Networks and identity are common themes in studies of the Chinese diaspora, but they are not always linked together or examined closely. A re-reading of a travelogue published in Libao during the 1880s provides material for an investigation of these two topics. This article examines a journey taken by Li Qinghui and considers it in the context of studies on diaspora Chinese over the past decade, with particular attention to networks and identity. The last quarter of the nineteenth century, when Li made his trip, was a time of optimism about what technology and capitalism could offer to the world. Accounts of the travels of the Li family, reported in both the West and the East, epitomized these euphoric sentiments.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens, founded in 1859, was a center for the development of imperial botany where new flora was identified and other plants acclimatized. The ostensibly scientific orientation of the Gardens proved inadequate for the growing number of large capitalistic firms established in Malaya to cultivate cash crops, so the British government established two new bureaucracies—a Department of Forestry and a Department of Agriculture— that more explicitly catered to the demands of British industry in the region. This shift in policies prompted quarrels between bureaucrats and botanists, who shared a commitment to the imperial project but disagreed with environmental administration in British-controlled Southeast Asia. The debates proved significant, facilitating the expansion of plantation estates, massive deforestation, and a transformed natural environment as capitalistic investment began to override scientific knowledge, laying the groundwork for the environmental exploitation of the region throughout the twentieth century. © 2022 Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History. All rights reserved.

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Older people -- Medical care -- Singapore||Older people -- Government policy -- Singapore||Older people -- Care -- Singapore