Malaysian Chinese, also known as Malaysian Chinese or Chinese-Malaysians, referred to as Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Chinese, are Malaysian Chinese. Most of them call themselves Chinese or Tang people. Malaysian Chinese are mainly Ming Dynasty. Immigrants from China's Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and other areas over the centuries from the Dynasty, Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. In ancient times, the Chinese in Malaysia mostly called themselves Tang people and Chinese. After the founding of the Republic of China, they began to call themselves Chinese, Chinese and overseas Chinese. After Malaysia became independent, they began to change their names to Chinese and Chinese. In modern times, the number of Malaysian Chinese who call themselves "Chinese" and "overseas Chinese" has decreased a lot.

History of Coming to the South

According to ancient Chinese records, during the Tang Dynasty, a small number of Tang people went south to the Malay Peninsula to conduct commercial activities. At that time, people in the Tang Dynasty mainly lived temporarily to do business and did not settle down in large numbers.

In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of rebels and Hui people began to move to the South China Sea (i.e. the Malay Islands). Due to his great contribution to the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He stayed in Manalajia many times, and later moved Manalajia to Ga, Palembang, Surabaya and other camps built the base camp of its fleet, and also installed several Hui people as local leaders. There were Shi Jinqing in Palembang and several in Surabaya; Sunan Ampel, Sunan Bonang, Sunan Kalijaga, Sunan Gunungjati and Sunan Giri, etc., they Respected as the "Nine Saints" (Wali Sanga) of Java, there is also a controversial figure, Paramesura, King of Managa. It is said that although he accepted the Persian Islamic title of Iskandar Shah, he did not convert. . To this day, there are still a large number of relics related to Zheng He's Hui people in Malacca. According to Ming History Volume 325, Zheng He escorted King Manlajia, Bailimisula, and a large number of Ming people, numbering 500, to settle down in Manlajia. At the same time, the vigorous development of Islamic maritime trade also prompted the increasing activities of Hui people and Tang people in Manlagha.

The success of the international trade port of the Manchurian Sultanate also led to the change of beliefs of many rulers of neighboring countries, from traditional Hinduism and mixed Buddhism to Islam. In 1961, the famous Islamic scholar Elder Hamgarh clearly wrote a thought-provoking famous saying: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia is closely related to a devout Muslim in China, and this Muslim is General Zheng He."

Some Tang people began to settle in Manlaga because of intermarriage with local people, accepted assimilation, and multiplied. At this time, the Tang people began to form settlements in Manlaga and became an important ethnic group in Manlaga. After the decline of the Ming Dynasty, the descendants of these intermarried Tang people began to alienate from their motherland due to factors such as inconvenient transportation and the Ming Dynasty's seclusion policy. After blending with the local culture, they gradually formed a new ethnic group - the Nyonya-Baba. The mother tongue of Nyonya Baba has also gradually changed from dialects (mainly the dialect of the Ming Dynasty, namely Hokkien) to Nyonya Baba (Peranakan Hokkien) that is a mixture of dialects and Malay, but it still retains various Ming dialects. Customs and rituals.

During the Manchu Dynasty, many anti-Qing righteous fighters who were unwilling to surrender also fled to the South China Sea. The large-scale immigration of Qing people to various parts of Malaysia today began after the Opium War. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was defeated and China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanjing. The Qing Dynasty recognized the right of citizens to make a living overseas. Since the British Empire at that time needed a large amount of human resources to During the development of the Malayan Peninsula, a large number of Qing workers (or coolies) were imported from the Qing Dynasty to the Malayan Peninsula to become miners, plantation workers, etc. After the use of steamships, the number of Qing people coming south increased sharply. The number of immigrants from the Qing Dynasty who arrived at this time has greatly exceeded that of the early Nyonya Babas, so they were called "new guests" by the early settlers. During this period, the ratio of men to women in the population of the Qing Dynasty in the Malay Peninsula was seriously unbalanced. This was because the workers had a strong awareness of their hometown, and most of them did not intend to bring the elderly and children to settle in Malaya, but hoped to earn enough money to return to their hometowns. home.

In 1929, the world began to suffer from the Great Depression, and the British Empire stopped importing Chinese workers.

At this time, the Chinese female population began to immigrate to Malaya in large numbers, and the male-female ratio structure tended to be balanced. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, due to the hostility between the capitalist world and the communist world, Malaya also faced the challenge of the Malayan Communist Party, and Chinese immigration to Malaya basically stopped. Thereafter, the Chinese population in Malaya relied entirely on natural growth rather than immigration.

