This field study of organized Chinese life in Cambodia, past and present, takes its place in the growing sociological literature on the overseas Chinese and, in a sense, transcends it. For it relates its conclusions on the evolution the structure of the Cambodian Chinese community to the evidence from other overseas Chinese communities, and moves on to a comparison between overseas Chinese social organization and the organization of cities in China. Cambodia, the overseas Chinese, and traditional China all stand illuminated.
W. E. Willmott is Associate Professor of anthropology in the University of British Columbia.
1. INTRODUCTION, 2. ORIGINS OF THE CONGRÉGATION SYSTEM, 3. THE 'CONGRÉGATION SYSTBM UNDER THE FRENCH, 4 CHINESE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION WITHIN THE CONGRÉGATION, 5. ALTERNATIVE CENTRES OF POWER, 6. THB END OF THE CONGRÉGATIONS, 7. THE RISE OF VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS, 8. RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF CHINESE COMMUNITY LIFE, 9. ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CHINESE COMMUNITY LIFE, 10. LEADERSHIP IN THE CHINESE COMMUNITY IN PHNOM-PENH, 11. CHINESE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN SMALLER TOWNS, 12. COMPARISONS WITH OTHER OVERSEAS CHINESE COMMUNITIES, 13. BEYOND A CONCLUSION, APPENDICES, LIST OF CHINESE CHARACTERS, LIST OF WORKS CITED, INDEX
