To date, no comprehensive history of the Chinese community in South Africa has been written, and even in the more recent historiographical publications the subject has been entirely ignored.1 There are numerous reasons for this, one of which is obviously the numerically small size of the community as well as the scattered nature and paucity of research material. The South African Chinese community is, and has almost always been, one of the country's smallest minorities. Since the first official census in the Cape of Good Hope in 1865, the Chinese have only ever been listed as a separate 'ethnic group' once. Their numbers were always considered too small to warrant attention and they have therefore been consistently categorised as 'mixed' or 'other', or together with the larger Indian population, as 'Asian'.2 At present the Chinese community numbers in the region of 20 000 to 25 000, comprising only about 0,04 per cent of the total population.3 Moreover, throughout South African history, the Chinese have generally preferred to maintain a rather inconspicuous profile within the racially stratified and complex nature of South African society.4 They occupy what has been referred to as a 'strange position in a strange society',5 a 'no man's land between White and Black'.

This latter situation has given rise to numerous sociological studies which are primarily concerned with analysing the position of the Chinese people in South Africa and how the society is perceived by the white community.7 Other related disciplines have focused on this marginal status in terms of business, immigration and demography, while more parochial studies have analysed Chinese culture and religion.8 Relatively little has been published about the community per se.

The few academic studies in the field of history have focused almost exclusively on the 63 695 Chinese labourers who were brought to South Africa under contract to work on the Witwatersrand gold mines during the period 1904 to 1910. These various theses and chapters in general histories consider issues such as the impact of this unique experiment m the local and British political scene, its effect on the Transvaal economy, its influence on the development of race and labour relations, and more generally the processes involved in their importation, employment and repatriation.10 The first and only published historical monograph on this subject appeared in 1982: Peter Richardson's Chinese mine labour in the Transvaal.11 This work is essentially concerned with the workings of the international indentured labour system. Richardson pays particular attention to the complex crisis on the Rand which necessitated the introduction of Chinese labour as well as the ... consequences of the interaction of a crisis of accumulation ... and Stats intervention ... as they affected the organisation of recruiting ... the procedures of embarkation and passage and ... the employment of these men in the mines.

This book is not only historiographically important because it is the first monograph to focus specifically on the Chinese labour experiment, but also as it formed part of the new revisionist school of writing which emerged in South Africa during the late 1970s.13 Here, South Africa's great transformation - the discovery of diamonds and gold - is focused on, but with capital and labour as the key issues. It is seen as a period in which the foundations of the future political and economic system were laid down, together with all the elements of the class and race structure.

Yet despite this book's pioneering qualities, there are still numerous aspects of Chinese mine labour which remain unexplored. In the conclusion to his book Richardson states that 'the more overtly human and individual elements' of this subject have been minimised, and he 'hopes these omissions will spur future investigations'.15 The impact of the indentured labourers on the 'free' or unindentured Chinese who were already resident in the different South African colonies is not considered, nor are other comparisons drawn in the colonial context. The free or unindentured South African Chinese community has only recently become the subject of historical investigation. Within the last decade, the Transvaal Chinese Association inaugurated a project to write a history of the South African Chinese community.16 Similar projects have been carried out by many Chinese communities throughout the world - particularly South East Asia, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In many instances these form part of the 'dig where you stand' or 'write your own history' trend which emerged during the late seventies, while others are related to the recent international increase in scholarship dealing with the overseas Chinese.17 Other historical work includes a chapter on South Africa in a book on the Chinese diaspora in the western Indian ocean; a study of the Chinese in the Dutch East India Company period; the history of their political and social status in South African society; an analysis of their economic position as well as their involvement and contribution to the 'passive resistance' movement at the turn of this century.

In view of the above, and the shift of historical research in the direction of cultural studies during the 1990s, this article will attempt to present a brief overview of the history of a neglected component of the South African past. It will focus on the history of both the indentured and free Chinese in pre-Union South Africa.

