The Face of Intercultural Cohesion Revealed by Asking Who the “Huaqiao” Are—Seminar Series on Migration History and Multicultural Understanding in Japan

The terms “Huaqiao (‘Kakyo’ in Japanese)” and “Huaren (‘Kajin’ in Japanese)” refer to people of Chinese heritage around the world. While estimates put their population at 40–50 million, they are not properly understood. Yao started the lecture by clarifying that people tend to have the impression of Huaqiao having control over the global economy or being members of criminal organizations but such is not the reality. He emphasized that he wants to end such stereotyping and promote understanding that is more in line with reality.

Academically, a Huaqiao is defined as someone of Chinese heritage who lives outside of Greater China but does not have citizenship of his/her country of residence. This person would be identified as a Huaren if he/she has citizenship of his/her country of residence. These terms came into use since the mid-19th century but there were many people who already moved abroad from China before this. Yao gave an overview of the history of the Huaqiao. Back in the 15th century, when the Ming dynasty ruled China, it was the Huaqiao who started to move into Southeast Asia following Zheng He’s voyages and contributed to the development of trade networks there. When the Spanish advanced into the Philippines in the 16th century, again, it was the Huaqiao who took up the laborious work of carrying traded goods. He added that the Huaqiao settlement formed in Spanish-conquered Manila in 1582 is said to be the world’s oldest Chinatown. In the late modern period, following the First Opium War, people from China were introduced to many parts of the world as labor force essential for great Western powers to expand their colony operations. Historically, there was a time when millions of Chinese people migrated in essence like human trafficking, as cheap labor force in place of enslaved Black people was in need around the world, such as for tin mine development in the Malay Peninsula and the construction of the US Transcontinental Railroad. Huaqiao was a concept born at the time to manage these Chinese people living abroad. 60–70% of the Huaqiao scattered across the globe are said to be living in Southeast Asia today. This is because these people originally made up the labor force for mine development and at plantations in the 19th century. From the 20th century onward, some Huaqiao went on to start businesses like rubber-farm management. The Huaqiao were supporting colony operation at the front line in Southeast Asia.

Upon bringing up the difficulty to categorize people of diverse backgrounds, Yao asked who the Huaqiao are again. Yao then said that his answer is that the name “Huaqiao” is nothing but a mark used to control people; it was a convenient way to label groups of people so that it would be easy to control them during colony operation and development. Because the definition is not strict, there is no way we can lump everyone together. However, precisely because there are so many inconsistencies, we can think about how to find connections that go beyond barriers between nationalities, regions and ethnicities and how to break down walls between those who govern and those who are governed, through the issue of the Huaqiao. The principle of intercultural cohesion is to equally realize lives with human dignity to all humans. Yao concluded by saying that he aspires to provide the knowledge needed to realize this through his studies.

In the Q&A session, questions came from the audience on various topics including the following: the origin of the stereotypical impression that the Huaqiao are skilled merchants; the reason Chinatowns exist all over the world; and whether it is really possible to go beyond nationalities, regions and ethnicities. This lecture gave the audience the opportunity to think about intercultural cohesion, the common theme throughout this lecture series.