This elegantly composed volume describes how Chinese immigrants and their descendants (called Cina Timor, “Timorese Chinese”) contributed to the making of Timor-Leste (or East Timor). The book is a meticulously researched, timely, original study that analyzes in a welter of detail the sociological, cultural, political, and economic implications of the Chinese presence there. Cina Timor explains why immigrants, traversing various routes, left China and directly or indirectly fetched up in the Portuguese colony during the nineteenth century. It traces their fortunes through the decades to contemporary times with a scrupulous attention to detail that demonstrates why the Chinese became an enduring influence in society, economy, and politics.
Douglas Kammen and Jonathan Chen emphasize “the critical role” that the Chinese played “in the formation of Portuguese Timor and, by extension, of Timor-Leste today” (p. 4.). They draw attention to a misapprehension that observers of—and participants in—Timorese life too readily indulge in....
