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111-514: Chinese Cambodians also play a leading role in Cambodia's business sector and dominate the Cambodian economy today. In addition, Chinese Cambodians have a strong presence in Cambodia's political scene with many high ranking government officials and much of the country's political elite being of Chinese ancestry. The earliest records of Chinese settlement dates back to the late 13th century, where

222-453: A critical role in maintaining the country's economic vitality and prosperity. The Chinese community is one of the most socioeconomically powerful and politically influential minority communities in Cambodia. The Chinese community dominates nearly the entirety of Cambodia's business sector and is economically prosperous relative to their small population in comparison with their indigenous Khmer counterparts. With their powerful economic prominence,

333-610: A detailed and comprehensive Record of Cambodia mentions the presence of Chinese businessmen trading at Angkor. Portuguese seafarers noted the presence of a small Chinese settlement in Phnom Penh in the early 17th century. Around the same time Lim To Khieng , a Chinese privateer, stayed in Cambodia while trading and conducting raids in the South China Sea. Shortly after the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, Chinese troops under

444-511: A distinct ethnic community, they also form, by and large, an economic class: the commercial middle and upper class in contrast to the poorer indigenous Khmer majority working and underclass counterparts around them, whom have traditionally looked down on commerce. The Chinese have played a prominent role in Cambodian business and industry as their economic dominance of Cambodia dates back to the pre-French colonial kingdoms where Chinese merchant traders often maintained patron-client relationships with

555-565: A fief and briefly established a small port near Patani. He was said to have become the head of customs while members of his band gained prominence in the service of Patani 's ruler. According to the local lore of Patani, he married the daughter of the Sultan (perhaps Raja Hijau ), converted to Islam and built a mosque. A port near Patani he established and named after him existed for a while. He died in Patani, said to be due to cannon fire while he

666-603: A group of traders from Patani in Brunei in 1601 and that their community in Patani was Chinese enough to have their own king and used the same laws as in China. Another Dutch report of 1603 by Jacob van Neck estimated that there may be as many Chinese in Patani as there were native Malays. Many Malays in Kru Se, Patani claim descent from Lin, although they may have been descendants of his followers who married local women. A cannon,

777-562: A large contingent of wealthy Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and investors looking to exploit opportunities in Cambodian property development and general trading sectors. Cambodians of Chinese ancestry are responsible for pioneering the development of Cambodia's entire small, medium , and large enterprise sector as the Chinese community were the key masterminds behind the establishment of all of Cambodia's trading cooperatives, production houses, restaurants, and retailers, in addition to being at

888-689: A large percentage of the country's richest Chinese. About 65% of the Hakka trace their roots back to Meizhou and Heyuan prefectures in Guangdong province. About 70% of the Hakkas are found in Phnom Penh where they are dominant professions in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine , and shoemaking. The Hakkas are also found in Takeo province , Stung Treng and Rattanakiri who consist of vegetable farmers and rubber plantation workers. Hakka communities in

999-443: A major driving force behind much of the significant clout and influence that they exert contemporary Cambodia's economic and political life, with stereotypical tropes cropping up adumbrating socioeconomic success and extreme wealth. As Chinese economic might in the country grew, Cambodian hill tribes and Khmer aborigines were gradually driven out into poorer land on the hills, and onto the rural outskirts of major Cambodian cities or into

1110-683: A recording made by a Cambodian journalist prior to Chea's 2007 arrest in which Chea admitted: "Believe me, if these traitors were alive, the Khmers as a people would have been finished. ... If we had shown mercy to these people, the nation would have been lost." Nuon Chea died on 4 August 2019 at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh , aged 93. He had been hospitalized since 2 July for lack of blood-flow to his toe which turned black. Chea's circulation

1221-438: A regression in their treatment by state authorities and the previously existing autonomy was eliminated by the new government. However, many private associations - cultural, business-oriented and to do with education - were simply continued by the Chinese communities and clan associations themselves, as these communities still had very significant economic and political power. Anti-Chinese feeling and policies emerged, however, after

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1332-524: A resurgence of Chinese cultural pride among the Chinese Cambodian community while concurrently creating new jobs and fostering new economic niches. Following the transition of Cambodia from socialism to market-driven state-owned capitalist principles, Cambodia's Chinese community began to reassert their cultural identity and economic clout. This reassertion of Chinese identity has blossomed into confident displays of Han Chinese ethnic pride following

1443-615: A single life sentence by the Trial Chamber on 16 November 2018. In his closing brief before the court, numbering some 500 pages, Chea "blamed Vietnamese agents for virtually everything that went wrong during Khmer Rouge rule." He also denied responsibility for mass killings, but this was contradicted by detailed documentation left behind by the Khmer Rouge regime itself, including bizarre "confessions" extracted under torture at Tuol Sleng and photographs of purge victims, as well as

1554-408: A single life sentence by the Trial Chamber on 16 November 2018. He died while serving his sentence in 2019. Nuon Chea was born as Lao Kim Lorn at Voat Kor , Battambang on 7 July 1926. Nuon's father, Lao Liv, worked as a trader as well as a corn farmer, while his mother, Dos Peanh, was a tailor. An interview by a Japanese researcher in 2003 with Nuon Chea quoted that Liv was Chinese, while Peanh

1665-552: A small shrine dedicated to Chinese deities , and popular choices include Lord Guan , Guan Yin , Mazu , Wang Ye and Kitchen God . During festive occasions such as Chinese New Year , Chinese Cambodians would pray at communal temples either individually or as a group. Joss sticks and paper as well as food offerings are used for prayers. On certain occasions such as funerals or fortune-telling, Chinese Cambodians would approach spirit mediums and geomancers . A small minority of Chinese Cambodians follow mainstream Mahayana Buddhism of