Over the centuries millions of Chinese have settled in foreign lands throughout the world, despite the fact that historically the Chinese Empire was essentially insular and offered almost no encouragement for Chinese people to go abroad.19 Furthermore, the family system, ancestor worship and the very homogeneity of Chinese civilisation also served to discourage any form of mass emigration.20 Up until the mid-sixteenth century a Chinese merchant who went overseas was considered an outlaw.21 In 1712 the Manchu Dynasty issued an edict which requested foreign governments to repatriate all Chinese citizens 'so that they may be executed', and by the end of the eighteenth century there was little change to this policy.22 Thus although the Chinese had been emigrating since the seventh century, their numbers overseas were always rather insignificant.

However, with the expansion of the Western world to the Tar East, a new phase in the history of Chinese emigration was ushered in. The Chinese not only became more actively involved in overseas trade, but also became a source of labour, eventually venturing far beyond surrounding South East Asia.24 The various European imperial powers - including Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Great Britain -required labour to develop the natural resources of their newly found colonies, and they believed that 'no race in the world would do them better service than the Chinese'.25 Ironically, the Chinese immigrants were at first as much welcomed in the various colonies as they were later objected to.26 Among Chinese emigrants a new type now appeared, emigrants who, unlike their predecessors who went to foreign countries independently and of their own free will, went out under either treaty provision or labour contract.27 Thousands of Chinese were shipped overseas without China's official approval, a situation which ultimately compelled the Ch'ing government to change its traditional attitude and enter into agreements to monitor and protect its overseas subjects.28 The opening of the Treaty Ports in the 1840s accelerated the process of Chinese emigration, and in 1860 the Manchu government withdrew the ban on emigration.29 There were also other varied and intricate factors which contributed to this development, including population pressure, famines and internal strife.30 Chinese citizens were eventually to be found in almost every country in the world, with the possible exception of Iceland, Greenland and a few states in North and West Africa 31 -giving substance to the Chinese saying: 'Where the sun shines, one finds the Chinese.'

Of all the continents in the world, Africa appears to have been the last one to which the Chinese emigrated.33 Yet, as early as the fifteenth century, some sixty-odd years before the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope to discover the sea route to India, one of the Chinese emperor's grand eunuchs, Cheng Ho (Zheng He), sailed down the east coast of Africa as far as Ts'eng-pa, or Zanzibar.34 Other records indicate that part of his fleet was 'carried even further by a strong wind, past the Straits of Mozambique' and even possibly as far as a place called ‘Ha-pu-er which may be identified as Kergulan Island in the Antarctic Ocean’ The brilliant navigator’s voyages, which were primarily concerned with proclaiming the Emperor’s authority and inducing the payment of tribute, 36 were abruptly ended towards the end of the 1430 by the Emperor's decree that 'the building of ships to go to barbarian countries shall everywhere be stopped'. Within a few years documents relating to the voyages were destroyed, from anxiety that such 'mistaken policies should not be pursued again' and it became an 'offence to own or build craft with two or more masts'.37 This anti-expansionist attitude put paid to the possibility of China becoming a significant naval and colonial power,38 and of course to a chance encounter with southern Africa.

It was only once the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a refreshment station at the Cape in 1652 that the first Chinese arrived in South Africa. Within a year of founding the VOC settlement, the commander, Jan van Riebeeck, made his first of many requests for free Chinese labour.39 He expressed a wish for some of the 'industrious people who had done so much to develop Java' and noted in his journal that 'an immigration of a multitude of Chinese ... would be of service' .40 Later he pointed out that there were many industrious and capable Chinese in prison in Batavia in consequence of debts they owed the VOC, who would make good workmen.41 Van Riebeeck's successor, Zacharias Wagenaar, also proposed the importation of Chinese as a solution to the labour shortage and ineptitude of the local Dutch farmers.42 In 1662 he asked for '25 or 30 armeledigde Chineesen [impoverished Chinese] who understood agriculture and who would be equal to 50 of ons unwillig luije boere kinkels [our obstinate lazy farmer louts]'.43 In 1664 Wagenaar reiterated his plea for 'voluntary or imprisoned Chinese' who were skilled in the various trades so desperately needed at the Cape. This sentiment was still apparent during the rule of Governor Simon van der Stel towards the end of the seventeenth century.44 However, the Council of India in Batavia to whom most of these pleas were addressed, did not oblige. Instead, free Dutch burghers and slaves arrived and so a different course of development for labour and race relations in the Cape, and the future South Africa, was taken.

