NEGOTIATING BETWEEN REGIMES AND WARS: CHANGING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE FLOW OF OVERSEAS CHINESE REMITTANCE, 1930S-1949

Abstract

This thesis aims at investigating survival capability of Chinese entrepreneurs amidst changing the monetary systems of the empires and political regimes. Foreign exchange flow among the key financial nodal points of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai is a key issue for this thesis in investigating the reactions of overseas Chinese remittance companies under the changing regulatory environment of various regimes, especially during the wartime period. The vulnerabilities caused by the wartime crises let local society adapt to the newly established regulatory environment. The diverse reactions of Chinese entrepreneurs in dealing with the trans-border network and the inter-connection between local-level society and the upper-level system of empires and wars are two major axes of analysis. The foreign exchange circulation of the overseas Chinese remittance network is an appropriate topic to show them. Ultimately, this thesis tries to reveal the fundamental nature of Chinese capitalists through a trans-national perspective.