INTRODUCTION

Situated at an important trading crossroads in the precolonial and colonial periods, the Riau Islands have long been open to external influences. People of various ethnicities came to the region to trade, barter, and grow a variety of crops for export. This diversity has further increased in recent decades as, following the turn towards export-oriented industrialization in the 1990s, people from all over the country came to the Riau Islands in search of formal sector jobs—driving up the area's population and further increasing its heterogeneity.

While many different communities trace their arrival and establishment in the province to the post-1990 period, it is also home to a significant Chinese population. Playing a significant role in the Riau Islands’ cultural, political, and economic life, this community has long been an integral part of the region, with a presence dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

This chapter will explore how the Chinese community arrived in the Riau Islands and how it has negotiated its place within it. To this end, it is comprised of six sections. Following this introduction, the next section will trace the history of the Chinese community in the Riau Islands. The subsequent part will set out what aspects of Chinese culture are expressed in daily life in the province. The fourth will look at the role played by ethnic Chinese politicians in the province. The fifth will explore the trajectories of prominent Chinese businessmen. The sixth and final section will conclude.

THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE COMMUNITY IN THE RIAU ISLANDS

Available records indicate that the arrival of the Chinese community in the Riau Islands began in the seventeenth century, due to the archipelago's location on the Chinese maritime Silk Road. Junks travelling to and from China are reputed to have stopped at Bintan for supplies, as well as to trade tea, ceramics and silks in exchange for opium from India, in addition to tin and pepper from the Riau Islands (Trocki 2007, p. 36; Shi and Xu 2017, pp. 82–83).

Over time, Chinese traders spread to other nearby locations such as Singapore and Johor.