1776-443: Is a tendency for some Chinese who have taken up Cambodian citizenship, or Chinese descendants who have assimilated into Khmer society through intermarriages to be identified as Khmer in government censuses. During the late 1960s and early 1970s the approximately 425,000 Chinese Cambodians represented the largest ethnic minority in Cambodia. However, this number had fallen to a mere 61,400 by 1984. This rapid decline has been attributed to

1887-411: Is due to the rise of China's global economic prominence and many Chinese Cambodian business families see Mandarin as a beneficial asset to partake economic links to conduct business between Cambodia and mainland China. Chinese Cambodians are generally practitioners of Chinese folk religion , which incorporates rituals associated with Taoism , Confucianism and Buddhism . Most Chinese families maintain

1998-569: Is not clear where he had actually stayed, or if he was there. According to Taiwanese legends, Lin slaughtered many of the natives in Taiwan, using their blood as caulk for his ships. It was said that while anchored at Takau , Taiwan in 1563, Lin placed his treasure into eighteen and a half bamboo baskets, hiding them in the surrounding hills, and the Takau Hill then acquired an alternate name Buried-Gold Hill ( 埋金山 ). Another story goes that Lin

2109-407: Is omnipresent in contemporary Cambodia. For Phnom Penh's small and medium business community, potential incoming clientele amongst newly acclimated Chinese migrants, raw materials, machinery, consumer goods, and investment capital from Greater China have served as indispensable means for many of the owners who are of Chinese ancestry saw an unprecedented expansion of their business activities. Moreover,

2220-546: The Chan denomination. Chinese Cambodian families generally do not practice Theravada Buddhism and send their children to Khmer monasteries, except for those descendants who have assimilated into mainstream Khmer society. In the 1990s and 2000s, there exists a trend among assimilated Sino-Khmer silk merchants who maintain commercial links with Chinese businessmen to re-adopt Chinese cultural and religious practices. They maintain Chinese shrines in their homes and shops, and explained that

2331-639: The Phaya Tani cannon that some believed was made by Lin, was taken to Bangkok after Pattani was captured by Siam in 1785 and is now placed in front of the Ministry of Defence in Bangkok. The cannon is used in Pattani as a symbol of the province. A replica of Phaya Tani was created and placed in front of Krue Se Mosque in Pattani in 2013, but it was damaged by separatists who saw it as 'faked' and wanted

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2442-569: The 16th century when some mutineers under the leadership of the Chinese pirate, Lim To Khieng settled in Cambodia. No significant Chinese immigration from the Chaoshan region occurred until the 1860s, and the Teochews came to Cambodia in modest numbers in the later part of the 19th century. Large-scale immigration occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, and the Teochews established themselves as the dominant Chinese sub-group thereafter. Approximately 48% of

2553-590: The 19th century, the French allowed Chinese-owned businesses to flourish due to their laissez-faire capitalist policies. Willmott also estimated that the Chinese community controlled 92 percent of the Cambodian economy by the mid-20th century. Cambodians of Chinese ancestry traded in urban areas and worked as shopkeepers, moneylenders, and traditional healers in the rural areas, while Chinese farmers controlled Cambodia's lucrative Kampot pepper industry. Chinese Cambodian moneylenders also wielded considerable economic power over

2664-634: The CPK [Khmer Rouge]. At that time, relations between Pol Pot and the North Vietnamese leaders were especially warm." The North Vietnamese trusted Nuon Chea more than Pol Pot or Ieng Sary , although Chea "consistently and consciously deceived the Vietnamese principals concerning the real plans of the Khmer leadership." As a result, "Hanoi did not undertake any action to change the power pattern within

2775-494: The Cambodian Ministry of Industry in 1961, 3300 or 99 percent were controlled by the Chinese with the rest being either state-owned or by French interests. Chinese representation of the 3300 industrial firms also made up 90 percent of the private investment in the aggregate. Industrial firms ranged from artisan workshops, small scale manufacturing, food processing, and beverage manufacturing and retailing, in addition to

2886-417: The Cambodian economy during the post-colonial era. Since 1995, Cambodians of Chinese ancestry have reestablished themselves as the nation's dominant economic power players since the fall of the Khmer Rouge by controlling Cambodia's entire import-export shipping, banking, hotel, gold and rice trading, garment, industrial manufacturing, and real estate industries. Market reforms during the mid-1980s has attracted

2997-613: The Cambodian economy has encouraged Cambodian businessmen of Chinese ancestry to reestablish and regain their past businesses and regain their lost property which was once confiscated by the Khmer Rouge . The modern Cambodian business sector is highly dependent on Chinese-owned companies who control virtually the country's entire economy with their augmented patronage being enhanced by the larger presence of lawmakers and politicians who are of at least part-Chinese ancestry themselves. Cambodia's lack of an indigenous Khmer commercial culture in

3108-406: The Cambodian political elite as much of the country's economic vitality depends on Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and investors and the pouring of mainland Chinese investment capital for job creation, which has also added to the globalized aggregate value-added investment chain in the country. The CPP itself has incorporated many members of Chinese ancestry themselves who provide financial support to

