“TRULY REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT THAT FUSES DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY…SETS NEW STANDARDS FOR THE STUDY OF CHINESE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA”
– 2021 HARRY J. BENDA BOOK PRIZE COMMITTEE
MIGRATION IN THE TIME OF REVOLUTION
CHINA, INDONESIA, AND THE COLD WAR
Honorable Mention for the Harry J. Benda Book Prize
“Migration in the Time of Revolution is a truly remarkable achievement that fuses diplomatic and social history. It sets new standards for the study of Chinese in Southeast Asia and models the possibly for research that is truly inter-Asian in scope while contributing to and remaining grounded in Southeast Asian Studies.” [Read More]
Best Books of 2020
This impressively researched study of Sino-Indonesian relations from 1945 to 1967 links state-to-state diplomacy, party-to-party ties, and the Beijing-Taipei contest for influence, which shaped perceptions of Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese community that persist to this day. [Read More]
About this book…
Indonesian Communist leader D.N. Aidit, his wife Tanti Aidit, the Indonesian Communist Party Politburo member Jusuf Adjitorop with Mao Zedong, August 5, 1965. Photo courtesy of Hersi Setiawan.
Why does this history matter…
“Imported Police and Communist Doctors: China Conspiracy Theories in Indonesia,” Sage House Blog by the Cornell University Press, September 2019.
Fake news and disinformation. Problems that have caused political volatility in many parts of the world also cast a long shadow over Indonesia—the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country and third largest democracy. In the presidential election in May this year, the moderate, incumbent Joko Widodo (Jokowi) won a close race against the hardline, former three-star general Prabowo Subianto. Prabowo supporters contested the election outcome and staged a riot. In the frenzy atmosphere of the election, the anger of the protestors was fueled by online hoaxes. Various conspiracy theories all had one protagonist: The People’s Republic of China (PRC). Chinese migrant workers were given fake Indonesian ID cards that enabled them to vote for Jokowi; a certain tech company from China was put in charge of the electronic balloting counting system, assisting Jokowi with his election fraud; and, after the outbreak of street violence, the Indonesian police deployed against the rioters were soldiers “imported” from the People’s Liberation Army…[Read More]
Read an excerpt…
“Migration, Identity and Revolution: How the Chinese Shaped Indonesia,” South China Morning Post, November 23, 2019.
Ethnic Chinese protest during the Indonesian National Revolution. Photo: from an album named ‘Chinese Atrocities’, box 19, folder 11, Niels A. Douwes Dekker Papers, No 3480, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Podcasts and Book Talks
Indonesia’s Genocide: New Perspectives 55 Years On
Joint discussion with John Roosa at Columbia University Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, October 8, 2020.
Migration in the Time of Revolution: China, Indonesia, and the Cold War
Book talk at the History Department and Center for East Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin, April 30, 2021.
Cold War 2.0? Rethinking Analogies in US-China Relations
Joint discussion with Lorenz Luthi and Meredith Oyen, Long China-US Institute, University of California, Irvine, September 16, 2020
New Books Networks: Migration in the Time of Revolution
Podcast interview with Ed Pulford
Talking Indonesia: China, Indonesia and the Cold War
Praises, Reviews and Media Coverage
Based on extensive research in Chinese and Indonesian sources, Migration in the Time of Revolution is the best study of Sino-Indonesian relations during the Cold War in the English language and may well remain so for years to come [Read More]
Migration in the Time of Revolution is an impressive work of high caliber, and represents a significant contribution to knowledge on modern China, Chinese migration, modern Indonesia and modern Southeast Asia. [Read More]
By peeling off Cold War imaginings and by looking squarely at local and social conflicts, this book also compels us to think about what anticommunism really was, and, by extension, what the Cold War really was. [Read More]
Deeply humanistic, it examines how passion, emotion, and idealism animated state-to-state relations in the Cold War, not least as a result of the actions of individual migrants, refugees and exiles. [Read More]
Among the book’s many strengths, Taomo Zhou’s excellent Migration in the Time of Revolution goes a long way toward dispelling the myths foundational to Suharto’s long rule. [Read More]
A protean and pathbreaking book that will serve as an essential source for new research on the history of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and international relations in Asia [Read More]
This is a superbly original and incisive study, based on an exceptionally rich and exciting collection of primary sources. Its wide-ranging account of diplomacy and foreign relations as a diverse social process, rather than as just a top-down phenomenon, is particularly welcome and insightful. Professor Zhou’s analysis will become the standard work on PRC-Indonesia relations in the Mao era. [Read More]
Migration in the Time of Revolution is well written and would appeal to both general and scholarly audiences. Zhou makes important contributions to the fields of Chinese studies, Asian and Cold War history and migration studies…Migration in the Time of Revolution will likely remain an authoritative work for years to come. [Read More]
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Find out more about the Bahasa Version of the book
Revolusi, Diplomasi, Diaspora: Tiongkok, Indonesia, Etnik Tionghoa, 1945-1967
Ulasan/Reviews
Peluncuran & bedah buku “Revolusi, Diplomasi, Diaspora’ Juli 2019, LIPI
“Ke China, Aku Tak Akan Kembali,” 4 August 2019, DetikNews.”
