ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on merchants involved in trade with China through the entrepôt port of Singapore. The start of the Chinese civil war between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1945 had a devastating impact on their businesses. Confucianism and traditional Chinese business practices are not useful in helping us understand how they worked to keep their businesses alive in the changing international climate. Another crucial challenge faced by the merchants after 1945 was the status of the entrepôt trade for Singapore after it was separated from the Malayan hinterland by the creation of the Malayan Union and the Crown Colony of Singapore in 1946. What do we know about the role of the Chinese merchants in Singapore in promoting the pre-war entrepôt trade? Overseas Chinese nationalism will not explain the actions the merchants need to take from Singapore, as the civil war was an internal conflict in China. After the Citizenship Ordinance was passed in 1957, any loyalty to political forces in China had to be cast aside as Singapore worked towards full internal self-government. After the People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed in October 1949, what did merchants do as the Chinese market became gradually closed to external (including overseas Chinese) merchants? What was the relationship between the Chinese merchants and the colonial, Labour Front (LF) and People's Action Party (PAP) governments of Singapore between 1945 and 1965? How did merchants promote their businesses in Singapore during this period and, if access to the Chinese market was blocked, did they look for alternative sources for their commodities? What did merchants do to ensure their survival of their trade and businesses?