3219-448: The Cambodian silk weaving industry where key commercial positions in the Cambodian silk trading networks are completely held in Chinese hands. Cambodia's rice milling industry has completely been under Chinese hands as they wield a complete monopoly over Cambodia's rice distilling industry. At the turn of the 20th century, all of Cambodia's rice mills were completely controlled by the Chinese with Chinese rice merchants being responsible for

3330-594: The Chinese Cambodian business community mingled amongst themselves along the lines of dialect and ethnicity as the community cohered together based on ethnic and familial relations when it came to pursuing capital, organizing labour, and carving out their own unique economic niches in various trades. In the countryside and rural areas, the Chinese produced cash crops such as pepper and vegetables and Chinese merchants purchased surplus rice, peddled commodities, and bestowed loans to Khmer peasants who were in need of credit. Chinese entrepreneurs were also able to secure contracts from

3441-559: The Chinese Cambodian community was terminated in 1958. During the 1960s, Chinese community affairs tended to be handled, at least in Phnom Penh, by the Chinese Hospital Committee, an organization set up to fund and to administer a hospital established earlier for the Chinese community. This committee was the largest association of Chinese merchants in the country, and it was required by the organization's constitution to include on its fifteen-member board six people from

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3552-548: The Chinese community has seen its numbers expand dramatically in the 2000s (decade). There has been a huge growth in Chinese-language schools, often generously supported by the government of China through subsidies, and also in the production of textbooks (in Chinese) that incorporate Cambodian history and seminars for teachers. There may be close to 100 such schools today (2007). One of these private schools claims to be

3663-514: The Chinese in Cambodia's urban and rural areas in 1963 recorded that 59% of the Chinese lived in cities and towns while 41% lived in the countryside. Phnom Penh had a Chinese population of 135,000, or about one-third (33.5%) the city's total population. The Teochew people make up the largest Chinese sub-group in Cambodia and make up about 77% of the Chinese population. About 85% of the Teochews in Cambodia came from Jieyang and Shantou in China. The earliest records of Teochew immigrants date back to

3774-538: The Chinese populace. About 55% of the Cantonese came from the prefectures of Dongguan , Guangzhou and Foshan in the Guangdong province of China . In the 1880s and 1890s, Chinese real estate developers of Cantonese origin secured building contracts from the French colonial government, to develop brick-and-concrete shophouses in a programme of urban renewal of modernizing Phnom Penh. The Cantonese, who comprised

3885-399: The Chinese virtually make up the country's entire wealthy elite. Within Cambodia's socioeconomic backdrop, its presumed assertion as a plural society is seemingly arranged in a way where one's place in the country's economic structure is stereotypically believed to be purportedly reliant and inextricably linked to one's ethnic background. Furthermore, Cambodians of Chinese ancestry not only form

3996-460: The Chinese were perceived as threatening to Cambodian sovereignty. During the various regimes between 1970 and 1990, Chinese enterprise and cultural expression was completely banned and destroyed and many ethnic Chinese died or fled the country. Following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia , the Vietnamese installed the pro-Vietnamese People's Republic of Kampuchea regime which lifted some of

4107-722: The Communist Party of Kampuchea) in September 1960. In Democratic Kampuchea , he was generally known as "Brother Number Two." Unlike most of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, Chea was not educated in France. As documented in the Soviet archives, Nuon Chea played a major role in negotiating the North Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1970, with the intent of forcing the collapse of Lon Nol 's government: "In April–May 1970, many North Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in response to

4218-620: The French introduced a legislation first introduced by Gia Long in Cochinchina, called "bang" in Chinese. Five associations were established in Cambodia, each identified by its specific region of ancestral origin in China; Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese, Teochew and Hakka. Chinese immigrants were required to register with their association to settle in Cambodia. Each of these associations was led by an elected headman, who would be responsible for maintaining law, order and tax collection duties from his countrymen. The French system of administering

4329-470: The French or state-owned but economic preponderance prompted Chinese Cambodian businessmen to act as financial intermediaries and operating as agents for the French as well as their own. In addition, Chinese investment in Cambodia was second to the French prior to the Second World War . 95 percent of the internal trade was also under the control of the Chinese. Of the 3349 industrial firms listed by

4440-533: The Khmer Rouge régime but they were not discriminated against as an ethnic group until after the Vietnamese invasion due to the PRC's support of the Khmer Rouge. Several of the most senior members of the Khmer Rouge were themselves of partial Chinese descent, such as Nuon Chea , Ieng Sary , Khieu Samphan , Kang Kek Iew , Son Sen , Ta Mok and even Pol Pot himself. King Sihanouk saw the delineation and repression of Chinese business and identity as nationalism emerged and

4551-511: The Khmer Rouge. The modern Cambodian economy is highly dependent on Sino-Khmer companies who controlled a large stake in the country's economy, and their support is enhanced by the large presence of lawmakers who are of at least part-Chinese ancestry themselves. The Chinese language study is increasing in Phnom Penh, with the subject recently added to the national curriculum at the university level. Many Cambodians of ethnic Chinese descent learn Chinese for employment as well as business reasons due to

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4662-583: The Khmer monarchy. William Willmot, a sinologist at the University of British Columbia estimated that 90 percent of the Chinese Cambodian community were involved in some form of commerce in 1963. Taking on and playing a crucial economic role in the country, the Chinese control almost all of Cambodia's internal trade and a substantial portion of the manufacturing including the nation's rice-milling and transportation sectors. Today, an estimated 60 percent are Chinese Cambodian urban dwellers engaging in commerce while