Ahli sejarah Asia Tenggara dan China modern, Taomo Zhou, menuliskan kisah Liang itu dalam buku Revolusi, Diplomasi, Diaspora: Indonesia, Tiongkok, dan Etnis Tionghoa 1945-1967, yang baru saja diluncurkan di Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), Jakarta, Senin, 29 Juli 2019. Bersama Liang, di kapal itu ada lebih dari seribu anak muda Tionghoa lulusan sekolah menengah atas yang lahir di Indonesia.
Kepada Taomo, Liang menggambarkan suasana di dalam kapal. Tak ada cucuran air mata, tak ada teriakan selamat berpisah, dan hanya ada teriakan “Sampai berjumpa di Beijing”. Liang kemudian menjadi guru besar studi internasional di Universitas Peking. “Satu-satunya penyesalan Liang, dia tak pernah melihat ayahnya lagi setelah pindah ke China,” kata Taomo kepada detikX. Ayah Liang tak pernah sempat menyusul ke Beijing karena wafat beberapa tahun kemudian.
Tidak ada angka yang pasti berapa jumlah orang Tionghoa yang masuk dalam gelombang eksodus pertama pada 1949-1951 itu. Informasi yang dikumpulkan baik pemerintah China di Beijing maupun seterunya di Taipei memperkirakan ada sekitar 630 ribu orang dari sekitar 2,5 juta etnis Tionghoa di Indonnesia. Namun ada juga penelitian yang menyebut pada angka 250-350 ribu orang. [Baca Selengkapnya]
Zaimul Haq Elfan Habib, “Melihat Keterlibatan Cina pada G30S/PKI lewat Buku Taomo Zhou,” July 29, 2019.
Sementara itu, Prof A Dahana selaku penerjemah ahli buku itu mengakui buku tersebut merupakan yang pertama mengungkapkan secara langsung percakapan antara Aidit dengan Mao Zedong.
“Dari percakapan ini membuktikan bahwa Aidit mengatakan akan melakukan tindakan yang kemudian menjadi G30S/PKI. Mao mendukung, tapi Mao tidak pernah tahu kapan Aidit akan melakukan itu. Itu menurut buku ini,” katanya.
Buku tersebut, kata Guru Besar Sinologi (Chinese Studi) Universitas Indonesia itu, mampu mengungkap seberapa jauh mengenai keterlibatan China terhadap G30S/PKI.
Diakui dia, selama ini peristiwa G30S/PKI selama ini menjadi kontroversi, khususnya mengenai peran China.
Meskipun sebenarnya, kata Dahana, buku tersebut belum bisa membuka seluruhnya mengenai peran China dalam peristiwa itu. Namun, menjadi terobosan awal bagi peneliti-peneliti selanjutnya.
Penulis buku itu, Taomo Zhou adalah asisten professor pada Jurusan Sejarah, Nanyang Technological University, Singapura, yang ahli dalam bidang Tiongkok modern dan sejarah Asia Tenggara…[Baca Selengkapnya]
Pembahas Prof Asvi Warman Adam, Prof Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Dr Johanes Herlijanto
Peluncuran & bedah buku “Revolusi, Diplomasi, Diaspora’ Juli 2019, LIPI
A. Dahana, “China and the September 30 Movement,” The Jakarta Post, October 1, 2015
Dr. Taomo Zhou’s paper, although only titled ‘China and the 30th September Movement’, discusses broader issues such as China’s military aid to the planned establishment of Indonesia’s fifth force, the potential transfer of nuclear materials and technology, Chinese medical aid to Sukarno and links between Chinese and Indonesian communist parties.
However, according to my reading, the most important part of the paper is the last issue, which is whether China had prior knowledge of the coup plan, and whether China was directly or indirectly involved in the planning and execution of the coup as accused by the New Order government.
Following the accounts of Dr. Zhou, a PhD graduate in history from Cornell University, we now know and realize that Chinese leaders knew about the coup plan, although they apparently did not know exactly when the coup would be launched. As early as August 1965, Aidit and his entourage visited Beijing and talked with Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi among others. [Read More]