The poster of the Korean drama "Suriname"
1. The pioneer
Suriname, is located in the northern part of South America. It is a small country with a population of only 600,000. The climate here is hot and the environment is beautiful. As early as three thousand years ago, the Indians settled here , if it weren't for the discovery of European colonists, it is estimated that it is still an undisputed "Xanadu" for fishing and hunting. The Spaniards stumbled upon this place in 1499, and Europeans began to immigrate here in succession from the 16th century, and the population composition here changed accordingly. The arrival of Europeans deepened Suriname's connection with the world, and also brought slavery. The colonists used slave plantations to produce sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton, which were then exported to the Amsterdam market. Slaves were transported here. There were 13,000 African slaves in 200 plantations in 1713 alone. It was not until the end of the 19th century that slavery was abolished in the Netherlands, and foreign workers replaced the original slaves. The first batch of Chinese were Arrived there under such an opportunity.
In 1853, on the eve of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands, due to concerns about the abolition of slavery, coupled with the labor shortage caused by the high mortality rate and high escape rate, local farmers began to recruit foreign workers. The migrant workers at that time were different from today. Most of the migrant workers today had complete procedures and fair contracts. Generally, in Southeast Asian countries, these migrants engaged in low-end jobs were called "foreign workers", while the "foreign workers" in the 19th century It is indentured labor. On the surface, indentured labor is a labor-management relationship in which both parties voluntarily sign a contract, but in essence it is a form of slavery, because most of the laborers who signed this contract sold themselves for a period of time for free due to debts and other reasons. The Chinese from Java Island became the first group to come to Suriname as indentured laborers. During the long voyage of more than 3 months, 4 people died of illness. When the Chinese labor contract expired, only 11 Chinese survived. , 3 of them chose to stay in Suriname to make a living. Later, with the signing of the " Nanjing Treaty ", the door of feudal China was opened, and a large number of cheap laborers were also opened to the outside world. From 1858 to 1870, more than 2,000 Chinese workers arrived in Suriname.
The Chinese workers in Suriname are treated unfairly here, because indentured labor is not paid, so the Chinese workers are not very motivated to produce. In this regard, the colonists used the most primitive method to "liberate" the productive forces, that is, cheating + violence. Since slavery had been abolished, colonial governor Charles Pierre Simf secretly modified the contract in favor of the employers without the knowledge of the Chinese workers, which turned the Chinese workers into dollar slavery. Slaves, employers, and police can beat and kick Chinese workers recklessly. The first Chinese to come to Suzhou survived in such harsh conditions.
2. Incorporators
In 1874, due to the Qing government's ban on labor immigration and the increase in recruitment costs, the number of Chinese imports to Suriname began to decrease, and a large number of people who had families in the motherland returned to the country, making the Chinese population in Suriname relatively small. By 1905, there were only 1160 local Chinese left. Most of the Chinese who stayed here got married and had children locally. They built their own world here by getting involved in the food retail industry. In order to live a better life in Suriname, they also actively integrated into it. A considerable number of them converted to the local area. People's religion, especially in the middle of the 20th century, because many local Catholic schools are key schools, Catholic converts have a greater chance to study in the Netherlands, so many Surinamese Chinese converted to Christianity, according to 2021 statistics show 27. 4% of Surinamese Chinese believe in Christianity.
In the middle of the 20th century, with the discovery of the local treasure house of rare mining, the bauxite trade became a hot spot to attract people to immigrate and invest, so many Taiwanese and other overseas Chinese who had ties to the Surinamese Chinese immigrated here. The second wave of Chinese immigration in the century. In the 1990s, the reform and opening up provided convenience for many Chinese with "dream" to go abroad. Suriname once again attracted a wave of immigrants, including many illegal immigrants.It is helpless for many people to stay there, because their original idea was to use Suriname as a transit point to immigrate to developed countries such as the United States, but the latter increased restrictions on illegal immigration and caused them to stay there, and these people became Suriname. Major composition of the Chinese. With the increase of Chinese,
will naturally become a unique group. While integrating into the local area, the Chinese also retain their own characteristics. In order to maintain their own business interests and cultural traditions, many Chinese chambers of commerce and Chinese schools have been established. This also benefits from the country’s inclusive policies. For example, Suriname is one of the few Hakka dialect is a country where is the official language, and even the Spring Festival is regarded as a legal holiday . It can be seen that under the loose ethnic relations in Suriname, a unique Surinamese national culture has been formed.