4773-482: The Khmer royal family, where they were granted access to vast kinship networks to marshal investment capital and shore up credit and loans as well as given privileges to operate gambling dens, opium farms, pawn brokerage houses, and fisheries throughout the country. The Cantonese held extensive control on the rice, pepper, and salt trade and the Teochew dominated the wholesale and retail trade, exerted an enormous clout on

4884-514: The Pol Pot regime. The establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea after the Vietnamese invasion in 1979 was not completely positive for the Chinese minorities. Partly because of tensions between China and Vietnam, the new Cambodian authorities adopted restrictive measures against the remaining members of the Chinese minorities, including banning them from returning to urban trades. In 1971

4995-578: The Teochew group, three from the Cantonese, two from the Hokkien, two from the Hakka, and two from the Hainanese. The hospital board constituted the recognized leadership of Phnom Penh's Chinese community. Local Chinese school boards in the smaller cities and towns often served a similar function. This was to be a high point in terms of the rights of the Chinese minorities. Cambodian independence in 1953 saw

5106-402: The Teochews live in rural area, and they made up about 90% of the rural Chinese population. The Teochews is also the largest sub-group in Cambodia, where some 100,000 out of 135,000 Chinese in 1962 are from this sub-group. Teochews in rural region of the country generally make their living as village shopkeepers, rural credit moneylenders, rice merchants or as vegetable farmers. In Phnom Penh and

5217-468: The accumulation of causes like warfare, economic stagnation, the Khmer Rouge era and periods of different regime caused mass- emigration . Official censuses between 2004 and 2008 recorded that Chinese consisted of 0.3% of the country's total urban population and are concentrated mostly in Phnom Penh, while Chinese fluctuated between 0.0% and 0.1% of the country's total rural population between 2004 and 2013. The Canadian sinologist William Willmott's study of

5328-428: The adoption of such practices is necessary to forge closer ties with Mainland and Overseas Chinese businessmen. Like much of Southeast Asia, the Chinese dominate Cambodian commerce at every level of society. Entrepreneurial Chinese have come to contribute a large share of Cambodia's economy. The Chinese minority wield tremendous economic clout over their indigenous Khmer majority counterparts with their presence playing

5439-406: The call for help addressed to Vietnam not by Pol Pot, but by his deputy Nuon Chea. Nguyen Co Thach recalls: "Nuon Chea has asked for help and we have liberated five provinces of Cambodia in ten days." In 1970, in fact, Vietnamese forces occupied almost a quarter of the territory of Cambodia, and the zone of communist control grew several times, as power in the so-called liberated regions was given to

5550-474: The closure of Chinese schools and newspapers, requiring the Chinese to carry special identity papers, imposing special taxes on the Chinese and moving towards denying them Cambodian citizenship. While the Khmer Rouge regime appeared to have a more ‘tolerant' ethnic policy initially, it continued to discriminate against the Chinese once it had completed its takeover of Cambodia. The continued discrimination, however, now rested on class rather than ethnic grounds; since

5661-494: The command of Mac Cuu and Duong Ngan Dich encouraged large numbers of refugees from Fujian and Guangdong provinces to settle in Indochina . The majority of the immigrants were boys and men and boys who eventually married local Khmer women. Their descendants usually assimilated smoothly into the local communities, the economic and social process and personally identified as Cambodians. However, customs were also imported, such as

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5772-442: The country to assist budding Cambodian entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry. Furthermore, the opening up of China's global prominence in the world economy has induced the resurrection of ties between Cambodians of Chinese ancestry and their ancestral homeland in mainland China. Today, Cambodians of Chinese ancestry are now at the forefront of opening up the country's economy as an international Overseas Chinese economic outpost. Much of

5883-459: The country's population. The ECCC had noted that then- Prince Sihanouk had estimated the Chinese population in Cambodia made up of 300,000 to 435,000 individuals in 1965, while CIA had estimated that there were about 444,000 Chinese in 1975. A university field study conducted by William Willmott in 1961 found that there were 425,000 Chinese in Cambodia, which made up to approximately 7.4% of the total population at that time. Willmott noted that there

5994-407: The coup of 1970 which saw the establishing of a pro-West government which considered the neighbouring People's Republic of China a dangerous threat - and the Chinese minorities in Cambodia as a possible fifth column. The year 1970 thus marks the beginning of almost two decades of severe repression of the Chinese minorities in Cambodia. It was after this point that Cambodian authorities started forcing

6105-493: The court convicted Chea of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life . His lawyer immediately announced that Chea would appeal against his conviction. Chea faced a separate trial for the crime of genocide in the same court. The court found him and Khieu Samphan guilty of genocide against the Vietnamese people and the Chams on 16 November 2018. These life sentences were merged into

6216-423: The court that his case should be handled according to international standards. He argued that the court should delay proceedings because his Dutch lawyer, Michiel Pestman, had not yet arrived. In May 2013, Chea told the court and the victims' families, "I feel remorseful for the crimes that were committed intentionally or unintentionally, whether or not I had known about it or not known about it." On 7 August 2014,

6327-540: The earliest Chinese sub-group to settle in Cambodia. Most of the Hokkiens trace their ancestry back to Quanzhou and Xiamen prefectures in southern Fujian province. The Hokkiens settle mainly in Phnom Penh and Battambang, and many Khmer families in Battambang claimed to have some distant Hokkien Chinese ancestry. The Hokkien community is involved the import-export shipping trade and in banking. They also comprised

