Early History

The earliest account of the relationship between Cambodia and China was made by Zhou Da Guan. A Chinese reporter, Zhou was among the Chinese people who were on a mission to conduct business in the location. According to him, some Chinese merchants and carpenters were already settled before they arrived. Some of these Chinese even have children from Khmer wives. It seems that these Chinese were engaged in trade with China. The people in Cambodia bought luxury and ritual items. In exchange, the people from China bought the fisher-martin fur, rhinoceros horn and beeswax.

Although there were already a few Chinese in Cambodia, the number greatly increased in 1434 when Phnom Penh was announced as the capital of Cambodia. Located at a river crossroads, Phnom Penh became a well-established trading city. This attracted a number of immigrants such as Chinese, Malays, Indians, Annamese, and Japanese. By 1606, it was reported that there were around 3,000 Chinese in Phnom Penh.

The first Chinese settlers were the Hokkiens. It wasn’t until the end of the 17^th century that the Cantonese and Hainanese entered into the region. This second group of settlers arrived at Cambodia after the success of the Manchu armies in China. In the 19^th century, these groups of settlers were joined by two other speech groups, the Teochiu and Hakka migrants.

When the French Protectorate arrived in Cambodia on 1864, these five groups were already established and even had their own organizations (haiguan). Majority of these Chinese were Hokkiens and Cantonese. This predominance lasted until the 20^th century when they were slowly outnumbered by the Teochius.

French Protectorate (1864-1953)

In an effort to chase away the threat of Thai invasion, King Norodom agreed to a French Protectorate over Cambodia. The French, however, focused their attention on Vietnam, and this affected Cambodia’s economy.

In 1891, the French employed a system called huiguan to rule over Cambodia. Each speech group was identified as a congregation (bang) and nominated a “chef de congregation” (bangzhang) to lead them. Having the support of the French authority, these chefs have control over immigration and emigration, business licenses and movement between cities. Organizations such as schools, temples and cemeteries, musical and cultural societies also fell under the direction of the huiguan groups. These groups, therefore, were considered commercial groups that fulfill the extra-familial needs of the Chinese community. No Chinese could escape their jurisdiction.

Before 1920, most Chinese immigrants who arrived at Cambodia were men. Most of them married Khmer women and had Sino-Khmer children. The male descendants were sent to China to have a Chinese education.

By 1923, women and children also immigrated to Cambodia. This occurrence changed the Cambodian Chinese community, especially the educational setting. More specifically, there were only two Chinese schools in Cambodia. The first school was located at Kompong Cham (1901) and the other one is located at Phnom Penh (1907). By 1938, the emergence of Chinese families increased the number of Chinese schools to 95.

After independence (1953-1970)

In 1953, Cambodia had their independence. Their ruler at the time, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, took this opportunity to develop warm relations with China. Meanwhile, the policies that were developed by Sihanouk did not threaten the Chinese’s dominance over the Cambodian economy. In fact, with resources and power backing them up, the Chinese social organization reach its peak during this period.

After the World War II, a large amount of immigration increased the number of Chinese to over 400,000. A third of which lived in Phnom Penh, over a third lived in the countryside, while the remainder were spread out in smaller towns.

The congregation system broke down after the Cambodian independence. This gave way to the development of Chinese voluntary associations. Such associations include clan or same-surname associations, native-place associations (tongxianghui), sports and cultural clubs.

With the emergence of different associations, people started to compete for power. The Chinese community, therefore, began resembling other overseas Chinese communities in its complexity and conflicting loyalties. Add to that the increase of Cambodian-born Chinese, the existing speech groups that once provided organizational diversity became more complicated. The Chinese had to choose between Cambodian nationalism and Chinese nationalism. In an effort to solve this problem, Chinese associations integrated their “crosscutting memberships”, providing an effective means of settling conflicts.