A Peranakan family between Singapore and Shanghai: Business-making,networks and identity,1870s-1910s

Networks and identity are common themes in studies of the chinese diaspora,but they are not always linked together or examined closely. a re-reading of a travelogue published in libao during the 1880s provides material for an investigation of these two topics. this article examines a journey taken by li qinghui and considers it in the context of studies on diaspora chinese over the past decade,with particular attention to networks and identity. the last quarter of the nineteenth century,when li made his trip,was a time of optimism about what technology and capitalism could offer to the world. accounts of the travels of the li family,reported in both the west and the east,epitomized these euphoric sentiments.