6438-703: The end of the 18th century. They established pepper plantations in Kampot, and became the dominant Chinese sub-group in that province. Smaller Hainanese communities are also found at Sisophon and Sre Ambel . In the 1950s, many Hainanese would then move to Phnom Penh, where, in the late 1960s, they monopolized the city's entire hotel and restaurant business. Hainanese of more humbler socioeconomic backgrounds operated tailor shops and haberdasheries. In 1957, researchers found that many Hainanese of Khmer ancestry from their Khmer mothers and Khmer grandmothers still speak Hainanese fluently. The Hokkien sub-group were believed to be

6549-421: The export of Cambodian timber, cash crops, alongside the inflow of Chinese investment have created auspicious conditions ripe with business opportunities manifesting in the form of real estate, energy, and construction ventures for budding Cambodian entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry to capitalize on. Cambodian entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry continue to remain the driving impetus behind

6660-399: The fact as many mainland Chinese investors are investing across the Cambodian economy. The position of the Chinese minority has undergone a dramatic turn for the better and the Chinese seem to have regained much of their previous economic clout. For various reasons, including the growing economic collaboration between China and Cambodia and the huge investments being made by Chinese companies,

6771-841: The first half of 1570s, Lin was already operating along the Siamese coast, and the Ming authority joined force with the Siamese navy as well as using Portuguese ships to combat the pirates. In 1578, he established a base in Patani with 2,000 followers, and they dominated the town for some time. Ming sources indicate that he attacked Siamese ships but was repelled in 1578, and in 1580 he again attacked Siam but also left Siam later that year. The Ming authorities tried to capture him while he continued to launch raids against Chinese ships in 1580–81. After 1581 there were no further reports of his piratical activity in Ming sources, suggesting he had retired from raiding and settled in Patani. In Patani, Lin obtained

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6882-662: The forefront of virtually all of the country's politically well-connected business groups. Utilizing the bamboo network business model, Chinese-owned businesses operating in Cambodia are structured as family businesses , trust-based networks, and patronage arrangements with a centralized bureaucracy. Moreover, social mechanisms that underpin these entrepreneurial trajectories largely derive from family, ethnic, cultural, and patron-client ties based on personalized and informal trust. In addition, Confucian Chinese business practices are employed along with societal discourses that stereotypically link “Chineseness” with socioeconomic success which

6993-464: The foreign investment now entering Cambodia is being channeled through Overseas Chinese bamboo networks. Many members of the Chinese Cambodian business community often act as agents for expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese financiers and investors outside of Cambodia. Of particular note is mainland China's economic role in the country, which has emerged to become a dominant foreign economic power player in Cambodia. China's source of external influence in

7104-593: The former PRK gradually disappeared. The State of Cambodia allowed ethnic Chinese to observe their particular religious customs and Chinese language schools were reopened. In 1991, two years after the SOC's foundation, the Chinese New Year was officially celebrated in Cambodia for the first time since 1975. Of particular note is China's economic role in the country, which encouraged Sino-Khmer businessmen to reestablish their past business which were once suppressed by

7215-521: The former first secretary of the Eastern Zone, So Phim . Vietnamese hopes that these figures would head an uprising against Pol Pot turned out to be groundless: So Phim perished during the revolt in June 1978, while Nuon Chea, as it is known, turned out to be one of the most devoted followers of Pol Pot—he did not defect to the Vietnamese side....It is difficult to understand why until the end of 1978 it

7326-612: The government authorized the formation of a new body, the Federated Association of Chinese of Cambodia, which was the first organization to embrace all of Cambodia's resident Chinese. According to its statutes, the federation was designed to "aid Chinese nationals in the social, cultural, public health, and medical fields," to administer the property owned jointly by the Chinese community in Phnom Penh and elsewhere, and to promote friendly relations between Cambodians and Chinese. With leadership that could be expected to include

7437-522: The huge investments being made by the Chinese Cambodian business community, Overseas Chinese, and mainland Chinese companies in the country have led the Chinese Cambodian community to see its numbers expand dramatically since the turn of the 21st century. The 21st-century Chinese Cambodian community remains a modern well established commercial middle and upper-class group. The Chinese community remains an insular and tight-knit group that has integrated well into domestic Cambodian society, yet continue to remain

7548-493: The imperial capital. The three arrows flew into the imperial palace, striking the Dragon Throne . However, as it was midnight, the throne was empty. The emperor found the three arrows with Lin's name on them stuck in his throne, realizing that Lin had attempted to kill him, then ordered his troops to attack Lin. Lin, however, managed to escape. The Teochew people of Thailand tell a number of stories about Lin. In one, he

7659-491: The indigenous Khmer peasants with essential purchases such as farming supplies, groceries imported from China, sampots and sarongs, bamboo baskets, perfume, kerosene for lamps, alcohol as well as tobacco. Those in the Kampot Province and parts of Kaoh Kong Province cultivate black pepper and fruit (especially rambutans, durians, and coconuts). Additionally, rural Chinese Cambodians also engaged in saltwater fishing. In

7770-418: The influx of mainland Chinese investment into Cambodia. Since 1990, Cambodia has witnessed a rebirth of Han Chinese identity, cultural expression, and business boom across the country. Regional trade networks were restored and small and medium-sized businesses have flourished since the introduction of market-driven state-owned capitalist principles. The growing economic collaboration between China and Cambodia and

7881-399: The largest overseas Chinese school in the world, with some 10,000 students. A number of Chinese-language newspapers began to be published in the country after 1993, and state television broadcasting even included a news segment in Chinese after 1998. All of the main political parties in Cambodia now appear sensitive to the clout of the Chinese minority, publishing campaign material in Chinese in

