The Chinese Protectorate was an administrative body responsible for the well-being of ethnic Chinese residents of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Co ...

during that territory's

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

period. Protectorates were established in each area of the Settlements, namely

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Ma ...

and

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site s ...

. Each was headed by a Protector. The institution was established in 1877 to handle all matters related to the Straits Settlements' Chinese residents. In particular, it sought to mitigate the human rights violations of the

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

trade, which had expanded to notorious levels by the 1850s in the region.

The coolie trade

Perhaps the most significant goal of the British colonial administration in the founding of the entity was to regulate and humanize the

trade and lessen the misery of the coolies, who were subject to merciless exploitation. First, coolie agents were required to register with Protectorate. Policing by the Chinese Protectorate freed up the labour market and firms (mainly British-run) seeking to hire Chinese workers, who no longer had to go through coolie brokers and secret societies. As a result of this improvement in conditions, the number of Chinese arrivals increased dramatically from the 1880s onwards.

Goals of the Protectorate

Likewise, agents of the Chinese Protectorate often visited domestic servants. Those found to be subjected to especially inhumane conditions were sent to Singapore's Home for Girls. The Protectorate sought to have all Chinese social societies (including the

kongsi Kongsi () is a Hokkien transcription term meaning " company", especially businesses which have been incorporated. However, the word has other meanings under different historical contexts. ''Kongsi'' were most commonly known as Chinese social orga ...

) - many of which were

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ...

or bodies of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally tho ...

- register with the government. The institution also encouraged the Chinese to seek the government’s help instead of going to the secret societies, thus weakening the latter's influence among the Chinese.

References

Law And Order

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20041113135011/http://www.hsse.nie.edu.sg/staff/kahack/singapore%20specimen.doc *{{cite web, url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes18771215-1.2.4, title=The Protection of Chinese and Chinese Interpretation, date=15 December 1877, work=The Straits Times, page=1
The Chinese Protectorate , Infopedia
British rule in Singapore British Malaya Chinese diaspora in Singapore Coolie trade

The coolie trade

Goals of the Protectorate

See also

References