The Chinese Community of Malacca, 1795–2021: A Translocal Microhistorical Narrative

This article explores the shaping and reshaping of a Chinese community in Malacca, by focusing on issues of learning, faith, and power over several generations under British colonial and postcolonial Malaysian rule. Core social and religious institutions of the translocal kinship and commercial network of 1795 enabled the community to respond creatively to new global challenges. By 1840, a new generation had constructed a different translocal network with Singapore. As migration increased, so did the varieties of translocal experience in Malacca. As political challenges escalated, the community developed a pattern of response, mediation, participation, and integration, enabling community leaders to keep the peace. Subsequent generations of Hakka miners, Fujianese planters, and Hainanese merchants and workers participated with the deeply rooted Baba-Nyonya families in adapting this patterned local response to reform, war, and revolution. This “microhistorical” perspective enables us to explore how the legacies still matter in a rapidly changing new world.