Migration in the Time of Revolution: China, Indonesia, and the Cold War

by Taomo Zhou

Overview

Migration in the Time of Revolution explores the complex relationship between China and Indonesia from 1945 to 1967, during a period when citizenship, identity, and political loyalty were in flux. Taomo Zhou examines the experiences of migrants, including youths seeking an ancestral homeland they had never seen and economic refugees whose skills were unwelcome in a socialist state. Zhou argues that these migrants played an active role in shaping the diplomatic relations between Beijing and Jakarta, rather than being passive subjects of historical forces.

By using newly declassified documents and oral history interviews, Migration in the Time of Revolution demonstrates how the actions and decisions of ethnic Chinese migrants were crucial in the development of post-war relations between China and Indonesia. By integrating diplomatic history with migration studies, Taomo Zhou provides a nuanced understanding of how ordinary people's lives intersected with broader political processes in Asia, offering a fresh perspective on the Cold War's social dynamics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501781445
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2025
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Taomo Zhou is Assistant Professor in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University. Follow her on X @taomo_zhou.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
A Note on Language
Introduction: Revolutionary Diplomacy and Diasporic Politics
1. The Chinese Nationalist Party and the Overseas Chinese
2. The Chinese Communist Party and the Overseas Chinese
3. The Diplomatic Battle between the Two Chinas
4. The Communal Battle between the Red and the Blue
5. Pribumi Perceptions of the "Chinese Problem"
6. The 1959–1960 Anti-Chinese Crisis
7. The Ambivalent Alliance between Beijing and Jakarta
8. China and the September Thirtieth Movement
9. Beijing, Taipei, and the Emerging Suharto Regime
10. The Overseas Chinese "Returning" to the People's Republic
Conclusion: "The Motherland Is a Distant Dream"
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Julia Lovell

This is a superbly original and incisive study, based on an exceptionally rich and exciting collection of primary sources. Its wide-ranging account of diplomacy and foreign relations as a diverse social process, rather than as just a top-down phenomenon, is particularly welcome and insightful. Professor Zhou's analysis will become the standard work on PRC-Indonesia relations in the Mao era.

Gregg Brazinsky

Based on extensive research in Chinese and Indonesian sources, Migration in the Time of Revolution is the best study of Sino-Indonesian relations during the Cold War in the English language and may well remain so for years to come.

Glen Peterson

Migration in the Time of Revolution is an impressive work of high caliber, and represents a significant contribution to knowledge on modern China, Chinese migration, modern Indonesia and modern Southeast Asia.

Editorial Reviews

The book is a delightful read and will be of great interest to scholars of Chinese migration, PRC history, Indonesian history, and the history of the international communist movement.

South East Asia Research

Impressively researched.

Foreign Affairs

Meticulously researched, Migration in the Time of Revolution: China, Indonesia, and the Cold War by Taomo Zhou explores the fluid and multidimensional connections between the Chinese diaspora in Indonesia and their homeland, examining how the latter affected China's geostrategic position in the early Cold War period. Zhou's book makes important contributions to the study of diplomacy in general, and Chinese foreign policy history in particular

Pacific Affairs

Zhou makes important contributions to the fields of Chinese studies, Asian and Cold War history and migration studies. Migration in the Time of Revolution will likely remain an authoritative work for years to come.

China Quarterly

In its two-decade sweep from the 1940s to 1960s, Migration in the Time of Revolution disentangles a knotty diplomatic relationship and analyzes its connections to Cold War strategies, tense domestic politics, and population movements. As a result, the book will appeal to scholars interested broadly in Asia, regional foreign relations, and Cold War hot spots as well as to specialists in mid-twentieth-century Southeast Asia, political violence in Indonesia, and the Chinese diaspora.

H-Asia

Migration in the Time of Revolution is a truly remarkable achievement that fuses diplomatic and social history. It sets new standards for the study of Chinese in Southeast Asia and models the possibly for research that is truly inter-Asian in scope while contributing to and remaining grounded in Southeast Asian Studies.

Association for Asian Studies 2021 Harry J. Benda Book Prize Committee

Zhou has produced a stunning synthesis of migration and diplomatic history to demonstrate how international diplomacy is deeply intertwined with the global movement of peoples across borders.

Inside Indonesia

This is a protean and pathbreaking book that will serve as an essential source for new research on the history of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and international relations in Asia.

Journal of Asian Studies

"Zhou has produced a stunning synthesis of migration and diplomatic history to demonstrate how international diplomacy is deeply intertwined with the global movement of peoples across borders."

Inside Indonesia - Bernard Z. Keo

"Migration in the Time of Revolution is an impressive work of high caliber, and represents a significant contribution to knowledge on modern China, Chinese migration, modern Indonesia and modern Southeast Asia."

Glen Peterson

"Based on extensive research in Chinese and Indonesian sources, Migration in the Time of Revolution is the best study of Sino-Indonesian relations during the Cold War in the English language and may well remain so for years to come."

Gregg Brazinsky