<Notes>The Chinese of Sarawak: Thirty Years of Change

Abstract

During the period 1948-1949, the author of this article visited Sarawak to study the social structure of the Chinese community in Kuching. After a lapse of 32 years, an investigation based on published materials has been made to assess social mobility within various dialect groups in Sarawak and to compare the present situation with that of 30 years ago. As a result of advances in communication and the extension of marketing, the successive layers of middlemen, in whom social and political power was invested, have been forced out and a new elite recruited from minor groups has emerged. The focus of the ethnic Chinese has gradually shifted from their traditionally narrow, localized interests to the welfare of the country in which they have settled. This trend can be seen in Chinese communities throughout the world.