The LanFang Republic

[Baroncabodifalco]

I came across this obscure republic, below excerpt taken direct from Wikipedia.

The Lanfang Republic was a Chinese state and kongsi federation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It was established by a Hakka Chinese named Luo Fangbo in 1777, until it was ended by Dutch occupation in 1884.

[Frozen Royalist]

Why is there a post about a republic on a monarchist website that doesn't involve restoration or a former royal family to speak of?

-Frozen Royalist

[norenxaq]

because it MIGHT be of interest to some

[Frozen Royalist]

Sorry, from what I understand about the LanFang Republic it was primarily just a tribute state of the Qing Dynasty that was located in Borneo, part of Indonesia now. Any who the republic lasted from 1777 to 1884 before it was conquered by the Dutch Empire. During it's 107 year existence the LFR was a state of a union of Chinese colonies known as the Kongsi Federation and they were all tributary states of Qing China. Now there is some debate whether the Kongsi republics operated like western style democratic republics because the leaders of the Kongsi states were all elected or if they were just some sort of Chinese version of democracy. In a sense the LanFang Republic along with the rest of the Kongsi Federation states were just sort of a hybrid economic-colonial experiment done by Qing China in Indonesia that didn't really end well.

-Frozen Royalist

P.S. Personally there isn't really anything special to right home about with the LanFang Republic or the other Kongsi states in that matter, just a botched attempt at overseas imperialism done by the Qing Dynasty. But still I stand by what I said in my previous post, these Asian versions of the Boer Republics don't really hold relevance to this website other then being tributary states to the Qing Chinese Empire and then being annexed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

[Baroncabodifalco]

Taken from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongsi_republic

"The kongsi republics, also known as kongsi democracies or kongsi federations, were self-governing states in Borneo that formed as federations of Chinese mining communities known as kongsis. By the mid-nineteenth century, the kongsi republics controlled most of western Borneo. The three largest kongsi republics were the Lanfang Republic, the Heshun Republic (Fosjoen), and the Santiaogou Federation (Samtiaokioe).[1]
Commercial kongsis were common in Chinese diasporic communities throughout the world, but the kongsi republics of Borneo were unique in that they were sovereign states that controlled large swaths of territory.[1] This characteristic distinguishes them from the sultanates of Southeast Asia, which held authority over their subjects, yet did not control the territory where their subjects resided.[1] "


The above article makes no mention of Qing Dynasty involvement. In fact, these are autonomous republics that fought and negotiated 3 wars with the Dutch directly, without outside interference.