Although no Chinese were imported officially and emigration never took place on any large scale during the VOC period, according to rather fragmentary evidence there appears to have been a number of Chinese present at the Cape. Most of them were either convicts or ex-convicts who had been banished to the Cape from Batavia, while others might have come ashore from passing ships or even migrated intentionally.45 The convicts were generally treated as slaves, and on the expiry of their sentences, some of them became part of the 'free black community'.46 The term 'free blacks' was used during this period to denote all free persons wholly or partially of African or Asian descent.47 Throughout the VOC period the total number of Chinese remained comparatively minuscule: there were 17 Chinese names on a convict list of February 172748 and according to the 'opgaafrolle'49 of 1750, the Chinese numbered at least 22.50 This figure was said to have declined as a result of their high rate of return to Asia, a trend which was in marked contrast to other free blacks. The Chinese who did remain or who had come independently to the Cape, lived apart from the other free blacks, and there is evidence to indicate that they even had their own separate cemetery or cemeteries in Cape Town.51 Moreover, in 1722 the Chinese who were living in Table Valley were, together with the free blacks, formed into a company by the Cape authorities to be used in the event of 'public catastrophes such as fire or ships stranding in Table Bay'. Cape paintings of the period and travellers' journals - such as those of Otto Mentzel and Carl Thunberg - depict the Chinese in a variety of small-scale trades and crafts. Many dealt in commodities such as tea, chinaware and eastern fabrics, while others sold fish, or vegetables cultivated on their own private plots of land. Another profitable trade which the Chinese were involved in was chandlering - they used waste animal fat to make shapely candles which were in great demand.53 That some of the Chinese were reasonably wealthy is evident from the records that list them as slave owners.54 Mentzel reports favourably on the extensive restaurant facilities run by Chinese. He describes them as:

... good cooks. Fried and pickled fish with boiled rice is well favoured by soldiers, sailors and slaves. When ... crayfish, crabs, seaspiders and 'granelen' [small crabs] are cast ashore. They are jealously collected by these Orientals, cooked and sold. These Asiatics likewise keep small eating houses where tea and coffee is always to be had.

The Chinese obviously flourished, so much so that despite the small size of their population, there were instances where free burghers (European independent farmers) would protest to the authorities about the Chinese traders' competition. The memorialists repeatedly complained that the Chinese trade was causing them 'much injury' and requested that it should be forbidden. This opposition resulted in the introduction of an Act prohibiting certain forms of trade and restricting the granting of licences to Chinese.

The scattered nature of the references to Chinese individuals throughout VOC archival records, and the lack of a firm grasp of Chinese names by the Dutch makes it difficult to research this subject. James Armstrong, eminent historian and specialist in the field of slavery in the VOC period, claims that by a 'mosaic-building process of accumulating facts about individuals, and where possible generalizing from the broken patterns that emerge' it is possible to obtain some sense of the lives of these early inhabitants.

References to the Chinese during the first and second British occupation (1795-1803; 1806-) are similarly scant, if not more so, and virtually no research has been done on this period. There is evidence to indicate, however, that there was a small influx of Chinese as a result of a shortage of skilled labour for building.58 In 1815, 24 Chinese masons and carpenters signed an agreement to work at the Cape for three years, and by 1822 ten of them were still in fixed employment.59 In 1845 a group of Chinese carpenters were engaged by British agents to help build the Protestant church in the naval yard at Simonstown. And in 1849 a British colonist, M J O Smith, recruited a few Chinese to work as gardeners, cooks and carpenters.60 The British administrators also made an official request for Chinese to solve the labour shortage at the Cape.61 In 1874 and 1876 the Cape Legislative Assembly passed resolutions for the importation of Chinese labourers, and had already contracted 400 when the British government vetoed the decision.62 Sporadic immigration continued with artisans and particularly merchants arriving from Canton and Moi Yean, sometimes coming via Madagascar and Mauritius.

