It is my great honor and pleasure to write a foreword to Gandhi and the Chinese in South Africa at the request of the author. However, so far in the studies of Satyagraha in South Africa, much has been written about the struggle of the Indian community and little about the resistance of the Chinese community. Reddy's booklet tells us that the Chinese protested against discrimination and the application of the Asiatic Ordinance to the Chinese, and joined Indians in passive resistance.
This booklet sheds new light on the struggle in South Africa and the Chinese contribution to it. Leaders of the Chinese community met Gandhi for consultation after the Transvaal government passed the Asiatic Act. Leung Quinn, the leader of the Chinese community, who, like the Indian community, opposed racially discriminatory registration laws.
On the whole, the publication of Gandhi and the Chinese in South Africa is valuable to both the Indians and the Chinese in strengthening their friendship and co-operation. Leaders of the Chinese community met Gandhi, a lawyer, for consultation in April 1907 after the Transvaal government passed the Asiatic Act.
GANDHI AND THE CHINESE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Under this law, permit officers in the city councils or local boards could arbitrarily refuse permits or renew permits. When the Act was passed, Gandhi wrote to some of the leading lawyers for their opinion. The most unequal part of the law is that which excludes an appeal from the city council to the Supreme Court.”5.
In a petition of 31 December 1898, on behalf of Indian merchants, to Lord Chamberlain, British Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the operation of the Merchants' License Act, Gandhi referred to the case of Chinese merchants in Dundee. One member of the Council said: "I won't even give a Chinese the chance of a dog." But the High Court refused to appeal the Local Council's decision. Copies of the paper were sent free of charge to a number of Europeans - members of the Government and friends of the community - to gain greater understanding and support for Indians.
Copies were also sent to India and Britain to promote action in support of Indians in South Africa. In his articles in Indian Opinion, Gandhi not only wrote about the grievances of Indians, but also about the injustices to all oppressed people, including the Chinese.
GANDHI’S CONDEMNATION OF THE IMPORT OF CHINESE LABOURERS AND THE ATROCITIES AGAINST THEM
In the Transvaal they must be locked up in Compounds, and they are not allowed to use their brains, or their pens, or the brush, or the chisel. We can well understand the attitude of men vying for fat dividends as they are unable to take an impartial stance on the issue of such dividends being sacrificed. They must not use their ability, if they have it at all, and after three or five years, as the case may be, they must be expelled from the Transvaal.
The method of forced repatriation is very simple and very effective, but it is equally inhumane. The provision, which is supposed to regulate mandatory repatriation, stipulates that if any of the company's workers refuses to return, he faces a practically eternal prison sentence, which can only end if he agrees to be transported out of the country. The Indian government did not agree to hire labor for the Transvaal on the terms proposed, but the mine owners proposed hiring Chinese labor and obtained the approval of the British government.
Lyttleton promised on behalf of the government to conduct an inquiry and put an end to the whipping, but this was hardly sufficient. In the first instance the overseer complained of an offending miner, who was then taken to the office of the compound manager; the latter ordered, according to the nature of the offence, ten, fifteen, or twenty strokes. Gandhi had pointed out that importing labor from Asia would delay the progress of the natives indefinitely.
In some mines the whip is used instead of the stick, and the blows are so fierce that the flesh swells and cuts the skin. Cook was a manager at the Norsedippe mines, he ordered that any Chinese who failed to drill 36 inches be punished. That gentleman ordered the use of stout sticks and the blows to the back of the thighs where they were most excruciating; the full number of blows were inflicted, even if blood flowed from the wounds.
Sometimes the injury was so bad that the poor Chinese had to be sent to a hospital. Being considered rather a gentleman among thieves, he ordered that rubber truncheons be used instead of sticks. The Liberal Party won the elections in January 1906 and the new Liberal Government banned the recruitment of Chinese labor after November 1906. Public opinion in China was furious and the Imperial Government insisted on the repatriation of the labourers.
GANDHI’S CONTACT WITH THE CHINESE TRADERS
It is such a beautiful and clean place that any Chinese gentleman who visits the city can stay there. We do not have our own bar in any city in South Africa where we can accommodate an Indian visitor. It's up to us to learn from the club that the Chinese started and set it up on the same pattern.
It not only reported developments concerning the Chinese in the Transvaal, but also news from China and Chinese in other countries.20.
THE ASIATIC ORDINANCE AND DEPUTATIONS TO LONDON
James, who was sent by the Chinese community to present a petition to the head of the Chinese legation in London, happened to be traveling on the same steamer as the Indian deputation. Your petitioner is the President of the Chinese Association which was established in Johannesburg four years ago to represent the free Chinese population of the Transvaal. The majority of the Chinese in the Transvaal are storekeepers of good repute, and are all old residents of the colony.
In the humble opinion of the Chinese Association, the measure does not recognize our ancient civilization and the fact that we are an independent sovereign nation at all. The legislation is based on the assumption, completely denied by the Chinese Association, that many Chinese people are capable of fraud. Finally, your petitioner respectfully trusts that the rights of Chinese nationals residing in the Transvaal will be fully protected by Your Excellency.
On one side in the hall there was a picture of the Chinese who had died. Easton, the first of the Chinese defendants, said he was a British subject from Hong Kong. Leung Quinn, Chairman of the Chinese Association, stated that he was not a British subject, but came to the Transvaal in 1896 and obtained a permit from the Dutch Government.
The Chinese set a worthy example by donating £105 to the Association for the Relief of the White Poor. Gandhi wrote petitions on behalf of the Chinese and eventually an order was issued that the Chinese should get the same food as the Indians. Essop Mia on behalf of the community.”52 The Transvaal leader added: “The Chinese then installed a platform and placed their certificates with the others.” About 2,500 certificates were burned.
The passive objectors and the party of compliance went to the Witwatersrand High Court for litigation over the funds of the Chinese Association. Only yesterday I decided in consultation with the chairman of the British Indian Association that Mr. Quinn, as chairman of the Chinese Association, addressed another petition to the Chinese Minister in London.
The Chinese community in the Transvaal has been reduced to poverty because of the struggle. While awaiting deportation, David Andrew and Samuel Joseph stayed with the chairman of the Chinese Association at his invitation.
LEUNG QUINN
APPENDIX
CHINESE PASSIVE RESISTERS 81
On 14 January 1908, charged with being in the Transvaal without a certificate of registration. (Indian Opinion, January 18, 1908) Ming Loo. One of 20 Chinese illegally deported to Colombo on 18 May 1910 and sent back to India on their return. They were allowed to disembark at Durban when they arrived again in February 1911 and were arrested at Volksrust on the Transvaal border.
Joseph Cowhee, Ah Hung, Chu Fah, Mak Hoy, Fong Ying, Leong Tchu, Hok Lee Hin, Chan Chua, Ah Cheen, Ah San, Low Da, Leong Young, Ah Fook, Ah Chan (The 20 Chinese who came to Colombo illegally were deported on 18 May 1910 and sent back on their return to India. They were allowed to set sail on their arrival in Durban in February 1911 and were arrested at Volksrust on the Transvaal border. One of the 20 Chinese who on 18 May 1910 illegally Colombo were deported and sent back to India when they returned.
They were allowed to disembark at Durban when they arrived again in February 1911 and arrested at Volksrust on the Transvaal border.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
