Using previously unexplored archives from colonial institutions and individuals, and primary materials produced by the Burmese Chinese, this comprehensive study investigates over a century of history of the Burmese Chinese under British colonial rule. Due to the peculiar position of Burma in the British imperial world and the Southeast Asian Chinese network, the Chinese community had a unique experience in a Southeast Asian colony governed by Europeans with an India-based system. This book reveals, through everyday life experience, prominent community figures, and milestone events, the internal rivalry and integration among different regional groups within the community, and the general impressions it left in contemporary observations and communal memories. The book also traces historical roots of some unsolved ethnic issues in present-day Myanmar.

Examines the situation of the Chinese migrant community in Burma under British Colonial rule Considers the distinct regional features of by two different Chinese groups and how they settled down in different parts of colonial Burma Explores how the Chinese immigrants, despite their internal divisions, found a way of “being Burmese Chinese” under more than a century of colonial rule in a multiethnic state