The Chinese in Brunei

This book presents diverse perspectives on issues faced by the Chinese minority in predominantly Malay Muslim Brunei, drawing together cutting-edge research from early career, Brunei Chinese academics themselves in order to present a truly ground-breaking volume.

As a result of strict immigration rules and citizenship requirements following Brunei’s independence in 1984, the population of ethnically Chinese residents in the country has declined consistently. Despite this, the Chinese community are significant in the region, playing a pivotal role through their sizeable socioeconomic contributions. Chapters shed light on a broad range of issues and challenges faced by the Chinese community in Brunei, from adaptation in wider society and struggles around ethnic identity and belonging, to loss of dialect, language, religious freedom, and the on-going pressures around assimilation. Though the volume naturally focuses in-depth on the Chinese experience in Brunei, the book relates the themes explored to broader international contexts where ethnic minorities are present, drawing parallels and reinforcing the global relevance of the book.

This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields Southeast Asian culture and society, diaspora studies, and race and ethnic studies more broadly.

Ooi Keat Gin is professor of the modern history of Brunei/Borneo at the Academy of Brunei Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei and Visiting Professor of the Korean Institute of ASEAN Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies, Busan, South Korea. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London recent book-length works include Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei (2023, co-edited with Victor T. King), Literature of Brunei: History, Culture, and Challenges (2025, co-edited with Kathrina Mohd Daud, Routledge), Women’s Agency and the State in Contemporary Brunei (2025, co-edited with Norainie Ahmad, Routledge), The Handbook of Southeast Asian Studies: Pioneers and Critical Thinkers. Parts I & II (2024, co-authored with Victor T. King, Springer), Bao Ninh’s Contribution to Vietnamese and World Literature: The Sorrow of War and his Short Stories (2025, co-authored with Cao Kim Lan, Routledge), Brunei and the British in the Nineteenth Century: Of a Seer-poet, an Adventurer, and the near extinction of an Ancient Malay Sultanate (2026, author, Routledge).