A Level History Content Training

1
A Level History Content Training

• Part II
• The Role of Chinese in Economic Development
• And
• The Origins of Asian Financial Crisis

2
Bibliographies

• http//coc.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/bib/seasia.htm
• http//www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/shao/inst610
  .htm
• http//www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/naomi.standen/modasia/e
  ssrdglists.htmi_Colonialism
• http//coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html

3
Important Books on Chinese in Southeast Asia

• Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast Asia
• Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Malaya
• Paul J. Bolt, China and Southeast Asias Ethnic
  Chinese State and Diaspora in Contemporary Asia
• Thomas Menkhoff, Chinese Entrepreneurship and
  Asian Business Networks
• J.S. Furnivall, Netherlands India
• William G. Skinner,
• Leo Suryadinata, Chinese and Nation-building in
  Southeast Asia

4
The Colonial Context of Chinese in Southeast Asia

• Tripartite organization of colonial state and its
  socio-economic order
• Need to mobilize economic resources to facilitate
  the capitalist economic development
• Absence of a large bureaucracy at the disposal of
  colonial state
• Scarcity of labour
• Dual socio-economic character of indigenous
  population
• Chinese population as an intermediary force

5
Chinese as a Factor in Demographic Transformation

• Population growth was slow between 1600-1800
• Gradually increasing Chinese migration played a
  major role in economic development across the
  region during the early modern era (1400-1800)
  (Reid 1988 and 1993)
• Regional and overseas trade
• Opening up hinterlands for agriculture and mining
• Population growth was faster after 1800
• Push factor Chinas political and economic
  instability
• Pull factor Southeast Asia was a rapidly growing
  region
• Concentration was uneven across the region

6
Factors Contributing to the Emergence of Business
Networks

• Ethnic and clan background provided impetus for
  networks to emerge and develop
• Chinese enclaves emerged in economically crucial
  towns and rural centres (e.g. Melaka, Semarang,
  Batavia, Johor, Bangkok)
• Kongsi and other forms of associations supplied
  funds and other facilities
• Readiness to work hard and in-built
  organizational infrastructures ingratiated
  Chinese to the colonial state in its early phase
  of expansion (1820s 1880s)

7
The Second Tier of Colonial Edifice

• Chinese emerged as invaluable allies in raising
  revenue
• By revenue farming
• Undertaking industrial development (mining)
• Opening up hinterlands
• By virtue of their invaluable services, the
  Chinese came to occupy the intermediate tier in
  colonial political and economic order
• But they remained socially segregated from
  indigenous populations
• There was also a sense of divided loyalty
• China as homeland
• Southeast Asia as homeland

8
Consolidation of Position, 1900-1930s

• Rapid economic development after 1900
• Growth of bureaucracy
• Chinese were mostly entrenched in economic
  activities
• Chinese business networks benefited greatly from
  the new phase of capitalism financial
  capitalism
• The Chinese business networks were extensive by
  1930
• Rise of nationalism stressed the need of
  homogenization or asserting ones own identity
• The Chinese response to this situation varied
  from one country to another

9
Years of Uncertainty, 1940s-1960s

• Independence brought to surface some undesirable
  consequences of colonial legacy
• The position of Chinese as the privileged, and
  the prosperous, became a source of criticism and
  hostility
• And yet they were vital for economic development
  of new nation-states
• The Chinese became a target of hostility for the
  failure of policies aimed at economic development
• The case of Indonesia (1965) and Malaysia (1969)
• Need for a policy of integrating or assimilating
  Chinese came to be recognized

10
Recent Developments

• Rise of China as a factor contributing to the
  self-awareness of Chinese in the region
• Globalization accentuated the skills and assets
  of Chinese in rapid economic growth
• They have been absorbed into the economic elite
  successfully
• The importance of Chinese in domestic economies
  was highlighted during the financial crisis of
  the late 1990s
• Some material
• Chinese Migrants.pdf
• Chinese Capitalism.pdf
• Ethnic Chinese Business.pdf
• Malaysian Chinese Businessbr br Who Survived the
  Crisis.htm
• Overseas Entrepreneurship in Southeast asia.pdf
• Role of Chinese.pdf
• Role of Chinese in the currency crisis.pdf
• Stateless Economies The casse of overseas Chinese
  capitalism.htm