7992-796: The last elections. While this minority faced serious discrimination until the 1980s, it appears that that period has come to an end and that they no longer appear to be victimized by state authorities and are allowed to prosper under Hun Sen. According to statistics from the Ministry of Planning by the Cambodian government, approximately 15,000 individuals, or 0.1% out of the country's total population of 15 million were identified as ethnic Chinese in 2013. A year later, Chinese associations in Phnom Penh estimates that around 700,000 Cambodians have at least some Chinese ancestry. A government census done in 1962 showed that 163,000 individuals Cambodian nationals were registered as Chinese, which amounted to as much as 3% of

8103-586: The last person to interview Pol Pot , describes Nuon Chea as "probably more guilty than Pol Pot himself for the actual killings that went on while the Khmer Rouge were in power." On 19 September 2007, 81 year old Chea was arrested at his home in Pailin and flown to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh , which charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was held continuously in detention after his arrest. In February 2008, Chea told

8214-641: The local princess of Patani, converted to Islam and built the Krue Se Mosque . However he refused to return, and she then committed suicide by hanging from a cashew tree. Her gravestone, located next to the mosque, is said to have been built by her brother but probably actually created in the early 20th century. A shrine in her name exists in Patani and she is worshipped by some Chinese people in southern Thailand and from other countries. According to Phongsawadan Mueang Pattani (Chronicle of Pattani), he attempted to cast three bronze cannons to be used in

8325-550: The main language of commerce communication usage in the city. The Cantonese are also known as "Chen-Kantang" in Khmer language. They made up the largest Chinese sub-group in Cambodia between the 17th century until the early 20th century. lived mainly in the city. About 40% of the Cantonese are concentrated in Phnom Penh, while most of the remainder are found in Banteay Meanchey , Battambang , Kampong Cham , Kampong Chhnang and Kratie where they make up at least 30% of

8436-571: The majority of Chinese Cambodians before the Teochew migrations began in the late 1930s, lived mainly in the city. Typically, the Cantonese engaged in transportation and in the skilled construction trades mainly as mechanics or carpenters. More than 80 percent of the Hainanese people traced their origins from Wenchang county. They settled at an established trading settlement at Kampot province and Sihanoukville . Early Hainanese settlers started off as entrepot traders but turned to pepper trading at

8547-434: The majority of urban Chinese were traders, they were classified as ‘capitalists' by the revolutionary regime. While there is no evidence that the Chinese were particularly targeted in the Khmer Rouge purges, their population in Cambodia was probably reduced by half in the four years of Khmer Rouge rule; it seems that there was an increased number of anti-Chinese events just prior to the Vietnamese invasion which brought an end to

8658-496: The modern Cambodian economy with many of them having extended family members and relatives working in the Cambodian government through political connections and business networks in the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, which is predominantly comprised up of people entirely of Chinese ancestry themselves. Entrepreneurial networks, Chinese family clan associations , Chambers of Commerce with business resources are found across

8769-853: The mountains. The increased resurgence of Chinese cultural and economic activity in 21st-century Cambodia has triggered distrust, resentment, and anti-Chinese sentiment among the poorer indigenous Khmer majority, many of whom eke out a rudimentary daily living engaging in rural agrarian rice peasantry or fishing in stark socioeconomic contrast to their modern, wealthier, and cosmopolitan middle-class Chinese counterparts. Of at least partial Chinese descent Lin Daoqian Lin Daoqian ( Chinese : 林道乾 ; pinyin : Lín Dàoqián ; Wade–Giles : Lin Tao-ch'ien ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Lîm tō-khiân , Malay : Tok Kayan, Thai : ลิ้มโต๊ะเคี่ยม ), also written as Lim Toh Khiam and Vintoquián ,

8880-412: The nation's entire export of rice. Hierarchies of rice mills were established ranging from the small humble rural rice dealer all the way to the colossal Cholon -style rice mills. Many Cambodian shopkeepers of Chinese ancestry also mixed and diversified other goods and services of value such as lending money and retailing manufactured goods alongside rice trading. Despite constituting less than 1 percent of

8991-432: The nation's tourism industry to potential mainland Chinese clientele. In addition, mainland Chinese expatriate entrepreneurs and investors have been coming to Cambodia in droves to acquire Cambodian assets and have invested substantial amounts of capital in numerous industries across the Cambodian economy, channelling their financial capital through the bamboo network. The Cambodian Chinese business community has been backed by

9102-427: The oppressive rules imposed on ethnic Chinese by the Khmer Rouge government. Chinese newspapers were allowed and the ban on speaking Chinese at home was lifted. However, partial restrictions and a certain amount of suspicion remained, for the pro-Soviet PRK regime resented China's support for the Khmer Rouge guerrillas fighting against it, now renamed as the " National Army of Democratic Kampuchea " (NADK). Observers at

9213-596: The overall population of Cambodia, Cambodians of Chinese ancestry are estimated to control 70 percent of the publicly listed companies by market capitalization on the Cambodian stock exchange . Of the 346 shipping firms listed in the 1963 issue of the Chinese Commercial Annual, a minimum of 267 or 78 percent were owned by Cambodians of Chinese ancestry with the eight of the top ten businesses being owned by them as well. The remainder were either owned by

9324-420: The party with many high government officials and other major political decision-makers being of partial Chinese ancestry themselves. The position of the Chinese minority in Cambodia has undergone a dramatic turn for the better and the Chinese seem to have regained much of their previous economic clout prior to the establishment of the Khmer Rouge. The influx of Chinese capital into Cambodia's economy has also led to

