A long time ago, there was an anti-Chinese incident in Saigon. For the safety of life and property, the ancestors moved out of the city to live here together, and the current embankment is here.

Before last night, He Tianming was very sad about a series of encounters in the history of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, and hated the natives who beat, smash, rob, and kill the Chinese at every turn.

However, now he really realizes that there is a deeper reason for all this, not just that the Chinese are too successful financially and are jealous.

Overseas Chinese in Sai Te make up nearly half of Sai Kung's citizens, but they live in a very closed world.

He has his own guild hall, school, hospital, newspaper, theater, temple, speaks vernacular, Teochew, Hokkien, does not intermarry with locals, hardly interacts with locals except for business, and hardly cares about things outside the Chinese circle.

I am here, but my heart is not there.

Someone once claimed to be Li Jingwei, the son of Li Fulin, a famous Guangdong general, who returned to China from his studies in Europe and passed through Vietnam, claiming to have inherited his father's order to comfort his fellow villagers and overseas Chinese in Guangdong. Many people later bought his fictitious shares of the Overseas Chinese Investment and Development Company and broke the fortune, and there were also many overseas Chinese girls who sacrificed themselves because of vanity, and lost both people and money.

Another person claimed to be Xing Senzhou, a member of the Central Committee, who claimed to have been instructed by the Central Committee to inspect the situation of overseas Chinese in Vietnam, and brought a few attachés with him to sell a large amount of customs money. Unfortunately, the overseas Chinese were ignorant at that time, thinking that it was profitable, and they bought it one after another. How do you know that soon after, the value of these gold scrolls plummeted, and it was greatly deceitful.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, He Yingqin went to Europe to participate in the World Conference on Moral Reorganization, passing through Xidi and comforting overseas Chinese on behalf of the government.

A real high-ranking official of the national government, who followed President Chiang in his early years, experienced a hundred battles, and accepted Japan's surrender on behalf of China after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and his reputation spread far and wide.

Overseas Chinese from all walks of life held a public banquet on the embankment, and the scene was not warm to describe, people helped the old and the young, dragged men and women, welcomed them in the middle of the road, unfurled colorful flags, gongs and drums shook the sky, firecrackers rang out in unison, thousands of people were empty, and many people wept with joy.

Huang Jie's First Corps and his family members retreated into Vietnam, and were placed under house arrest on Phu Quoc Island by the French and Vietnamese authorities, without clothing and food, and overseas Chinese in Xidi donated money, food, and clothing one after another.

……

One by one, the government and people of which country can tolerate an ethnic group that is incompatible with them but enjoys economic privileges and controls the country's economy. What's more, the current overseas Chinese in Xidi have not been naturalized, and foreigners who are fake and exchanged are not even considered ethnic minorities.

After returning from the Li family's mansion, He Tianming tossed and turned, and did not sleep well all night.

As a new youth who has received a new education, as the president of the student union of Ngee Ann Middle School, a strong sense of responsibility and crisis made him realize that something must be done, and the overseas Chinese in Xidi must make some changes.

The key is how to do it and how to change it?

He sat in the classroom and racked his brains for a long time without a clear idea, and when he saw the history teacher Qian Xinlin walking by the window, he got up and chased him out.

“…… Mr. Qian, be prepared for danger in times of peace, I think what Mr. Li said is very reasonable, but I am very confused, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to start. ”

The most proud student asks the most realistic question.

Qian Xinlin was very happy, and said with a smile while walking along the shade of the tree to the dormitory: "Ah Ming, I am very pleased that you can have such a sense of responsibility, and Mr. Li's words are indeed reasonable." In my opinion, the question is not complicated, but to put it bluntly, it is assimilation and anti-assimilation, whether to continue the centuries-old tradition, or whether to integrate into the local society as thoroughly as the Chinese in Thailand. ”

Mr. Qian is very knowledgeable, he went to France, Britain and the United States in his early years, organized fundraising during the Anti-Japanese War, and when the Japanese army hit Guangzhou, he returned to China to participate in the Anti-Japanese War with dozens of teachers and students, and only came back after the surrender of Japan, and there is still a bullet in his body that has not been taken out.

He Tianming respected him very much, and couldn't help asking, "Do you think you should integrate?" ”

"There are benefits to integration, and there is a reason not to integrate."

Qian Xinlin smiled and said step by step: "Thai Chinese are not like our Sidi Chinese, Malay Chinese, and Indonesian Chinese, they intermarry with the locals, take Thai names, speak Thai, many of them can't even speak Chinese, don't write, and it is difficult to distinguish from Thai people, so people will not be wary, the situation is relatively safe, and the social status is relatively high."

As for us, we speak vernacular, Teochew, Hokkien or Chinese, like to live in clusters, do not intermarry with locals, and the tradition is better maintained. This brings a series of problems, which are incompatible with the local people, like a country within a country, and the situation is naturally more dangerous. ”

He Tianming reacted and said to himself: "If we integrate like the Thai Chinese, will we still Chinese?" ”

"So there is a reason not to fit in."

Taiwan is so big that it is impossible to accommodate millions of overseas Vietnamese nationals. Not to mention that the Nationalist Government has a very strict review of people entering Taiwan, and no one can go if they want to. What's more, the migration of millions of people is by no means an easy task.

What's more, most of the overseas Chinese's business is here, and what do they rely on to make a living after leaving.

The more He Tianming thought about it, the more frightened he became, staring at the teacher's eyes, and said worriedly: "But there are millions of Chinese in Xiti, and the political situation in Vietnam is unstable. No matter who wins or loses, after they drive out the French, they will definitely deal with us overseas Chinese. ”

The current situation is well known to people of insight in Xidi.

The Korean War was won, and the United States, the most powerful of all, was defeated, and the encouragement of New China to the Chinese in Southeast Asia was incomparably great. Since the Opium War, overseas Chinese have never been so proud as they are now! So much so that Chen Jiageng, a well-known overseas Chinese leader in Nanyang, was deeply encouraged, resolutely returned to Xiamen, took out all his family property of 10 million yuan (the mortgage price is equivalent to 100 million US dollars now), and planned to stay in the mainland in the future to concentrate on running a school.

But this is Vietnam, not Malaysia, not Singapore, not Indonesia.

They are so close to the mainland, they know a lot of things in the mainland, and many people have even fled from the mainland, and most of them are engaged in business, and they are reluctant to go back.

The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty.

The student's analysis is very correct, under the increasingly strong nationalist ideology, Xidi and even the overseas Chinese in Vietnam are indeed very dangerous, Qian Xinlin sighed secretly, patted him on the shoulder and said perfunctorily: "Ah Ming, Mr. Li can tell you this, he should have his opinion. If he has the opportunity to ask for advice again, maybe he already has the best of both worlds. ”