Cheng Jiahua: “Diplomatic Remnant” of the republic of China

Cheng Jiahua (1905-1976), a native of Qianshan, Anhui, graduated from the Department of Economics of Yanjing University. He joined the diplomatic field in his early years and served as the consul of the Republic of China in Indonesia, Samoa and other regions. In 1948, he was sent to British Malaya as the consul of the Republic of China in Malacca (September 1948-1950). After the Kuomintang government moved to Taiwan in 1949, he chose to stay in Malacca. Later he joined the Malayan Chinese Association, taught briefly at Peifeng Middle School, and then served as the principal of Malacca Yumin Middle School (1961-1967). This article attempts to outline his life in Malaya after the closure of the Republic of China consulate in British Malaya in 1949. An effort is made to extract from the unpublished “Sim Mow Yu’s Diaries” to inspect for the contacts between him and Sim Mow Yu. Initially his life in the Malacca Chinese community was quite fruitful, but later as the glamour of an exconsulate slowly disappeared, he spent his later years in loneliness. He was called by the author a “diplomatic remnant” of the Republic of China. When political power changed hand in the Chinese mainland, he chose to emigrate to Malaya, and called it home. He also tried to identify himself as a member of the local community. His life may be regarded as another interesting chapter of the experience of China’s literati who have chosen to emigrate to the South Seas.