Talking Business: Towkays, Tjukongs and Kongsis

Abstract

The above terms mean, in order, boss, supporter, company. All are based on original Chinese dialect terms and have been part of the South-East Asian language scene for hundreds of years. They are in common use throughout Nanyang where as is well known, business methods differ considerably from those in China. But certain basic traits and attitudes are roughly similar, the product of a common heritage. Huaqiao businessmen usually enjoy a considerable advantage when dealing with their fellow South-East Asians. They are almost always better organised for business, have greater resources, can borrow more readily, exert influence with officialdom, and are able to call on a network of friends and contacts as required. They are not necessarily inscrutable as some Europeans who describe them would have it; few Chinese are. They are just usually more low key and outwardly less emotional when negotiating business; there are of course notable exceptions to this. All these factors have contrived frequently to place them in a position of advantage over most of their indigenous interlocutors. Their knowledge of their own language and the languages of their host countries varies greatly. Often negotiations are conducted entirely in English, the commercial lingua franca of the region, or in the languages of Nanyang, or in their dialects, also now increasingly in Mandarin. They are noted for being reliable and keeping promises; the term ‘word of a Chinaman’ originated in the region in the early 19^th century among the early European colonials.