sovereignty by foreign aggression, high unemployment, devastating famines and droughts caused the Chinese people to erupt in public furor and mount numerous uprisings against the Manchu government.

The Qing Dynasty finally collapsed and the Republic of China was proclaimed on January 1, 1912. However, there was no effective central government and warlords ruled the provinces. For the majority of the Chinese people, especially the poor peasants, life remained a constant struggle against the hardships of wars, social and political unrests, poverty and economic uncertainties, famines, floods and droughts.

Guangdong Province

It was during this mood for change that a small group of peasants from the Chan village in Qing Yuan County in Guangdong Province embarked on a journey in search of a new life and opportunities to escape the steadily worsening conditions in China. They decided to go to Nanyang (South Seas) or present-day Southeast Asia which was a very popular destination during that period, and rumoured to have abundant riches.

According to our father Chung Chow, the first ancestor to Malaya would probably be our great-granduncle, Chan Kau Seng. He was the younger brother of our great-grandfather, Chan Ah Chek. Chan Kau Seng was a well-known Taoist priest during heydays. He had been to British Malaya before, probably in the early 1900s, to provide religious services to the huge influxes of Chinese workers, especially those from Guangdong, who went there to work in the tin mines and rubber plantations.

Penang

At that time, Penang was the major port of disembarkation for sojourners and thrived as an entrepot for the lucrative tea and opium trade between China and India, and the tin trade in nearby Perak. When Kau Seng landed in Penang, he heard of the prosperous town of Taiping where many Chinese were working in tin mines. He visited Taiping because it was the most important town in the Malay Peninsula at that time.

Railway Station, Taiping - 1882

By 1877, Taiping finally lived up to its Chinese name ('Everlasting Peace') and became the administrative capital of Perak. In 1910, it was well-known as one of the most picturesque town in British Malaya with many firsts such the train station built in 1885. Communication was good as a railway linked Butterworth on the mainland, opposite Penang island, to Taiping and the south. Besides the rich deposits of tin ore that made Taiping famous, rubber was planted commercially in the mid-1890 on estates previously developed for other crops such as coffee.

Rubber cultivation grew and maintained the local economy. Taiping, at that juncture, had a lot of opportunities for immigrants who just arrived in the Malay Peninsula. Between 1911 and 1931, the British colonial government encouraged unrestricted immigration from India, China and the Netherlands East Indies to provide much-needed workers for the still considerable tin-mining enterprise and especially for the booming rubber industry.

Lake Gardens view, Taiping - 1880

Taiping Town view - 1890s

The Chan clan members were also attracted to Taiping because of the presence of clan associations such as the North Perak Guangdong Association which was established in 1887, and the Qing Yuan Association, established in 1904.

Qing Yuan Association

Migrants depended on kin-type and native-place bonds as the basis of social cohesion. These province-based and county-based clan associations provided temporary lodgings for newcomers and served as community centers for sojourners. They also provide general economic, social and recreational needs for its members. They would organize ancestor and religious worship, supervise burials and maintain the cemeteries, settle disputes and provide mutual funds.