page_title: Chinese Indonesians
section_title: Society
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese Indonesians / Society
caption_attribution_description: English: A comparison of the Totok and Peranakan Chinese populations from 1920 to 1971. Based on data in Dilema Minoritas Tionghoa by Leo Suryadinata, published in 1984 by PT Grafiti Pers. OCLC 11882266. Page 96.
context_page_description: Chinese Indonesians or Orang Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Most Chinese Indonesians are descended from Southern Chinese immigrants.
  Chinese people have lived in the Indonesian archipelago since at least the 13th century. Many came initially as sojourners, intending to return home in their old age. Some, however, stayed in the region as economic migrants. Their population grew rapidly during the colonial period when workers were contracted from their home provinces in southern China. Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians has occurred since the start of Dutch colonialism in the region, although government policies implemented since 1998 have attempted to redress this. Resentment of ethnic Chinese economic aptitude grew in the 1950s as Native Indonesian merchants felt they could not remain competitive. In some cases, government action propagated the stereotype that ethnic Chinese-owned conglomerates were corrupt.
context_section_description: It may be stated as a general rule that if a given area of Indonesia was settled by Chinese in appreciable numbers prior to this [20th] century, Chinese society there is in some degree dichotomous today. In one sector of the society, adults as well as children are Indonesia-born, the orientation toward China is attenuated, and the influence of the individual culture is apparent. In the other sector of the society, the population consists of twentieth-century immigrants and their immediate descendants, who are less acculturated and more strongly oriented toward China. The significance and pervasiveness of the social line between the two sectors varies from one part of Indonesia to another.
  — G. William Skinner, "The Chinese Minority", Indonesia pp. 103–104
  Scholars who study Chinese Indonesians often distinguish members of the group according to their racial and sociocultural background: the "totok" and the "peranakan". The two terms were initially used to racially distinguish the pure-blooded Chinese from those with mixed ancestry. A secondary meaning to the terms later arose that meant the "totok" were born in China and anyone born in Indonesia was considered "peranakan". Segmentation within "totok" communities occurs through division in speech groups, a pattern that has become less apparent since the turn of the 20th century. Among the indigenized "peranakan" segmentation occurs through social class, which is graded according to education and family standing rather than wealth.
caption: Population estimates of the peranakan (shown in red) and totok (in pink) throughout the 20th century[111]
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