'A grievous injustice to the Chinese nation : the role of the Qing Dynasty in supporting the South African Chinese

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The establishment of the Qing Dynasty Consulate in South Africa, at the beginning of thetwentieth century, marks the earliest official diplomatic contact between what could beconsidered the preceding states to modern-day China and South Africa.1 In light of theimportance of the recent diplomatic relations between China and South Africa, it is pertinentto examine the situation which led to the initial diplomatic contact between the precursors ofthese two states. It is also important to consider what challenges these relations faced at thisearly stage.The Qing Dynasty Consulate in South Africa was established initially in response to theimportation of a large body of indentured Chinese labourers into the Witwatersrand area.2 Thearrival of somewhere near 60 000 indentured Chinese labourers between 1904 and 1907 led toa series of legislative actions in the Cape and Transvaal, which specifically targeted the Chinesefor discrimination.3 Foremost among these were the Cape Chinese Exclusion Act, the LabourImportation Ordinance and the Asiatic Registration Act. The well-documented historicalapathy of the Qing Dynasty towards their overseas subjects has often led to a lack ofexamination of what efforts were made, at an official level, by the Dynasty to assist Chinesepopulations in overseas colonies.4 Often, instead, the Dynasty was simply assumed to haveremained apathetic to its distant subjects for its entire existence. This is the case for the QingDynasty's involvement with the governments of the Cape Colony, Transvaal and Union ofSouth Africa.5The active resistance of the Chinese themselves against this discrimination has been analysedbefore, particularly in the comprehensive works of Karen Harris6, but the role played by theConsul-Generals of the Qing Dynasty has been usually under-examined or ignored.7 Evidenceclearly indicates that the Consul-Generals Liu Yu Lin and Liu Ngai played an active role insupporting the Chinese communities, both free and indentured, within South Africa during theirtenure. Through an analysis of the actions taken by these two Consul-Generals in both the CapeColony and Transvaal Colony the extent of their support for the Chinese within South Africabecomes clear. Although their efforts would, ultimately, have little substantive effect on thediscrimination the South African Chinese faced, it did create an institution which would beconsistently utilized by future generations of South African Chinese to resist prejudice.8

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University