The Chinese gangster image played by Zhang Zhen in the Korean drama "Suriname"
3. Participants
Chinese in Suriname are not only cultural contributors, but also historical participants. During the colonial period, most of the main positions in Suriname were held by people with Dutch backgrounds until 1975 It was only after independence that Suriname broke this political pattern and provided an opportunity for Chinese to participate in politics. After independence, Suriname was full of corruption and economic depression, so the newly established Suriname army formed a trade union to protect its rights. The then Prime Minister Henke Aron objected to this and arrested the leader of the organization, so the army founder Desi · Delano Bouterse and 14 other non-commissioned officers staged a military coup in 1980 and began to rule the country behind the scenes under the name "Chairman of the National Military Council ".
Bouterse can be said to have multi-ethnic characteristics of the country of Suriname. It was born with American Indians, Africans, Dutch, , French and Chinese ancestry, so it is not easy to classify it as which race, by its army Members of the civilian government under the control exist in other ethnic groups. In order to facilitate his rule, Bouterse let Chen Yaxian, who is of low political prestige and native of Guangdong, take over the post of prime minister, and soon he also took up the post of president due to the resignation of the president. important position in politics. Originally, Bouterse hoped that his supporter would be an obedient person, but this backfired. Chen Yaxian formed a left-wing cabinet with the goal of restoring democracy and the power of the National Military Commission. The draft constitution submitted by Chen Yaxian was rejected by the Military Commission in 1981. Caused tension between the government and the military, on February 4, 1982, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the draft constitution, Chen Yaxian resigned and went into exile in the Netherlands, and threw himself into the pro-democracy movement against Bouterse...
Suriname's second president Hendrik Rudolph (Henk) Chen Yaxian
Bouterse, who is of Chinese descent, was portrayed in the Korean drama "Suriname" as a brutal army chief and drug lord, and it seems to be so in reality. During the military rule of Suriname, many opponents were murdered and the villages visited by the rebels were brutally bloodied during the civil war. The government troops massacred 39 people in the hometown of the rebel leader. After restoring democracy in Suriname in the 1990s, he was charged with drug trafficking. On July 16, 1999, a Dutch court sentenced Bouterse to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking, but the latter insisted that he was innocent. , April 2012 Bowterser 's former comrade Ruben Rozendaal said that in the 1980s and early 1990s, Bowterser traded weapons with the FARC for cocaine, according to Wikipedia A U.S. embassy document released to the public shows that Bouterser may indeed have some connection with the Colombian armed forces.
It can be said that the son of a mouse can make a hole. Dino Bouterse, the son of Bouterse, was finally sentenced to 8 years in prison by a Suriname court for drug trafficking, theft and other charges, but he was released early for "good behavior" and was later in the anti-terrorism case. He is a senior official in the department. Of course, he has a hood in Suriname, and when he goes abroad, he is nothing. In 2013, Panama was arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on charges of smuggling drugs and assisting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Faced with the accusation, he "dodged the best" , admitted the former and denied the latter, and was eventually sentenced to 16 years in prison by the United States. Another so-called family does not enter the house. An adopted son of Bouterse was once sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbery and murder of a Chinese, but thanks to "Hu Hansan's return."Come", Bouterse pardoned him after he was elected president in 2010, and thus did not end up with Dino.
Desi Delano Bouterse
Concluding remarks
Through the immigration history of Surinamese Chinese, we see The route of such an ethnic group is from slaves to economy and then to politics. It is a route that the Chinese have shed through their own blood and sweat. Although the Chinese had a low status in Suriname at the beginning, with their hardships and the improvement of their motherland's international status, they became more and more active in the country. Its influence has also gradually deepened. Whether it is Chen Yaxian, a "democracy fighter", or Bouterse, a "dominant thief", you can see the huge influence of the Chinese on the historical trend of this country. Entering the 21st century, with the development of China and the Soviet Union. The closer the connection is, the more profound the influence will be
