Chinese Temples In Indonesia And Their Cultural Inheritance

This thesis mainly discusses the history of Chinese immigrants in the basin of the Xijiang River since the Kingdom of GOWA, including detailed discussions on the purpose of immigration, after-immigration life of the Chinese, the fusion with the local residents and the inheritance of Chinese culture among the Chinese. As for the inheritance of Chinese culture, the author focuses on the cultural heritage of Chinese temple, especially how they protected their temples as well as the cultural heritage of their temples during the Suharto period when the government launched repressive policies and discrimination against Chinese existed. During the old kingdom period, the period when Netherlands and Japan ruled Indonesia, the Sukarno and the Suharto period after Indonesia became independent, the Chinese had suffered all kinds of discrimination in various fields, including economy, politics and culture. Especially in the Suharto period, at that time, a series of exclusive Chinese laws had been carried out, which led to the silence and disappearance of Chinese culture in Indonesia for a long time.For the Chinese, the Suharto period can be the darkest time. At that time, due to the lawful exclusion of the Chinese and their culture, the temples were more than a place for prayers and religious ceremonies, and they served more as the last shelter for the Chinese traditional culture.This paper also discusses how the Chinese took up the reconstruction of Chinese culture since the collapse of the old regime and the establishment of the new regime. The policies launched during the new regime were of favor to the Chinese, thus they could rebuild the culture left by their ancestors under the premise of not changing the existing religious belief.This paper intends to provide advice for the inheritance of the Chinese traditional culture in Indonesia, especially the cultural heritage of temples. To transmit Chinese culture in Indonesia, the Chinese should not only depend on their own strength, and they also need the support from the Indonesian government. The Indonesian government should give necessary and strong support for Chinese culture, which is not merely limited to area of economy. This is because the Chinese people have lived in Indonesia for such long time that they have contributed a lot for the construction of Indonesia, especially in area of economy. The Indonesian government is in great need of the Chinese in economy. To put it in other words, the Chinese have become a helmsman of the Indonesian economy.