近代華南與東南亞華人社會間的互動關係－以一個華人移民家庭的僑批為例

Interactions between South China and Chinese Communities in Southeast Asia: The Remittance-letters of a Transnational Chinese Family

陳麗園(Li-Yuan Chen)

《歷史人類學學刊》 12卷2期 (2014/10) Pp. 85-110

摘要

本文的研究對象為一個一家兩代具有海外移民經驗並與國內家庭保持密切聯繫的跨國華人家庭，希望從具體的家庭的個案來展現華南與東南亞華人社會間的跨國、跨區域的互動關係。本文利用的資料主要是陳遺恩家族在解放前寄回家鄉的近100封僑批。通過對這些僑批文獻的深刻解讀，結合相關的田野調查，本文呈現出一個跨國華人家庭如何在經歷各種嚴峻的政治、經濟環境的考驗下生存下來。這說明華南與東南亞華人移民家庭旺盛的生命力及兩地社會互動結構的恆穩性，同時也反映了跨國華人家庭、跨國華人社會內部特有的生存機制。陳遺恩家庭的個案研究，為我們重新反思海外華人史研究的民族國家理論框架並引入跨國性理論，提供了重要的實證範例。

關鍵字

華南 ； 僑批 ； 東南亞華人社會 ； 跨國華人家庭 ； 跨國性理論

並列摘要

This article is a study of a transnational Chinese family whose members maintained contact between Southeast Asia and their native place in South China over the course of two generations. Their history illustrates the complex transnational and transregional interactions between Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and South China. Based upon approximately one hundred emigrants' remittance letters (qiaopi) from before 1949 as well as contemporary field research, the article shows how dynamic mechanisms within the transnational family structure and transnational communities enabled families to survive a difficult political and economic environment. The article provides a case study to reflect on the challenge posed by the transnational Chinese family to models of the ethnic nation-state and on the utility of transnationalism as the oretical formulation for the field of overseas Chinese studies.

並列關鍵字

South China ； Southeast Asia ； remittance letters (qiaopi) ； Chinese transnational family ； Chinese transnational community