近代跨国华人社会建构的事例分析——1929—1930年新加坡保留民信局与减轻民信邮费全侨大会

Constructing the Chinese Transnational Community: A Study on the Preservation Movement of the Remittance House in Singapore 1929 - 1930

本文通过发掘1929—1930年在新加坡发起的保留民信局全侨大会与减轻民信邮费全侨大会的史料,管蠡了近代华人移民的跨国主义现象。维护侨批局生存的斗争表明,侨批局的成功保留与合法地位的确立是由多方面因素共同决定的。跨国华人社团网络的集体力量在维护跨国华人社会的利益上起着重要作用;侨批业具有内嵌于海外华人社会与侨乡社会有机体的性质,与后者有生死攸关的利害关系;在跨国的社会场景下,国家政策的制定与推行演变成了政府与跨国社会相互交涉与协商的过程。

Through examining the preservation movement of the remittance house in Singapore from 1929 to 1930 with primary sources gleaned from Singapore,this article tries to shed new light on the Overseas Chinese transnationalism. The struggle for the retaining of remittance house clearly shows that a number of factors contributed to the successful survival of remittance house and the legal status it achieved. Of them,the collective strength of the transnational networks was the most important as it played a key role in safeguarding the interest of the Chinese transnational communities. It also demonstrates that Chinese overseas remittance was not only embedded in the Overseas Chinese society but were also closely intertwined each other. In the context of transnational space,the formulation and implementation of state policies could become the negotiations between the government and the transnational communities.