9435-461: The pirates, using Lin's fleet to attack his rival in 1569. Lin was reported to have 5,000 followers by July 1569. Ming records, howver, state that Lin was "most crafty and cunning", and would alternately rebel and swear allegiance to the Ming authority. It was reported in 1573 that he had rebelled, and fled to find sanctuary in a foreign country. He settled in Pulo Condore in 1574. By

9546-661: The poorer indigenous Khmer peasants through usury at an interest rate of 10 to 20 percent per month. This might have been the reason why 75 percent of the peasants in Cambodia were in debt in 1952, according to the Australian Colonial Credit Office. Cambodian entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are also estimated to control 70 percent of the industrial investment and are actively engaged in trading, real estate development, construction, small-scale manufacturing, alcohol distilling, hospitality, fast food restaurants, and food processing. The Chinese also dominate

9657-454: The practice of the Chinese topknot that was practiced until the 18th century. The French first introduced a legislation in 1873 which classified Chinese immigrants as 'Alien Asians' and subjects were subjected to resident taxes. King Norodom introduced a legislative reform in 1884 which required the Chinese immigrants to pay higher resident taxes but there were no legal restrictions imposed for immigrants to take up Cambodian citizenship. In 1891,

9768-494: The primary processing of sawmilling, rice milling, sugar refining, and charcoal burning. Following the era of post-colonial French rule, the Chinese retained their commercial dominance throughout Cambodia's economy throughout the reign of King Sihanouk (1953–1970) . In the city of Phnom Penh, a third of the total population was of Chinese ancestry numbering some 135,000 people who made their living as shoemakers, dentists, cinema owners, barbers, bakers, carpenters, and dentists. Much of

9879-538: The prison before the Vietnamese took the site. In December 1998, Chea surrendered as part of the last remnants of Khmer Rouge resistance which was based in Pailin  near the Thailand  border. The government under Prime Minister Hun Sen , himself a former member of the Khmer Rouge, agreed to forsake attempts to prosecute Chea, a decision that was condemned by Western nations. American journalist Nate Thayer ,

9990-451: The private sector that is dominated entirely by Cambodians of Chinese ancestry, has encouraged a plethora of mainland Chinese foreign investment capital into the country. From 1994 to July 2011, mainland China invested more than US$ 8.8 billion across the country. The Cambodian government has made efforts to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from mainland China and Overseas Chinese financiers and investors as well as marketing

10101-474: The provinces migrated to Cambodia through Tonkin and Cochinchina in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Phnom Penh, the newly arrived Hakka were typically folk dentists, sellers of traditional Chinese medicines, and shoemakers. Many Chinese Cambodian families have their children learn to speak Chinese to reaffirm their Chinese identity as Standard Chinese has been increasingly the primary language of business for Overseas Chinese business communities. One main factor

10212-409: The recognized leaders of the national Chinese community, the federation was believed likely to continue the trend, evident since the early 1960s, to transcend dialect group allegiance in many aspects of its social, political, and economic programs. Generally, relations between the Chinese and the ethnic Khmer were good. There was some intermarriage, and a sizable proportion of the population in Cambodia

10323-438: The rest of the rural population work as shopkeepers, processors of food products (such as rice, palm sugar, fruit, and fish), and moneylenders. Throughout Cambodian cities, Chinese dominated numerous industries such as retail, hospitality, export-import trade, light, food processing, soft drinks, printing, and machine shops. In the rural areas of Cambodia, Cambodian businessmen of Chinese ancestry operated general shops that provided

10434-450: The return of the actual cannon. Nuon Chea Nuon Chea ( Khmer : នួន ជា ; born Lao Kim Lorn ; 7 July 1926 – 4 August 2019), also known as Long Bunruot ( Khmer : ឡុង ប៊ុនរត្ន ) or Rungloet Laodi ( រុងឡឺត ឡាវឌី Thai : รุ่งเลิศ เหล่าดี ), was a Cambodian communist politician and revolutionary who was the chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge . He also briefly served as acting Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea . He

10545-481: The smaller towns, the Teochews are generally import-export Entrepot traders, pharmacists or street peddlars. The large influx of Teochew immigrants from Thailand into Battambang resulted in the Teochews outnumbering other Chinese dialect groups in the city following its brief annexation by Thailand in 1945 that brought large numbers of Teochew immigrants to move into the city. By the 1960s, the Teochew dialect became

10656-456: The time believed that the lingering anti-Chinese stance of the PRK government and of its officials in Phnom Penh made it unlikely that a Chinese community of the same scale as before the Khmer Rouge could resurface in Cambodia in the near future. The conditions for the ethnic Chinese, however, improved greatly under the SOC, the transitional avatar of the PRK after 1989. Restrictions placed on them by

10767-617: The top ranks of the Communist Party to their own benefit." As the recently proclaimed state legislature, the Kampuchean People's Representative Assembly held its first plenary session during 11–13 April 1976, Chea was elected president of its Standing Committee. He briefly held office as acting prime minister when Pol Pot resigned for one month, citing health reasons. According to Dmitry Mosyakov, "In October 1978, Hanoi still believed that 'there were two prominent party figures in Phnom Penh who sympathized with Vietnam—Nuon Chea and

