The Chinese played a vital role in the Dutch colonial economy, and their economic role in the region has remained important throughout the centuries. Starting in the late nineteenth century, China also played a role in their socio-political life. After the Chinese managed to shed discriminatory regulations in the colony in the first decades of the twentieth century, they again had to strive for their rights in the new Republic of Indonesia. This proved to be a difficult process filled with tension surrounding the issues of culture, ethnicity, and nationality. In this book, Patricia Tjiook-Liem puts Chinese Indonesians at the center of Dutch colonial and Indonesian history and takes you through the most important periods in this so far underexposed history.
