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Testament to a Towkay: Jan Con, Batavia and the Dutch China Trade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2010

Leonard Blussé
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Extract

Among historians, Southeast Asia's Overseas Chinese have never enjoyed much popularity. They are in many respects a “People without a History,” having left behind no substantial deposit of experience and having failed to produce a school of historians to write their own history from an insider's perspective. Apart from their ethnic and cultural background, what distinguishes the hua-chiao from the indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia is the intermediary role that these immigrants have continued to play within the different territories, colonies or states of the area over the last few centuries. Acting as middlemen and brokers – and therefore necessarily discreet in the handling of personal relations – they have traditionally hidden their own aims and motives from the “outer world”, and thus eluded the understanding of their contemporaries.

Type
Articles
Information
Itinerario , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , July 1985 , pp. 3 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1985

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References

Notes

1. Algemeen Rijksarchief (ARA VOC 1129, f. 91.

2. ARA Bataviaasch Briefboek (B.B.) 14-6-1625, VOC 852.

3. ARA VOC 1129, f. 91v.

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18. Resolution G.G. and Council 23–1–1623 in Coen 111:946.

19. Resolution G.G. en Council 28–1–1623, Coen 111:956.

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25. Since May 1623 the Chinese had contributed 60,700 guilders. De Jonge, V:91.

26. Letters of 5–11–1624, Hoetink, 1923:5 and 3'3–1625, ARA VOC 1085.

27. Letter of 13–5–1625 in Hoetink, 1923:5.

28. Daghregister 1625:164–165.

29. See resolution G.G. and Council of 28–7–1625. ARA VOC 1085.

30. Daghregister 1625:165.

31. Resolution G.G. and Council 28–7–1625. ARA VOC 1085.

32. De Haan, Oud-Batavia p.61.

33. ARA VOC 852, letter of 14–6–1625.

34. ARA VOC 852, letter of 17–7–1625.

35. ARA VOC 1087, f. 385–395, letter of 29–10–1625.

36. ARA VOC 1090, f. 183, letter of 21–11–1625.

37. ARA VOC 853, letter of 3–5–1626.

38. ARA VOC 1101, f. 393.

39. ARA VOC 1101, 27–1–1630

ARA VOC 1101, 2–4–1630

ARA VOC 1101, 7–5–1630

ARA VOC 1101, 23–5–1630

40. Resolution Governor and Council of Taiwan, 15–10–1630, ARA VOC 1102.

41. Letters by Governor Putmans of 22–2–1631 and 10–10–1631 in ARA VOC 1102.

Putmans adds: “If we may believe the Chinese, Jan Con is a man whom we can trust, but, alas!, we cannot and dare not do so”, f. 485.

42. Concerning his departure:ARA VOC 1102, letter of Governor Putmans 20–2–1631; about his arrival: Coolhaas, W. Ph. ed., “Een Indisch verslag uit 1631, van de hand van Antonio van Diemen” Bijdragen en mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap (1947) 65:72.Google Scholar

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44. For the problematical relations with Cheng Chih-Lurig see: Leonard Blussé, “The VOC as Sorcerer's Apprentice, Stereotypes and Social Engineering on the China Coast” in Idema, W.L. ed., Leyden Studies in Sinology Leiden 1981, pp. 87–105.Google Scholar

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48. “We the Chinese citizens of Batavia have gladly and with good reason presented, in perpetual memory of our gratitude, this small gift to the excellent hero Jacob Specx, General of the East Indies, our venerable patron, November 25, 1632, Batavia.” A silver copy of this medal has been preserved in Teyler's museum, Haarlem. A short accompanying motto in Chinese characters has been unrecognizably distorted by the Dutch mint-master. See: Brandes, J., “Een plattegrond van Batavia van 1632,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Vol-kenkunde (1901) Vol XLII:248.Google Scholar

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50. ARA VOC 112, Resolutions G.G. and Council, 17–7–1634 and 29–8–1634 “Caymans (!) devour the poultry, ducks, young geese and other cattle of the citizens.”

51 .This canal was to measure 48 feet wide and 9 feet deep. ARA VOC 119, f. 313. See the accompanying map.

