The Chinese played a vital part in the Dutch colonial economy, and their economic role has remained important throughout the centuries. Starting in the early 1900s, China also influenced their socio-political life. After the Chinese in the Dutch East Indies managed to shed most discriminatory regulations in the first decades of the twentieth century, they again had to strive for their rights in the new Republic of Indonesia. This proved to be a difficult process filled with tension surrounding the issues of culture, ethnicity and nationality. In this book, Patricia Tjiook-Liem puts Chinese Indonesians at the centre of Dutch colonial and Indonesian history, and takes you through the most important periods in this often underexposed history.

Translated by: Linawati Sidarto