Migration and conflict in the Siyi Region, 1849-1949
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- From the mid-nineteenth century to the Second World War, men from the "Four Counties" or Siyi region of South China -- lured by the prospect of fortune in gold fields and railway cuts and fleeing a devastating midcentury conflict in their home region -- formed the vast majority of Chinese migrants to North America. I argue that this diaspora, by virtue of the remittances that poured back into Siyi and the absence of so many men overseas, transformed the peasant household, enriched and empowered militarized lineages, challenged Qing authority, and intensified the internecine warfare that gripped the region. The flow of remittances remade the texture of peasant life, especially at the level of the household. As an unpredictable remittance economy enriched some and ruined others, long term male absence spurred the development of a market in children, through which households with men overseas (and unable to father natural-born heirs) used remittance money to purchase the sons of the impoverished for adoption. Meanwhile, Siyi's lineages battled one another in escalating conflicts that were simultaneously local and globalized, feuds made ever more lethal by the militias, arms, and munitions financed by overseas wealth. This cycle of bloodshed, endemic by the end of Qing rule, would continue until the consolidation of Communist power in the region.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Hick, Peter Armen Kassabian |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Sommer, Matthew |
| Thesis advisor | Sommer, Matthew |
| Thesis advisor | Chang, Gordon |
| Thesis advisor | Mullaney, Thomas |
| Thesis advisor | Wigen, Karen |
| Degree committee member | Chang, Gordon |
| Degree committee member | Mullaney, Thomas |
| Degree committee member | Wigen, Karen |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of History |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Peter Hick. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of History. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/zm571qz6206 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Peter Armen Kassabian Hick
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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