International Chinese emigration on the largest scale began in the second half of the nineteenth century, involving more than two million people.64 Although South Africa was not one of the more popular destinations, there was a simultaneous upsurge in Chinese arrivals.65 (Early studies actually referred to this as the date when the first Chinese arrived in South Africa.66) The reason for the increase in emigration to South Africa during this period was mainly the mineral revolution with the discovery of diamonds in the 1860s and gold in the 1870s. The diamond discoveries were located in and around Kimberley, and the Chinese arrived there not to mine but rather to establish various trade and service businesses.67 With the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, many Chinese moved or extended their businesses while new immigrants continued to arrive, and by the turn of the century there were at least 1 000 Chinese living in the Transvaal Colony, virtually all of them in Johannesburg.68 Most of these settlers were from southern China - primarily Kuangtung, Fukhien and Hainan Island, while others were migrants from Chinese communities in Malaysia, particularly the Straits Settlement and Mauritius.

With the outbreak of the South African War (1899-1902), most of the Chinese moved away from Kimberley and the Witwatersrand to coastal towns such as Port Elizabeth and East London. Here many remained, although the highest concentration of 'free' Chinese was still on the Rand. Shortly after the war a whole new chapter in the history of the Chinese in South Africa began. Not only did 63 659 compatriots arrive, but the relatively undisturbed lifestyle of the existing or settled communities was considerably disrupted.

Already in 1898, just prior to the outbreak of the South African War proposals were made to the Chamber of Mines, the official mouthpiece of the Rand mining industry, for the large-scale introduction of Chinese labour.70 The general opinion was that these plans were inadvisable ... at the time'71 and further consideration of the scheme was delayed by the war. In the immediate post-war period the suggestion to introduce Chinese labour was revived. The war had devastated the mining industry as a result of the temporary suspension of operations, the timidity of foreign investors and a desperate shortage of African unskilled labour. 2 African labour was the indispensable base of the mining industrial pyramid, and hence its scarcity was crippling to the mines.73 Several factors were responsible for this drastic decline in the African labour supply74 but the important consequence was that the Chamber now launched a determined campaign to obtain the necessary approval for the Chinese labour scheme. This caused extensive repercussions and hostilities in a period of economic instability and political transition.

Rand white skilled miners, prominent Boer leaders, overseas and local colonial governments and international humanitarian movements lobbied vehemently against the experiment for a diverse range of reasons.76 Even once the mining magnates received official sanction from the Conservative-led British government, the opposition to the 'Chinese experiment' continued. In fact, in 1906, the Liberal Party in England used the 'anti-Chinese cry' as one of its main electioneering slogans, as did the local Het Volk party in the Transvaal - albeit for different reasons - but in both instances they were politically victorious.

Much of the local resistance to Chinese mine labour was related to the Indian indentured labour scheme which had been introduced on the Natal sugar plantations in the 1860s. A large sector of the public made it apparent that they were determined 'not to allow the Chinese to enter the Transvaal on the same terms as the Indians had entered Natal'.78 As a result, in order to acquire the necessary approval for the Chinese indentured labour scheme, importation and contract regulations were very restrictive, but also had to be reasonable to comply with the demands of the Chinese government, certain political parties and several humanitarian organizations.

On 10 February 1904 Ordinance no 17 was passed by the Transvaal Legislative Council to regulate the importation of the Chinese mine labourers.80 Of the thirty-five sections of the Labour Importation Ordinance, seventeen were purely restrictive and were aimed primarily at confining their employment, preventing escape, prohibiting permanent settlement in Africa and avoiding competition with the white working class.81 Details of some of the stipulations stated that the Chinese were to live in compounds on the mines where they were employed; they had to carry passes; they were not allowed to trade or be employed in an enumerated list of capacities; they could not own property and were compelled to repatriation on expiry of a three-year contract, which could only be renewed for a further two-year period.82 A Foreign Labour Department was established to regulate the administration of the ordinance as well as the appointment of various officers to monitor the treatment and implementation of conditions on the mines and in the compounds.83 A Chinese consul-general was also appointed to oversee the welfare of the emigrants. He later acquired jurisdiction over the so-called free and independent Chinese.