11
The Origins of the Financial Crisis of 1997

• Business cycles in capitalism
• Impact of globalization on Southeast Asia
• The high noon of financial capitalism how did
  Southeast Asia finance its rapid economic growth?
• Origins of the crisis and its expansion
• Three examples Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia

12
Certainly not the First Crisis to Hit the Region

• Business cycles are a common feature in
  capitalist economy
• Boom and bust phenomenon
• Why they occur is difficult to explain
• Early occurrences
• Falling commodity prices in the early 1840s
• Fall of commodity prices in the early 1880s
• The Great Depression, 1928-1935
• Common features
• Fall of commodity prices
• Recall of loans
• Reorganization of financial and business
  operations
• Tighter monetary controls

13
Phenomenal Economic Growth of Asia in the 1980s
and 1990s

• Political stability and administrative
  modernization in the 1970s provided a background
  conducive to economic growth and development
• A balance between the public and private sectors
  in economy was in place
• National savings began to rise slowly
• This state of affairs encouraged European
  investors to invest on a large scale
• European economies were not growing fast
• Population growth was slow
• Capital investments brought small returns
• Both the public and private sectors borrowed
  money on a large scale

14
The Boom Years

• Rise of a consumer society in Southeast Asia
• The demand for services, housing, health,
  education and consumer goods rose at a pace
• The governments heavily invested in building
  infrastructures and expanding services
• The private sector too expanded its activities in
  every sector and particularly in building and
  information technology
• The emergence of global economy made borrowing
  easy, but introduced also made monitoring
  difficult
• Rapid economic growth legitimized and stabilized
  regimes

15
Rapid economic growth
16
The Onset of the Crisis

• Thai economy was heavily dependent on investments
• The economic management was inefficient
• The falling value of the Thai currency and the
  governments futile efforts to bolster it sent
  alarming messages to the investors
• Sudden withdrawal of investments began
• The investors were now began to look at other
  Asian countries where similar symptoms
  over-spending without proper management were
  present
• Chronology of the crisis

17
Spread of the Crisis

• Several other countries began to experience the
  crisis
• Their response varied
• Singapore the currency was allowed to float
• The Philippines the currency was bolstered
• Malaysia failed to take firm action
• Indonesia unable to control the situation

18
Why did the crisis spread?

• The weaknesses of political order now came to
  play a role in deciding upon a strategy
• The world financial organizations failed to grasp
  the situation correctly and introduced certain
  measures which made the situation worse
• Local financial institutions failed to act wisely
• The revolution in information technology, which
  helped economic growth, also acted unfavourably
  at a critical juncture
• The local political situation became volatile

19
E-sources General

• A basic summary http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia
  n_financial_crisis
• A chronological account
• http//www.wright.edu/tdung/asiancrisis-hill.htm
• Australian perspective
• http//www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/1997-98/98c
  ib23.htmJuly
• Collections of useful material
• http//www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/index-a.ht
  ml
• http//www.cid.harvard.edu/cidpublications/hiid/as
  iacrisis.html

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E-Sources Analytical

• http//www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/sgabriel/ilene_gr
  abel.htm
• http//riskinstitute.ch/145890.htm
• http//www.parl.gc.ca/36/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/
  com-e/fore-e/rep-e/rep08dec98part2-e.htm
• http//www2.cid.harvard.edu/hiidpapers/eaonset2.pd
  f
• http//www2.cid.harvard.edu/hiidpapers/ecgasia.pdf
  
• http//www2.cid.harvard.edu/hiidpapers/explainfina
  l.pdf
• http//www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99
  /rp99-014.pdfsearch'causes20of20asian20financ
  ial20crisis20in201997
• IMF Report December 1997 part 1
• IMF Report December 1997 part 2
• IMF Report December 1997 part 3