52 F. de Haan, 1935: 79.

53. Coolhaas, W.Ph., Generate Missiven van Couveneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heren XVII der Verenigde Oost-lndische Company 8 vols., 's Gravenhage 1960–1985; 1:422.Google Scholar

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55. Bencon intended to return home, but actually settled down in Taiwan and eventually returned to Batavia in 1639, where he died on April 8, 1644. See Hoetink, 1917 and 1923.

56. Resolution of G.G, and Council 21–7–1636, ARA, VOC 1119.f. 353.

57. Resolution of G.G. and Council 30–7–1636. ARA, VOC 1119.f. 362.

58. Resolution G.G. and Council of 20–9–1636. ARA, VOC 1119.f. 407.

59. Letter of 9–12–1637. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, 1:640.Google Scholar

60. Letter of 28–12–1636. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, I: 570.Google Scholar

61. Ibidem, 1:570.

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63. Resolution G.G. and Council, 7–11–1637. ARA, VOC 1122.f. 454.

64. Resolution G.G. and Council, 16–1–1637. ARA, VOC 661.

65. Berg, N.P. van den, “De suikerindustrie op Java onder het bestuur van de VOC,” in Uit de dagen der Compagnie, Haarlem 1904. p. 311. For Jan Con's complaints about theft, see: Resolution G.G. and Council, 27–7–1639. ARA, VOC 662.Google Scholar

66. Letter of G.G. van Diemen to the Governor of Formosa, 19–5–1638. Hoetink, , So Bing Kong, 1917:396.Google Scholar

67. Resolution G.G. and Council 17–2–1638 ARA, VOC 661.

68. Ibidem, Res. 17–2–1638.

69. Ibidem, Res. 17–2–1638.

70. Letter of 22–12–1638. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, Vol I: 715.Google Scholar

71. Resolution G.G. and Council, 4–9–1638 ARA, VOC 661.

72. Resolution G.G. and Council 7–9–1638 ARA, VOC 661.

73. Ibid., Res. 7–9–1638.

74. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, 1:714–715.Google Scholar

75. Resolution G.G. and Council, 5–9–1639. ARA, VOC 662.

76. Ibid., 5–9–1639. In his capacity of Director-General, Philip Lucasz. was responsible for inviting tenders for the execution of the public works.

77. Letter of 22–12–1638; Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven., I: 716.Google Scholar

78. Resolution G.G. and Council, 25–3–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

79. Resolution G.G. and Council, 14–4–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

80. Request in Resolution G.G. and Council, 27–7–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

81. On the western gate of the citadel the coat of arms of Batavia was fixed in 1652. The sword piercing through a laurel was in later years seen as an omen of the Chinese massacre of in 1740.Nanyang hsüeh pao (1953) Vol IX-1:30.Google Scholar

82. Resolution G.G. and Council, 1–9–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

83. Resolution G.G. and Council, 5–9–1639 and 20–9–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

84. Resolution G.G. and Council, 20–9–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

85. 26–5–1640, Plakaatboek, 1:438.Google Scholar

86. 13–8–1640, Plakaatboek, Vol 1:446.Google Scholar

87. Letter of 5–9–1641, ARA, VOC 316, 350.

88. Resolution G.G. and Council 3–12–1639, ARA, VOC 662. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, 11:74, 122.Google Scholar

89. Letter of 30–11–1640, Coolhaas, , Generale Missiven, II: 122.Google Scholar

90. Resolution G.G. and Council 3–12–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

91. Crow, Carl, Four hundred million customers, Leipzig 1939.Google Scholar

92. Resolution G.G. and Council 3–12–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

93. Coolhaas, , Generate Missiven, II: 122.Google Scholar

94. Resolution G.G. and Council 3–12–1639, ARA, VOC 662.

95. Concerning the administration of justice to the Chinese of Batavia see: Vermeulen, J.Th., “Some Remarks about the Administration of Justice by the Compagnie,” in: Seong, Tan Yeok, Collected Writings from the Ya-Yin studio, 3 vols., Singapore 1983. 111:93–103.Google Scholar