ABSTRACT
Throughout the history of Southeast Asia there have been a large number of Chinese immigrants, particularly from the provinces on the southeast coast including Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan. The overseas Chinese kept close contact with their families sending letters and money home through remitting houses (信局 xinju). Remittance houses dispersed throughout the South Seas area were specialized in money exchange and postal communications between emigrants in the region and their home villages with agents handling business for those from their own home villages. They utilized money for remittance as a fund of investment for their trading activities instead of sending it directly to Hong Kong and South China. This chapter focuses on industry of remittance houses and their surrounding businesses from the perspective of institutional networks connecting Southeast Asia and South China.
