Wed Apr 12 22:43:39 EDT 2006
Dear Simon
could you please post this to our list for some inital feedback. Best
wishes. Stephen
"Business of the Chinese Diaspora: Panels for the Next Asia/Pacific
Economic and Business History Conference"
Dear Colleagues, I wish to organise one or more panels on the business of
the Chinese Diaspora for the next society conference in Sydney in February
2007 and the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) conference in
June/July 2007. Before posting an invitation to various web sites, I
thought I would run the idea pass EHSANZ members for feedback and
suggestions.
My hope would be that we could get several panels along the lines of the
factor prices group at the last conference. Selected presenters would next
be invited to submit their papers for a special issue of the AEHR in late
2007 or early 2008. The business organisation and practices of the Chinese
diaspora lend themselves to a range of interesting business and economic
history topics, from specific localised studies of a Chinese business in a
host community to those that explore international networks. It would also
bring together potentially scholars working on the overseas Chinese in
Australasia, North America and Asia, and some of whom would probably not
usually work on business topics. Some of the theme topics might include.
# County- or region-specific studies of Chinese businesses
# Biographic studies of Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs
# Business networks and community organisation of the Chinese
# Intra- and inter-regional business ties: China-SE Asia,
Australia-Pacific Islands, within-country ties, etc
# Investment from Overseas Chinese into China
# The Chinese-language business press in host countries
# Contribution of the Diaspora to the development of their host country
# Comparative Diaspora business, eg, Indian or Vietnamese Diaspora
compared with the Chinese.
# Period, nineteenth century-present (contemporary must have an historical
dimension)
My own interest in the topic has arisen from several lines of research.
Firstly, the Chinese in Australia were important for the transfer of
department store managerial knowledge to China in the early 20th century,
such as the Kwok family that set up the Wing On group, and the overseas
Chinese were major investors in these enterprises. Secondly, at various
CSAA conferences I have heard papers that mention but do not explore the
activities of Chinese business in Australia and the Pacific. Thirdly,
working in Australian archives recently I have come across many
immigration records that could be used to document the networks of Chinese
business. I would try to put together myself a paper on the ties between
Queensland fruit growers and Melbourne-Sydney fruit merchants using such
data.
If you have colleagues in history or Asian language departments who might
be interested, and who may not be on the eco/biz history lists, please let
me know or pass on this message.
Best wishes. Stephen
--
Dr Stephen Morgan
University of Melbourne
s.morgan at unimelb.edu.au
tel: +61 (0)3 83445282; fax: +61 (0)3 93494293;
Austalian mobile: +61 (0)409 239 148
China mobile: +86 13482 055 273 (Mar-May 2006)