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Cultural CuriosityThirteen Stories about the Search for Chinese Roots$
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Cultural Curiosity: Thirteen Stories about the Search for Chinese Roots

Josephine Khu

Print publication date: 2001

Print ISBN-13: 9780520223400

Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012

DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520223400.001.0001

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PRINTED FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.california.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of California Press, 2021. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CALSO for personal use.date: 25 October 2021

In Search of My Ancestral Home

In Search of My Ancestral Home

Chapter:
(p.145) In Search of My Ancestral Home
Source:
Cultural Curiosity
Author(s):

Myra Sidharta

Publisher:
University of California Press
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520223400.003.0009

Myra Sidharta was born in Belitung, Indonesia. Her grandfather was a prominent figure in Belitung. Myra explains that the majority of the Chinese in Indonesia trace their roots to Fujian province in southeast China. She narrates that in 1872 her grandfather's family was not rich and had to sell his youngest brother to obtain passage money overseas and leave some money for his mother, who was going to stay behind. When China became a Communist country, and Indonesia was declared independent, Myra's grandfather's family had to choose between Dutch or Indonesian citizenship. Myra discusses the many discriminatory rules experienced by ethnic Chinese of Indonesia in the 1950s, which caused many Chinese to decide to leave for China. She details her journey to Meixian and how being with her relatives in China brought her happiness.

Keywords:   Myra Sidharta, Belitung, Indonesia, Chinese, Fujian, Meixian, communist country, Dutch citizenship, citizenship

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