The ordinance also prescribed specific conditions for the employment of the Chinese. These included the system of recruitment, the passage to South Africa, specific compound and ablution facilities, medical attention as well as a particular diet.

Opposers of the scheme contested that the money expended facilitating this new labour force did not justify its employment. It was also claimed that the disorders in the mines and social crimes committed on outlying farms by the Chinese deserters 'far outweighed' any potential industrial merit, it being alleged that 'the prisons of China had been cleared of ruffians in the search for labour'.87 Opposition on the other extreme complained that this was a 'system of slavery' and that the Chinese were illtreated by management, white miners, African labourers and Chinese police.

As a result of the aforementioned agitation the cry to repatriate the Chinese did not abate and notwithstanding the increase in gold production decisions were taken both locally and abroad to bring the system to an end. In 1906 the Liberal government in England and in 1907 the Het Volk government in the Transvaal passed legislation prohibiting recruitment and preventing the right to contract renewal.89 The fate of the Chinese experiment was sealed and repatriation began in mid-1907. By the end of the decade all of the Chinese indentured mine labourers had for all intents and purposes been returned to China.90It is interesting to note that throughout all this furore the established Chinese community in the Transvaal had made it clear that they were 'neither interested nor concerned with the introduction or otherwise of Chinese labour for the mines', 91 Rather, they were preoccupied with their own increasingly uncertain political position.

The anti-Chinese feeling prevalent throughout the first decade of the twentieth century had an undoubtedly negative impact on the free Chinese community. Coupled with the already existing hostility amongst the whites towards the Indians and the introduction of legislation that referred to the 'native races of Asia' or 'Asiatics' which thereby often inadvertently also involved the Chinese, the future position of the free Chinese appeared to be under threat. Discriminatory legislation had been intermittently introduced in the four colonies since before the South African War, but in 1906 the Transvaal government introduced the most extreme law, the Asiatic Registration Act, otherwise known as the 'Black Act' .92 It required amongst other things the compulsory reregistration of all Asians over the age of eight with finger and thumb prints as a means of identity. The humiliation caused by this Act was evident in the various petitions and representations made to the government authorities by the local Chinese.93 The implications of this legislation were far reaching, and led to a marked increase in reaction from the Chinese community.

While the Indian lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi, led a well publicised defiance campaign against the 'Black Act', the Chinese community represented by Leung Quinn, acting chairman of the local Cantonese Association, supported his action.94 Throughout the passive resistance campaign the steadfastness of the Chinese community in resisting this injustice was evident.

Gandhi often praised the Chinese for their solidarity and steadfast determination during the resistance struggle, and commend their exemplary role to the Indians.95 It was estimated that there were at certain times during the campaign more Chinese in goal than Indians, and a number of them were deported. One of the deportees was Quinn the leader of the Chinese, who after several trials was forced to leave the country in 1910.96 The most poignant testimony to the Chinese objection to the legislation was the suicide in November 1907 of Chow Kwai For, aged 24 years. He claimed he had been ordered by his employer to reregister, and only afterwards became aware of his mistake in having done so. Angered and ashamed by the unjust law he took his own life for 'conscience sake' leaving a note to explain his reasons.

This was by no means the last of the discriminating legislation which would have an impact on the South African Chinese community. In tin decades ahead, as the apartheid policies evolved, this small ethnic minority was caught up in a web of 'white' and 'non-white delimitations. They had perforce to come to terms with the complexities of a spectrum of ambiguous discriminatory laws: immigration was restricted, residence conditional, franchise denied, classification vague and social rights enigmatic.98 The history of the Chinese in South African is thus one of marginality, yet it provides an interesting case study o,' race relations and more specifically, how the various leadership structures had tried to control people on the basis of race.