10878-454: The traders (almost all Chinese) became indistinguishable from the unpropertied urban classes." The Chinese, in addition to having their livelihood eradicated on the whole, also suffered because of their socioeconomic class. They were mainly well-educated urban merchants, and thus were characteristic of the people whom the Khmer Rouge detested. Chinese refugees have reported that they shared the same brutal treatment as other urban Cambodians under

10989-541: The wars of Pattani. After several failures with the third and largest cannon, he offered to sacrifice himself should his attempt be successful, and was blown up while testing this cannon. A 19th century Chinese account claims that the ruler of Patani was his descendant. It is thought that Lin's activity in the area may have influenced the migration of Teochew people to Thailand in later years. A large number of Chinese people had already settled in Patani by early 17th century; Dutch merchant Olivier van Noort mentioned meeting

11100-524: Was a Chinese pirate of Teochew origin active in the 16th century. He led pirate attacks along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian , but they were driven away by the Ming navy forces in 1563. By 1567 he was again raiding the South China coast. He later moved to South East Asia, and settled in Patani where he established a significant presence. He died in Patani. Lin was of Teochew origin, and he

11211-571: Was also believed to have moved in Champa and Luzon in the Philippines. By 1567, Lin was again raiding along the coast of China, and in 1568, and the Ming authority placed a bounty on Lin in an attempt to capture him. At some point he was said to have been attacked by another pirate chief Lin Feng , who captured 55 of his ships. The Ming authority attempted to recruit Lin in their fight against

11322-540: Was believed in Hanoi that Nuon Chea was 'their man' in spite of the fact that all previous experience should have proved quite the contrary. Was Hanoi unaware of his permanent siding with Pol Pot, his demands that 'the Vietnamese minority should not be allowed to reside in Kampuchea', his extreme cruelty, as well as of the fact that, 'in comparison with Nuon Chea, people considered Pol Pot a paragon of kindness'?" Nuon Chea

11433-494: Was commonly known as " Brother Number Two " ( Khmer : បងធំទី២ ), as he was second-in-command to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot , General Secretary of the Party, during the Cambodian genocide of 1975–1979. In 2014, Nuon Chea received a life sentence for crimes against humanity , alongside another top-tier Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan , and a further trial convicted him of genocide in 2018. These life sentences were merged into

11544-629: Was described as being from either Chenghai or Huilai in Guangdong . Later he moved to Quanzhou , Fujian . Lin was part of the wokou piratical activity that plagued the Chinese coast during the reign of the Ming Jiajing Emperor (1522–1566). He attacked Zhao'an , where he was said to have burnt hundreds of houses killing thousands. In response, the Ming navy led by Yu Dayou drove Lin away in 1963, first to Penghu islands , later to Beigang , Taiwan. Yu occupied Penghu after driving Lin away, but did not pursue Lin to Taiwan. Lin

11655-692: Was educated in Thai , French and Khmer. In the 1940s, Nuon Chea studied at Wat Benchamabophit School and Faculty of Law, Thammasat University in Bangkok and worked part-time for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs . He began his political activities in the Communist Party of Siam in Bangkok . He was elected Deputy General Secretary of the Workers Party of Kampuchea (later renamed as

11766-631: Was forced to abandon his position as president of the Assembly, along with all others as the Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. According to prison commander Kaing Khek Iev (more commonly known as Duch), who described Chea as "the principal man for the killings," Chea "ordered me to kill all the remaining prisoners" at Tuol Sleng shortly before the regime's ouster ; Chea was reportedly "furious" that Duch failed to destroy Tuol Sleng's extensive archives documenting torture and mass murder at

11877-556: Was part Sino-Khmer, who were assimilated easily into either the Chinese or the Khmer community. Willmott assumes that a Sino-Khmer elite dominated commerce in Cambodia from the time of independence well into the era of the Khmer Republic. The Khmer Rouge takeover was catastrophic for the Chinese community for several reasons. When the Khmer Rouge took over a town, they immediately disrupted the local market. According to Willmott, this disruption virtually eliminated retail trade "and

11988-419: Was said to have helped the Siamese fight off an Annam attack and was thus given the daughter of the king to marry; however, he later angered the king after making a joke about killing the king, and had to flee. Another story involves the legend of Lim Ko Niao , said to be his sister in this account. Lim Ko Niao tried to persuade her brother to return to China with her after finding that her brother had married

12099-498: Was testing cannons he had made for the queen of Pattani. Some suggested that he died in the 1580s, others proposed that he was still alive during the reign of Raja Biru in the early 17th century. He is believed to be buried in Kubo Bukit Cina, the oldest Chinese cemetery in Patani. There are a number of myths and legends about Lin in Taiwan, although historical sources give varying accounts of his presence of Taiwan and it

12210-524: Was the daughter of a Chinese immigrant from Shantou, Guangdong and his Khmer wife. In 2011, however, Chea told the Khmer Rouge Tribunal that he was only a quarter Chinese through his half-Chinese father. As a child, Nuon Chea was raised in both Chinese and Khmer customs. The family prayed at a Theravada Buddhist temple, but observed Chinese religious customs during the Lunar New Year and Qingming festival. Nuon Chea started school at seven, and

12321-546: Was told by a Taoist master that he would be able to conquer all of China if, after he had performed certain tasks in a hundred days, he fired three arrows towards Beijing on the dawn of the last day. The master gave him 3 magic arrows and a "divine rooster". Lin handed the rooster in the care of his sister Jin-lien ( 金蓮 ). On the midnight of last day, Jin-lien inadvertently startled the rooster, causing it to crow. Lin awoke and mistakenly thought that dawn had arrived, immediately firing off three divine arrows with his name towards

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