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Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882-1941, Kedah and Penang (review)

WU’S STUDY OF THE CHINESE BUSINESS NETWORKS is a longitudinal analysis of the interplay of Chinese businessmen with their Malay, Indian, British, and Siamese counterparts as well as state officers in an ever-changing environment in the Penang and Kedah region in northern Malaya. The study which adopts a structure-and-agency approach, is a complex yet careful analysis of the interactions of various actors at the micro-level located within the context of the state and the regional economy at the macro-level. Working within this framework, Wu discusses how Chinese business activities and networks were transformed as a consequence of accommodating to the dynamics of British-Siamese-Malay political contests and the changing market economy. Wu uses the family as his entry point into an investigation of the wellestablished Chinese business networks engaged in revenue farming, rice trading, shipping, and pawnbroking business activities. Wu’s volume draws my attention to five major themes. First, Wu draws upon historical evidence to trace the development of Chinese business which first accumulated capital through its monopoly of opium farming and trade, and then diversified its investments into shipping, plantation agriculture, and other commercial activities. The trend in Chinese business of adapting to the changing environment and diversifying is one of the themes emphasized in Wu’s study. Second, Wu shows that Chinese businessmen not only networked with Chinese but with other ethnic groups and the state officialdom as well. In other words, the so-called “Chinese business networks” involved non-Chinese too. In so doing he contests the popular thesis that reifies the business culture of Chinese entrepreneurs in Asia and Southeast Asia, namely, intra-ethnic Chinese business networks is the reason for Chinese success in business. Wu reveals the role of the Malay royal family in providing land and collecting rent, and that of the Indian Chettiars in providing loans to Chinese businesses. Wu’s analysis of Chinese business networks is a complex one. He shows that the strength of the networks depended not only on relations within the Chinese business community but also on the networks’ influence over secret societies, revenue farmers, and Chinese laborers. Third, and following the earlier point, Chinese business networks were involved not only in relations with non-Chinese counterparts — apart from relations within the Chinese business community — but also with state officers, in other words, politics. The resultant mix of political business is discussed in