Malaya Chinese and the Chinese Revolution In November 1910, Mr. Sun Yat-sen held a meeting in Penang, Malaya, to discuss the Guangzhou "March 29" Uprising (historically known as the Huanghuagang Uprising). There were 29 Chinese who died in this uprising from Singapore, Malaya, Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries and regions. The eldest is 52-year-old Vietnamese overseas Chinese Luo Lian, and the youngest is 18-year-old Yu Dongxiong who was born in Perak. Among these martyrs were 15 workers, 3 businessmen, and the rest were students, journalists, teachers, and missionaries. The ones currently available for examination include those from Malaya:

1. Li Binghui, also known as Zu Kui, also known as Ludesh. In his early years, he lived in Perak and studied English in a school set up by the church. Later, he was recommended by the school to a school in Malacca and was assigned to the British Presbyterian Church in Singapore to serve as a missionary. At the age of only 20, when he was passing through Hong Kong, he received a letter from his mother advising him not to take risks, but he wrote his last poem. During the uprising, he followed Huang Xing in attacking the Yamen Office of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and died in the battle at Gaodi Street.

2. Li Wan, whose ancestral home is Yunfu, Guangdong, (1874-1911), this tailor worker in Kuala Lumpur, sold his bicycle to make ends meet in order to participate in the Guangzhou Uprising. In the battle to attack the Governor's Yamen, he charged forward carrying the banner and was shot to death.

3. Li Yannan, whose ancestral home is Kaiping, Guangdong, lived in Malaya and Myanmar in his early years. He was injured in the battle and was arrested and taken to the execution ground.

4. Luo Zhonghuo, a native of Huiyang, Guangdong, (1881-1911). The name is Jian and the word is Jun. Graduated from Penang Normal School in 1906 (the 32nd year of Guangxu). He once helped to organize the Confucius School in Kuala Lumpur and the Chinese School in the Netherlands (now Medan City, Indonesia). He once served as the principal of these two schools and the main writer of the local newspaper.

5. Yu Dongxiong, whose ancestral home is Nanhai, (1894-1911) was born in Gopeng, Perak. He returned to China in early 1911 to participate in the uprising. He, Luo Zhonghuo, He Kefu and others attacked the governor's office and searched for Zhang Mingqi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Unable to win, he encountered the Qing army when he was deployed and died in a fierce battle. Yu Dongxiong, who was only 18 years old, was the youngest victim.

6. Guo Jimei, whose ancestral home is Zengcheng, Guangdong, (1892-1911), was born in Gopeng, Perak, Malaya. He was a miner during his lifetime. Guo Jimei, who was only 19 years old, and Yu Dongxiong were close friends in life and death, ** *Practice martial arts and hunt together. After the failure of the Huanghuagang Uprising, Gopeng wealthy businessman Yu Dongxuan took on the responsibility of taking care of the families of Guo Jimei and Yu Dongxiong, placing them at Nos. 400 and 404 Gopeng Street respectively. It is reported that neither the Guo family nor the Yu family left any descendants, and the final whereabouts of their family members are also unknown. .

At the entrance of the Sun Yat-sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Wan Qing Garden in Singapore, there are four bronze statues of Huanghuagang martyrs. Two of the men holding knives and guns are Guo Jimei and Yu Dongxiong.

Ethnic Identity and Status

Malaysian Chinese belong to non-indigenous status (Non-Bumiputra), which also includes Baba Nyonya, Indians, etc. Malays and Malaysian indigenous people are Bumiputra, including Portuguese, Indonesian people, etc., all have Malaysian indigenous privileges (Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution and Malay Supremacy). Malaysian Chinese can obtain indigenous privileges, that is, Bumiputra status, through assimilation. This requires intermarriage with Malays or Malaysian indigenous people, converting to Islam and changing the original name to a Malay-Islamic name. After assimilation Their descendants have the privilege of being Malaysian indigenous people.

According to Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP), since Malaysia has Malay supremacy (Malay: Ketuanan Melayu), it is also a racist creed. This creed is intended to devalue the identity of non-Malays so that they cannot enjoy the privileges of indigenous Malaysians. , there are similar hierarchical systems in other countries, this creed pushes the status of Malaysian Chinese and other non-Malays down to 'second-class citizens'. (Note: The so-called second-class citizens are a term coined because non-indigenous people are treated obviously unfairly).