Lanfang Republic
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The Lanfang Republic (modern name in Traditional Chinese: 蘭芳共和國, Hanyu Pinyin: Lánfāng Gònghéguó) was a Hakka state in western Kalimantan, or Kalimantan Barat in Indonesia that was established by Luo Fangbai in 1777 until it was ended by Dutch occupation in 1884. The Lan Fang Republic is a contender for the first republic in Asia.
The sultans of Western Borneo imported Chinese laborers in 18th century to work in gold or tin mines. A number of mining communities (kongsi) enjoyed some political autonomy, but Lanfang is the best known thanks to a history written by Yap Siong-yoen, the son-in-law of the last kapitan of the Lanfang kongsi, which was translated into Dutch in 1885.[1] None of the other Chinese mining settlements in western Kalimantan left written accounts (Heidhues 2001:169).
[edit] Notes
- ^ Groot, J.J.M. (1885), Het Kongsiwezen van Borneo: eene verhandeling over den grondslag en den aard der chineesche politieke vereenigingen in de koloniën, The Hague: M. Nijhof.
[edit] References
Heidhues, Mary Somers (2001), "Chinese Settlements in Rural Southeast Asia: Unwritten Histories", in Anthony Reid, Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
